Rain Affecting Engine

[climber2726]

Hi all,

I ride a 2004 Ducati Monster 620ie. I ride as a daily commuter and have since I purchased in 2008. I used to ride in Portland, OR where it rained all the time with no problem.

I shipped my bike to Hawaii and ever since then I've had problems riding in the rain.

Whenever it rains, the bike will die if I don't keep my engine at a high RPM. If I'm moving it's fine, or if I'm stopped with the choke pulled back then it will run. But if I let it drop below 2k rpm then the bike will sputter or die.

Took it to the shop on Oahu and they said they fixed it right before I moved to Kauai. Lo and behold, that was not the case.

Any thoughts would be appreciated!

[Howie]

Bad insulation on plug wires or leaky coils?  Spray a water mist on the suspect parts one at a time and observe.

[Buhgaboo]

Hi all,

I ride a 2004 Ducati Monster 620ie. I ride as a daily commuter and have since I purchased in 2008. I used to ride in Portland, OR where it rained all the time with no problem.

I shipped my bike to Hawaii and ever since then I've had problems riding in the rain.

Whenever it rains, the bike will die if I don't keep my engine at a high RPM. If I'm moving it's fine, or if I'm stopped with the choke pulled back then it will run. But if I let it drop below 2k rpm then the bike will sputter or die.

Took it to the shop on Oahu and they said they fixed it right before I moved to Kauai. Lo and behold, that was not the case.

Any thoughts would be appreciated!

You could be arcing....try changing the plug wires

[climber2726]

Thanks! I'll try that too.

One thing I noticed when using a hose was nothing happened when I had the water on the sparkplugs.

When I got water on the air filter housing the bike choked up.  I opened up the housing and saw a bunch of water in there. Some of it came out the drain but I'm wondering if water in the housing is causing the engine to sputter?

I'm going to check the coils one by one again today.