My 95 gs stops running while riding in the rain please help.

Coolbreez

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This is my first adventure bike and I love it!! I ride year round. In 4 months I have put over 5000 miles on my 1995 GS1100r. Outside of the front brake lines I have had 0 problems with it. Until the other day I was riding in the rain and it just shut off. I pulled over in the poorIng down rain and it wouldn’t start at all. Crank yes start no. I towed it home and the next day it gave me a sputter like it wanted to start. I let it sit a couple more days and it started up and ran fine. Since then no issues! I inspected wiring connections and found corrosion and water in the injector plugs and throttle positioning sensor. I cleaned all of the sealed them up best I could and used dialectic grease. I got caught in some rain a couple days ago and she did fine. I thought all was good until I cleaned the bike with a pressure washer. It started fine after I was done. I then started to wipe down the bike and didn’t try it again for about 20 minutes. When I did....nothing! Cranks over wouldn’t start. This left me stranded an hour and a half from home!! I let it sit for about 10 minutes. I tried to start and would it start when I pulled the throttle back. I let it sit for another hour and it started only when I gave it throttle. I was able to ride it home as long as I kept the RPM’s above 3000. I have checked all the plugs under the gas tank except for the ones that go to what looks like Ecm’s. A little back story. I got the bike for $400 out of this dude’s driveway. It had been sitting for 8 years. Please help.
 
There are a few known issues. The loom around the steering head can degrade with use and a bike that has stood out for 8 years may be suffering brittle and broken insulation allowing the water to get in and cause mischief.

Also the multiplugs under the tank can corrode like crazy and need careful cleaning.

When you lift the tank off to access the wiring it's very easy to unseat the throttle cable on one side (there is a sticky about this somewhere on this site) so that it doesn't want to start.

There is a major earth point under the battery box that can get corroded and cause all manner of problems.

Good luck, you got the bike for buttons and if you look after it it and sort the electrical issues it may well make you a profit.
 
Firstly is it a Suzuki or a BMW ?? BM is R1100 GS

Take all the plugs apart and spray them with ACF50 OR use the ACF50 corrosion block and cover the joints so no water gets in This includes the sidestand switch !!

And STOP pressure washing it ! or at least not so close 4 feet away with a wide spread might be okay but you are obviously causing the issue

If you lifted the tank You could have unhitched the throttle cable on one side (Usually the right hand side) the cable end sits on the adjuster screw and hitches the throttle open a cm or so which screws up the fuelling and makes it run like a bag of bolts

If that is okay You need to diagnose the fault if it is no fuel or no spark ?

So have a spare spark plug and a small jumper cable

If the issue occurs again ? Get the Plug out of its safe dry place and just pull the spark lead out CAREFULLY and connect it to the plug Connect the Jumper cable to say the exhaust clamp under the passenger foot peg and the nut part of the plug and be careful about what you hold while you crank it over at least then you will be able to see if its a spark issue very easily No Spark no run
 
Ok quick update. It is a BMW r1100GS. I have tackled the cable issue before. I pulled the tank again. Disconnected the battery and unplugged the ecu’s, coil pack, plug wires and all ground connections. No corrosion or moisture. Put it all back together and it runs fine. Packer I know of the loom that goes down the left side of the neck of the frame. Is that what you’re talking about?
 
Ok quick update. It is a BMW r1100GS. I have tackled the cable issue before. I pulled the tank again. Disconnected the battery and unplugged the ecu’s, coil pack, plug wires and all ground connections. No corrosion or moisture. Put it all back together and it runs fine. Packer I know of the loom that goes down the left side of the neck of the frame. Is that what you’re talking about?

It is the wiring which comes from the base of the ignition switch. It is often cable tied to the frame with little room to allow the movement of the bars etc and over time with ageing to the wiring and the fact it is moving the wires can break, often inside the plastic sheathing. If you have it running just give those wires a little wiggle and see if there's any issues, also some people cut the cable ties anyway to help prevent this happening.
 
Sounds like the Hall sensor wiring breaking down .. the wiring insulation breaks up after yrs of heating up and cooling down ..new hall sensor should cure it ..get them from motorworks or ebay ..also try posting in the 850/1100/1150 oilheads section where youll find more answers :)
 
I did inspect those wire connections but I didn’t take the sheathing off. I will check that tomorrow thank you.
 
Sounds like the Hall sensor wiring breaking down .. the wiring insulation breaks up after yrs of heating up and cooling down ..new hall sensor should cure it ..get them from motorworks or ebay ..also try posting in the 850/1100/1150 oilheads section where youll find more answers :)

If it helps, my '94 had the same symptoms - that was the Hall sensor on the way out.
 
Sounds like the Hall sensor wiring breaking down .. the wiring insulation breaks up after yrs of heating up and cooling down ..new hall sensor should cure it ..get them from motorworks or ebay ..also try posting in the 850/1100/1150 oilheads section where youll find more answers :)

STOP .
get yourself some 6 core cable , doesn't need to be shielded , map out the sensors , and rewire. the sensors will be fine. the wire bmw use is poor compared to the wires on the sensors.
the bmw wires will be disintegrating .
 


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