Engine Intermittently Running on 3 Cyls

[Kiwi Rider]

Well, a mystery transpired yesterday as I left home for a ride with my wing man Mark.
I started the ol'girl from cold and it ran ok and stalled after a few seconds, what?? This has never happened before!
Restarted it and put the 'choke/fast idle up to idle at 1800rpm, stuttered a little, then ran ok.
Warmed it up for a minute or so and put it in 1st gear.

As I released the clutch to leave and fed a little power into it, she suddenly misfired and ran on 3 cyls.
I thought to myself "If I just keep going it'll come back on song, but hmmmm . . . ".

I went up to 100kmh in 3rd but still on 3 cyls, suddenly it burst into life and took off with a full deck of cards.
Well that didn't last long, she intermittently went from 4cyls to 3cyl, back to 4, back to 3 and it appeared it was better if I brought the engine revs above 6k rpm.

This went on for a while, so eventually turned around and went home to investigate.
On the way home my brain was exploring all the possible causes and because of the nature of the misfire, instantaneous like a light switch, I figured it had to be electrical, a spark issue.
I suspected a faulty ignition coil, the spark plugs are near new.
If it was a fuel problem it would surge and the entire fuel system has been sorted recently anyway, yeah, it's gotta be spark.

Ok, so I got her into my surgery at home ( the garage lol) and raised the tank, removed the airbox, removed the coils one by one and figured I will spot the cylinder that has the misfire by the colour of the spark plug and then I'll test that cylinder's coil.
Well, as I took out No. 3 coil, lo and behold there's a few drops of water on the rubber seal at the tip of the coil.
Yip! Water!!! Ok, so that's gotta be the cause.
Dried it off and removed all the plugs and they're all the same colour. Phewwww!
I tested all the coils with my multi-meter and all checked out ok. Double Phewwwww!!
Re-assembled it all, started her up and she ran just fine.

Moral of the story . . . .
When you wash your bike, DO NOT spray water under pressure into the air vents in the side fairings!
When I thought back on it, yeah, I had just washed the bike and had sprayed water directly into the right hand side fairing without really thinking about it, I had washed it many times and NEVER had water in the plugs, after all, there is that big rubber cover that protects the coil/plug recesses in the cyl head and how would water ever make it's way in there??
Well it did, surprise surprise!

Anyone else out there ever had the same problem, just curious.
Story ends.

 

[ROADTOAD1340]

I always hand clean my bike Kiwi , never with water , as I have never degreased her as yet to need water . I can see only the front sprocket area ever really needing a degrease . I recoil in horror , when I see some of that youtube footage of dudes smothering their Busa in water and foam or and pressure clean . I feel thankful to have such a machine to carefully clean , I enjoy taking my time to lovingly caress each curve of my beloved L2 to clean ..... Honestly I'm not lonely .... hahahaha

 

[08BusaKY]

I have always hand cleaned my bikes too (except dirt bikes). I use a California duster, clean with detail spray, or wax.

 

[c10]

Real common problem . FYI the ZX14 has tiny drains cut into the head going to the spark plug wells to drain water out . I found that out in May working on a friends ZX14 . Sprayed some penetrating oil down all four plug wells to find it coming out just above each exhaust port .

The ZRX is bad about filling # 1 with water if on side stand in the rain as all the water flows down towards #1 , and the cam chain acts as a dam allowing the water to pool over #1 . I rarely wash bikes with a hose . They have to be real real dirty for this . a 5 gallon bucket with mild soapy water , and good rag works well than just empty bucket / fill fresh water , and use rag again to wipe down . . Come back after drying with Pledge or your favorite brand X bike polish .

 

[Kiwi Rider]

The reason I wash it with a hose is that there in NZ in winter we have a lot of dirt, cowsh%t, mud, roadworks etc to negotiate, and after a 200km ride a 'hand wash' just won't cut it.
In fact, I really have to host the crap off the bike before I even wash it with warm water and turtle wax suds, then a light spray with the hose to rinse off.
Then I chamois the water droplets off completely.
And if I had a brand spanking new Busa with beautiful OEM Japanese ABS fairings and the lovely paint that is so well applied by the Suzuki robots, I too would be 'spot' cleaning and being real friggin' careful!
But I've NEVER had this problem with water getting in to the plugs before and I've washed it numerous times.
Interesting to hear your cleaning methods, you guys must have real sweet road conditions where you all are lol.
Thanks for the replies.

