2006 Air cooled 1200 Bandit running rough

Just thought I would share this problem in case others experience the same & are tearing their hair out trying to solve the problem. My pristine Bandit (38,000 kms) & I got caught in a heavy downpour on our way home from work, no issue she got me home but the next morning at start-up we were missing at least one cylinder & exhaust popping. Initially thought I had a carby problem & no amount of warm up & reving would clear the issue. Research on the net advised all sorts of issues with carbs & jets etc, didn't consider the rain issue as we have been caught before without problems. Anyhow decided first step would be to start with fresh fuel, so drained the tank dry (no mesh filter as in the one Gus has discussed as this was also one other thing I had considered) but I cleaned the fuel pick-up anyway. Checked for loose connections on plugs etc. Started bike, still the same but after about 5 minutes of idle & 5 minutes of riding the problem began to clear & all is now good. So long story short if you have this sort of issue after a wet ride don't start thinking the worst give her a chance to dry out.



Pops

Might have been easier to add some metho to the tank. Good work fixing the issue

Could it have been electrical?

I have the same bike, and have put pod air filters on it... when they get wet from a hose pipe it runs like shit until the filters dry, I guess a massive downpour could do the same.... what air filter are you running?

"It ran rough for a few minutes then came good"


I had a similar experience with my 06 Bandit with water in the fuel.

Along with draining the fuel tank, did you also drain fuel from carb float bowls?

that's quiet interesting!!

had my gen 2 for ten years, a total of 180 000kms on the bike,
ridden in absolutely all weather conditions, and I mean all, including torrential rain, where cars can`t drive, but I continue to concur, and have never had this problem.

wonder if its a gen 3 thing, as in how water flows over, or through the bike .

I can only see it possibly getting in the airbox, I can`t see it getting in the tank, unless the cap or filler mount, isn`t selling properly, allowing water in the tank.
another possibility is, that the weep holes at the at the bottom of the spark plug recess, are blocked, allowing water to gather, and not drain away, causing electrical miss fire.

Ewok1958 wrote:Could it have been electrical?

Yes at the end of the day I think this is the most likely cause, the reason I considered contaminated fuel was that I had recently topped up the tank (within a couple of k's from home) then not used the bike again until after the rain episode. So putting two & two together came up with lets consider water in the fuel 1st. But I will be checking on the plug drain holes as mentioned to ensure they are clear. As said never had any issues in the three odd years with this bike in the rain, may have been the last time I cleaned around the plug leads etc I didn't make sure they were positioned tight onto the top of the head allowing moisture in, but I'm really glad the problem sorted its self before I started pulling things apart.

Water in one of the plug recesses would be my guess too. When I swapped out the plugs not long after I got my "06" I noted that there was a bit of rust on the hex drive part of a couple of the plugs, the terminal on one or two of them had signs of corrosion as well

My experience was following a fuel up with what must have been dodgy fuel.

The bike (06 Bandit) had been parked on the side stand and next day ran like a Harley.

After dismantling most of the bike I discovered water in the left side float bowl.

My theory on this was that the water and petrol separates and the water settles to the bottom.

Never had the problem occur again so hard to prove.

BanditDave wrote:My experience was following a fuel up with what must have been dodgy fuel.

The bike (06 Bandit) had been parked on the side stand and next day ran like a Harley.

After dismantling most of the bike I discovered water in the left side float bowl.

My theory on this was that the water and petrol separates and the water settles to the bottom.

Never had the problem occur again so hard to prove.

Did you wet the bed or something lol.........................3.28am 

Thanks for that observation Paul.

No, I think I am becoming nocturnal.
I am a real "party animal" these days. 8.00pm and I am yawning