Careful if you wash your bike....

Well, I goofed up....
I wasn't thinking... I washed down my bike and I didn't cover the end of the mufflers.
I gave it a good scrubbing so I think that water got inside the mufflers and may have messed up my air filter as well. I have a new filter coming and I am going to rev the crap out of the bike to get any moisture out of the exhaust to correct the problems I am now having. I think that this will fix everything but I want to let you know to not scrub down your bike without covering the mufflers and to be careful not to get any water into the air filter. This is simply a reminder ....

 

I've never covered the mufflers when washing the bikes and never had an issue. Once started it should blow out any water that made its way in there (unless you actually put the hose right to the end of the mufflers and squirted water in).
Not sure how your air filter got wet...Did you have the seat off?
What sort of running issues are you having?

 

It was sputtering out but it is getting better. Looked in the owners manual and found that with these bikes you should cover the ends of the mufflers with a plastic bag and rubber bands and the only other thing I could think of was that maybe the air filter had gotten wet also. It has 5000 miles on it so it is due for a change anyway. I am hoping that this will take care of the problem. I feel these are the 2 most obvious things. I also put some sea foam in the fuel just in case a little water had gotten in the tank. Just wanted people to be aware of these things.

 

Water in your exhaust wouldn't make it all the way to your air filter, it would have to go uphill through your headers, through your exhaust valves, across your piston crowns, back uphill through the intake valves, through your carbs and uphill into your air box.
What most likely happened is an electrical connection got wet and is causing an intermittent short, which creates a sputter. If your air filter is wet, you have a leak beneath your seat into the air box.

 

I'm with Hank... water created electrical weirdness. I've never had a problem after a wash. Even after riding through a lightning storm with water droplets the size of Volvos I've never had an issue...

 

Maybe your ignition coils are starting to crack and some water got in there. Or maybe some moisture got down in around your plug caps. I had that issue once after washing the bike. It was running funny til I pulled the caps and blew them out. Ran fine afterwards.
Hope you get it squared away

 

I never thought that the water would have gotten into the air box via the mufflers. These were just 2 seperate things I thought of that may have accured. I ride in the rain all the time so I think that it was forced water preasure somewhere that did this. I just wanted people to be aware of things when they wash their bikes.

 

:?: :?: :?:

This is the internet dude, nothing ever gets forgotten... :lol:

 

I have never had an issue like that after washing my bike. I am with the rest and think you might have gotten something electrical wet. Hope you get your problem worked out though.

 

Since the air intake is under the seat, and any water that gets in the mufflers will quickly be dealt with on the "dry off" ride I'm voting wet coils as well.

 

All is good! Back to normal and fast as ever.
Just want folks to think about things when you scrub the hell out of your bike. Things can get wet and cause problems.