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[SAM33]

My 66 Dream saga continues -

Since my low fuel and loose condenser wire issues, it's been running great.

Last Thursday I took it to my local vintage bike night, and got caught in a HUGE downpour.
Had to take cover indoors, and after a thorough soaking it wouldn't start. Finally pulled the points cover (the gasket is missing) and after some blasts of WD40 it sputtered to life enough to get home, but was dying at stops. No electric starter, my leg is still literally black and blue from kicking.

The following day it started rougher than usual, and ran poorly for awhile too, but eventually seemed to smooth out back to normal. OK, just water in the points, dried out now I figured.

Only have time to run it on weekends, so yesterday I went to start it, now back to pretty much totally dead. Don't think it's the wire from the condenser to points this time, and it has "burped" once or twice, but otherwise just like no spark. Lots of fuel, of course I checked ;-)

What now? What did the soaking (which clearly triggered this) do that would still be an issue after a week? (it is stored in a shed, no rain since anyway).

Thanks!

[stepper]

Have you checked your battery or fuse? Possible short somewhere?
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I guess I should order that points cover gasket for my bike :)

[casamere]

Hi SAM33,
I had a BMW a few years ago that the blinkers would not cancel after being caught in a heavy rainstorm on the way to work. A guy at work told me to give the switch a good spray with this and leave it for an hour. I didn't have any issues after that.
The trouble is with WD40 it is oil based but the Calpel evaporates once it has dispersed the water. I would give everything that is electrical a good spray with this even inside the plug caps.
You certainly can't do any harm.
Steve. UK.

[SAM33]

Stepper - YUP! Need that gasket for sure!
Horn and light strong, don't think it's the battery. Will re-check fuse to be sure, but doubt that too. It did "burp" once or twice but otherwise does act like no spark.

Will look for some of that sort of spray casamere, thanks! I have tried cleaning the points with fine sandpaper by the way.

[SAM33]

Just really no spark at all now. Baffling. Suppose I could try to replace the entire wire from the condenser to points, but afraid I'll screw it up worse.

I'm going to have to bite the bullet and hire someone to totally re-wire this bike ASAP.
Hope I can find somebody locally who knows what to do.

[Jims65CA77]

I had trouble "similar" to yours and found that my points were either dirty or contaminated with some foreign particles. Is it possible that your points may have a bit of "rust" on them from the water getting inside the cover? Even if they are dry they may not fire due to some "corrosion/rust" or just being dirty. You should clean the points with either a point file or a heavy piece of paper. (You can look that up with google) I used a point file, but also bought another set of points just in case I had problems with the ones in the bike. I doubt that a wire is to blame now.

[jgger]

A shot in the dark here, but have you eliminated the coil being water logged? The first dose of water could have made it run like crap, then the condensation could have shorted it out.

Like I said..... a shot in the dark.