irish
Registered Schmoozer
I'm stretching my own diagnostic capabilities on this one and I thought I would send it to the Hive Mind for suggestions. The bike is a 2002 R 1150 RT. I do all my routine maintenance and only go to a dealer when something strange comes up that I can't resolve.
A few weeks ago I took a trip around Lake superior. The bike has had no problems all year but on the first morning in a downpour an issue came up. I was riding at highway speed for a few minutes and had to slow coming through town. As I pulled in the clutch and let off the throttle to downshift the engine stalled. I tried to bump start it a couple times by letting out the clutch that had no effect. I was then able to restart it with the starter button while still rolling. Prior to and after this point the bike was running normally.
We had nearly continuous rain the first two days of our trip and I had a similar experience I think three more times, all when slowing way down for highway off ramps. The last four days of our trip were dry and had absolutely no issues. The next time I rode in the rain near my house I payed close attention to the idle. Bike normally idles around 1100 RPM and smoothly. When riding in the rain And stopped at a stoplight I noticed the idle had dropped to around 800 RPM and was somewhat rough. On a dry day yesterday I had a bike at operating temperature on the center stand in my driveway. It was idling smoothly at 1100 RPM. When I sprayed water near the bottom of the alternator cover where I understand the hall affect sensor to be I did not see any effect. When I sprayed water near the top of the alternator cover kind of behind the front shock the idle dropped down to around 800 and was a rough.
What should I do as a next step? The Hall effect sensor is my primary suspect. The bike will hit 80,000 miles today. Could ignition coil failure produce these symptoms? An independent mechanic who helps me sometimes offered to test the coil resistance for me. If those test fine my thought is to replace the hall effect sensor given the symptoms and the bike's age and mileage. Make sense? What else sould I check and what am I missing?
A few weeks ago I took a trip around Lake superior. The bike has had no problems all year but on the first morning in a downpour an issue came up. I was riding at highway speed for a few minutes and had to slow coming through town. As I pulled in the clutch and let off the throttle to downshift the engine stalled. I tried to bump start it a couple times by letting out the clutch that had no effect. I was then able to restart it with the starter button while still rolling. Prior to and after this point the bike was running normally.
We had nearly continuous rain the first two days of our trip and I had a similar experience I think three more times, all when slowing way down for highway off ramps. The last four days of our trip were dry and had absolutely no issues. The next time I rode in the rain near my house I payed close attention to the idle. Bike normally idles around 1100 RPM and smoothly. When riding in the rain And stopped at a stoplight I noticed the idle had dropped to around 800 RPM and was somewhat rough. On a dry day yesterday I had a bike at operating temperature on the center stand in my driveway. It was idling smoothly at 1100 RPM. When I sprayed water near the bottom of the alternator cover where I understand the hall affect sensor to be I did not see any effect. When I sprayed water near the top of the alternator cover kind of behind the front shock the idle dropped down to around 800 and was a rough.
What should I do as a next step? The Hall effect sensor is my primary suspect. The bike will hit 80,000 miles today. Could ignition coil failure produce these symptoms? An independent mechanic who helps me sometimes offered to test the coil resistance for me. If those test fine my thought is to replace the hall effect sensor given the symptoms and the bike's age and mileage. Make sense? What else sould I check and what am I missing?
