Help Please!!

[midlife]

Advice please!
My wife has inherited my 04 Varadero and was out today riding with a posse of girlfriends when they rode through very heavy rain. Ten minutes later she loses power and the throttle is unresponsive so she stopped. At this point the bike wont start - headlight dims when starter is pushed, engine does not turn over and nothing happens when electric starter is pushed. Twenty minutes later, the bike starts, however the problem of no power ( not enough to pull away in first) and unable to achieve revs over approx 6 thousand at a standstill is still there. I recovered the bike on my trailer and when I got home I started the bike and the power problem was still evident. After a cup of tea and some head scratching I tried again. This time bike did not turn over, electric starter did not make a sound and the lights dimmed. Neutral light not even showing. Has any one got any ideas on how/what I can do ??? Sorry for the long winded explanation but I wanted to get all the facts over!!! Thanks in anticipation
Rob

[StumpyFingers]

Sounds like the Battery is dead.
If it got water in the alternator housing it could stop the bike charging, but the loss of power could be plugs fouled, leads wet, reg/rec failure.

[chalky4]

Hi
I had an RS 600 few years back and had an intermittent problem which sounds similar to those you describe, it only happened in the wet and if it started would not rev enough to pull away, got it home, on my mates trailer, and it started fine, next day in the rain same problem half way to work, trailer home again and then decided to checked every thing and eventually found another earth strap underneath the engine which had come loose, tightened this and never had a problem (well not with that) again.
Good luck

[stuart]

I had something quite similar a few times with my 700 alp, I had an after market alarm that didn't like water, I sprayed it with wax and rapped it with cling film, never happened again.

[africajim]

Definately sounds like a water/electrical problem somewhere along the lines.
First thing I'd check if there's any sign of a short, take off the battery terminal and touch it back on, see what sort of drain you get, shouldn't be much, then check the alternator and regulator rectifier are working properly. A volt guage on to the battery should indicate around 11.5v to 12.5v, when you start the bike it should increase to 13 to 15v.
It sounds like either something's stealing all the electrical power from the bike hence not enough left for the ignition to work properly or the charging system's faulty and it's not keeping sufficient power in the system to keep the ignition working.
Electrical faults can be a nightmare to trace, I'd start with anything not standard connected to the lume, alarms and grips being favourite. Then move on to earths and connections for corrosion, best of luck mate.

[Dee Duble Yuh]

If it has an alarm/immobiliser, that would be the prime suspect. Other electrical components would come next on the list. However normally they result in "works/doesn't" work problems, rather than a "reduced power/doesn't work" problem.

[midlife]

Many thanks for the helpful replies. Plenty of things to check out. One other question though. Is the unresponsive throttle and lack of engine power a result of electrical failure and if so how?
Cheers
Rob

[saitek]

If it has fuel injection, it's electronically controlled and the pump is electric and part of that system.

That's how!

[StumpyFingers]

Originally Posted by midlife

Many thanks for the helpful replies. Plenty of things to check out. One other question though. Is the unresponsive throttle and lack of engine power a result of electrical failure and if so how?
Cheers
Rob

Modern bikes like our buses have ECU's when they detect a problem, or feel like screwing up they go into engine management mode which reduces power, mainly so you can get to a dealer who is then able to take lots and lots of cash off you.

[africajim]

Well, I would agree to a point with the above. The lack of electrical power to the ECU, injection and coils can cause the bike to be unresponsive. I remember a car of mine that had a charging fault, as it lost voltage the power from the engine decreased, the lights could make the difference between the engine running or not! A short due to water could also cause the same problems.
Best of luck mate.