# Problems when crossing water



## BigBruteSteve (Sep 19, 2010)

The last 3 times ive gone riding my bike has been acting up..
everytime i cross some water,(like the lakes in crosby) my bike bogs out really bad..it doesnt turn off,but it have very little power,just enough to get out of the water...then it takes like 5mins for whateever to get dry.and the raw power comes back...

the only thing i changed the other day was the sparkplug wires, i used some car ones.and put a plug nut on the end of the screw..

what other things get wet that would cause power loss,then dry up in 5mins???


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## whoolieshop (Mar 22, 2011)

Try putting some di-electric grease in the end of your plug wires, cap side and plug side and the coil as well! if you didn't grease them real well its probably arcing to the block causing a misfire that goes away when the water evaporates.


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## BigBruteSteve (Sep 19, 2010)

well have dielectric on the spark plug side.not the coil side....its pissin me off cause i usually ride water wheelies up and down every creek..but now my buddies laugh when i cant go up a small hill


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## BumpStix (Apr 1, 2011)

mine use to do that and it was vent lines getting water in them


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## whoolieshop (Mar 22, 2011)

I'm still leaning towards a spark leak but if its injesting water via a intake boot crack or something obscure i'd bet you noticed the bike running funny. Since the only thing that has changed since the problem appeared was the plug wires I would suggest going back and checking them out real good... 

If the bike is running and you wiggle the plug wire do you get the snot shocked out of you? If so id say its a spark leak futher complicated by water! Maybe the automotive plug wires aren't completely sealing off where the boot slides on? 

If your old plug wires still exist you could always grease them up, throw them back on then try again to see if the problem goes away.

Is your carb overflow tube plugged? Normally if water is getting into the bowl it will eventually make the engine quit, not to mention be hard to start / run real bad.


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## BigBruteSteve (Sep 19, 2010)

my bike is fuel injected, which vent lines can get water???and its not gettin in the airbox cause the water is even below the stock intake...ima try some different wires or something...i noticed the stock wires are actually wire.and the type i put is like a solid core of carbon or something like that


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## hp488 (Sep 23, 2009)

It is gonna be the plug wire or wires friend of mine had the same problem had the plug side greased but not the other. Problem solved


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## bayou_boy_22 (Mar 13, 2009)

i was having the same problem and it was my plug wires need to be di-electric greased. once i done that i went out to the small pond in the back yard and hit it as hard as i could to see if it fixed my problem. after playing in the water for about an hour with no problems i deemed the problem fixed.


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## drtj (May 3, 2009)

i grease all my connections. dont have a problem


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## KMKjr (Jan 9, 2009)

Are you sure there is no water getting into belt cover?


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## LM83 (Jul 23, 2010)

Deff sounds like plug wires. It's kinda like having a plug foul on you and your running on one cyl


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## Polaris425 (Dec 16, 2004)

Im going w/ plug wires too, since you just changed them.


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## BIGPUN (Dec 20, 2008)

How can u check to see if ur carb boots cracked without taking the bike apart


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## byrd (Jul 14, 2009)

BIGPUN said:


> How can u check to see if ur carb boots cracked without taking the bike apart


Crank it and while its idling spray the boots with Carb cleaner. If the idle changes its leaking


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## brute for mud (Jul 15, 2010)

i would say it's a spark related


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## whoolieshop (Mar 22, 2011)

Use a little starting fluid or carb cleaner sprayed around the intake / carb boot if the engine rpm changes you have an air leak


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## KMKjr (Jan 9, 2009)

A little salt water will show a spark leak too!


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## rrsi_duke (Mar 1, 2010)

mine was doing about the same thing and it ended up being a line off the throttle body came off the air box and once in the water it was sucking water straight in. NOT GOOD


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## BigBruteSteve (Sep 19, 2010)

well i already put dielectric grease in the coils and sparks..the only problem is i dont have a water hole close to me...hope this is the fix..i hate being the problematic bike when im out riding


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## hp488 (Sep 23, 2009)

It happens to all of us at one time or another, just have to roll with the punches


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## KMKjr (Jan 9, 2009)

BigBruteSteve said:


> well i already put dielectric grease in the coils and sparks..the only problem is i dont have a water hole close to me...hope this is the fix..i hate being the problematic bike when im out riding


Take some tap water in spray bottle, put some salt in it (road salt seems to work better) and let her run (in the dark is better), spray everything and if they are arching, it will show.


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## MeanGreenMan (May 24, 2010)

BigBruteSteve said:


> its not gettin in the airbox cause the water is even below the stock intake.


If this is not happened to be the spark/water issue, the next most likely cause would be the water getting into the air box. 

Front wheels are kicking up the water and sometimes water will find its way into the air box. The fix is to put a larger piece of rubber mat in the place of tiny factory one to deflect the splashing water. Once you take off the front fender, you will see the rubber mat just front/bottom of the air box. Not only this causes this kind of hickups, but it can ruin your engine as you can imagine, like worn out pistons, cylinders and sometime rod bearing seizure because water will wash down those critical components. Do the mod ASAP if you would be hitting water in the future and don't end up like this one.


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## BigBruteSteve (Sep 19, 2010)

my problem was solved..i used some 8mm plug wires.tons of dielectric grease..its running great now!


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## K a w a s a k i 360 (Apr 14, 2011)

So was the fix the wire or the dielectric grease?? lol one of the two right? lol good to hear u got it fixed


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## BIGPUN (Dec 20, 2008)

where did u find the plug wires. I cant find them anywhere


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