 

[WuzzaCBXRider]

I’ve never water washed the Busa. It’s only gotten wet in the rain on tour. After a several state multi thousand mile tour it’s gotten very dirty many times. Even then, I applied a large hot wet towel over the nose to loosen the bugs and debri and a smaller towel over the fender. After a few minutes the majority of the scum wipes right off. I then use Plexus on everything up top. Cleans and shines like new. I’ll use Simple Green on the wheels and underside and WD40 on a rag to clean the chain’s side plates and rollers before lubing. I have a small brush to clean around the blinker housings and bolt hole surrounds in the fender and elsewhere and then always spray and wipe clean with Plexus on a small towel. I’ll also raise the tank and wipe everything I can under there cause we have dirty and dusty riding conditions here as well.

 

[Norman MrUnique Anderson]

Well, a mystery transpired yesterday as I left home for a ride with my wing man Mark.
I started the ol'girl from cold and it ran ok and stalled after a few seconds, what?? This has never happened before!
Restarted it and put the 'choke/fast idle up to idle at 1800rpm, stuttered a little, then ran ok.
Warmed it up for a minute or so and put it in 1st gear.

As I released the clutch to leave and fed a little power into it, she suddenly misfired and ran on 3 cyls.
I thought to myself "If I just keep going it'll come back on song, but hmmmm . . . ".

I went up to 100kmh in 3rd but still on 3 cyls, suddenly it burst into life and took off with a full deck of cards.
Well that didn't last long, she intermittently went from 4cyls to 3cyl, back to 4, back to 3 and it appeared it was better if I brought the engine revs above 6k rpm.

This went on for a while, so eventually turned around and went home to investigate.
On the way home my brain was exploring all the possible causes and because of the nature of the misfire, instantaneous like a light switch, I figured it had to be electrical, a spark issue.
I suspected a faulty ignition coil, the spark plugs are near new.
If it was a fuel problem it would surge and the entire fuel system has been sorted recently anyway, yeah, it's gotta be spark.

Ok, so I got her into my surgery at home ( the garage lol) and raised the tank, removed the airbox, removed the coils one by one and figured I will spot the cylinder that has the misfire by the colour of the spark plug and then I'll test that cylinder's coil.
Well, as I took out No. 3 coil, lo and behold there's a few drops of water on the rubber seal at the tip of the coil.
Yip! Water!!! Ok, so that's gotta be the cause.
Dried it off and removed all the plugs and they're all the same colour. Phewwww!
I tested all the coils with my multi-meter and all checked out ok. Double Phewwwww!!
Re-assembled it all, started her up and she ran just fine.

Moral of the story . . . .
When you wash your bike, DO NOT spray water under pressure into the air vents in the side fairings!
When I thought back on it, yeah, I had just washed the bike and had sprayed water directly into the right hand side fairing without really thinking about it, I had washed it many times and NEVER had water in the plugs, after all, there is that big rubber cover that protects the coil/plug recesses in the cyl head and how would water ever make it's way in there??
Well it did, surprise surprise!

Anyone else out there ever had the same problem, just curious.
Story ends.

 

[Norman MrUnique Anderson]

03 anniversary edition. I’m having the same miss problem. It’s not water though. I always hand wash my bike. I rode the bike previously. No issues. Bike sat for about 2 weeks. Went to ride it, it start to put as if firing on 3 cylinders. At times it hit all 4 cylinders then run like a scalded cat. Changed the plugs with e3.38 plugs. Started the bike. Now I get a F1 code on the display and still sputtering. I saw a previous post about jumping a little white connector. Can’t find that under my seat. Anyone with an idea of what’s wrong?

 

[sixpack577]

You guys wash your bikes??
I could never tell if mine were cleaner or even more dirty after riding in the rain.