Rain, stalled out, what got wet?

[kc24v]

I got caught in the rain on my xb9s. I was idling at a red light in gear, clutch pulled, and my rpm's started to drop right down to nothing. I had to keep the throttle open in order to keep from stalling. Any ideas? Southern California weather is so unpredictable at times, if I ever got caught out in the rain I'd like to know what I can do to keep from stalling out next time.

So what got wet that shouldn't have?

Thanks guys.

[user_deleted]

you didn't mention year of your XB but stalling under the conditions you mentioned typically ignition related and not fuel delivery related. it is extremely rare for moisture to work its way into the coil and spark plug wire area which sits atop the motor and is very well shielded from the rain. i would check: sidestand interlock safety switch if so equipped....clutch lever safety interlock switch if so equipped....ignition key switch and its connection behind the flyscreen.....the 4 black ground wires located behind the headlight bucket....and all the plug-in connectors behind the flyscreen. easy to check and they can cause problems when exposed to moisture.

[Tbone]

Wondering if you had any airbox mods or delete?

[ocgreenmachine]

Wonder how heavy the rain is and how clean your air filter is... Maybe if you have grime caked on there and it got soaking wet, it could impede air to the engine? I am in Southern California and the rain we had recently wasn't that heavy if I recall and I ride rain or shine.

[Cooter]

It doesn't sound like anything rain related to me (except for a saturated air filter).

I think it was just a coincidence. How far have you ridden it since then? Does it idle normally now?

[kc24v]

It's a 2003 xb9s
Getting
Only mod is the powder coated rims and jardine exhaust.

I rode it today and it started up and ride like normal. Rode it to work, about half hour away.

It does have the kickstand safety switch, I'll look into it to see if it got wet. I'll check my filter too. The plastics are in good shape so I couldn't imagine it having gotten wet to the point of saturation.

I'll post my findings soon. Let me know if you have any more suggestions, I'll check back soon.

[thrstrmech]

my '03 did the same thing in the rain...too much water ingested into the scoop to the air filter, etc...always happened when it rained heavily. to solve the problem, stopped riding when the weather guy/girl mentioned rain ahead lived in San Diego and south Riverside county (Murrieta/Temecula) and rode to work at Brown Field and also to Barstow Daggett Airport just east of Barstow, 128 miles on way for 6 months= lots of freaking miles on the Buell, that's part of the reason she had over 70k+ when I sold her a couple of months ago

[ocgreenmachine]

I had this happen to me about 6 months ago, and today, under a steady rain, it happened again. I played around with it during my 40+ minute ride and I definitely think it is water saturation on the air filter. After riding in the rain a while, when I would come to a stop light, it will sometimes start to drop in rpms and I need to give it a little gas. Also, if I throttle up the normal way after sitting at a light, it bogs a little bit before running normal. When up to freeway speeds, it doesn't have an issue unless I try to gun it (5000+ rpms and throttle opened up). If I open up the throttle too much under heavy rain, it bogs until I release the throttle a little and then it sorts itself out.It doesn't happen consistently but only happens when it is raining decently hard.

I have an open airbox setup, so that probably contributes to the water saturation issue. I'm guessing rain gets into the front air vent and gets onto the air filter and maybe even pools in the airbox.

[user_deleted]

some board members with your airbox mod have fitted foam oil-coated large sleeves on the outside of both the stock paper filter as well as a K&N filter though i don't know where they sourced them. another thing to consider when you rectify this is replacing both spark plugs with NGK DCPR9EIX iridium plugs. clearly from what you described it's just a matter of time till the plugs presently in your bike fuel-foul.

[Kohmeo]

Had a simular problem. Water got on the spark plug connector and rusted it.