Bike Won'T Start After Hand Wash

[floridaguy]

Ok, I have a Honda Steed 400. For the past 2 years, I only wiped it down, never washed it with water. 4 weeks ago I washed it myself with a hose with no nozzle. I was careful not to let water near electronic parts - spark plugs, battery, wires, starter wires, headlight/indicator lights, etc. Now it will not start. I drove the bike a couple of hours before the washing, so I know it was running flawlessly before hand. Now, it will turn over, but no start. I ran the battery down trying, so I tried push starting with no luck. I had the battery recharged and have been away a few weeks. If there is any lingering water, I assume it would be all gone by now. I had a local mechanic give it a try, and he couldn't get it started, but was only familiar with scooters, not big bikes. He mentioned the carbeurator, but he really didn't know. The bike won't fit in my truck to carry it to my regular shop, and he is too far away to come here to On Nut. If I could get it to my regular mechanic, I am confident he could get it running. But I think I will give it a go myself, I am no mechanic, but have some aptitude and experience.

So what should I be looking for? Blown fuses? Bad starter? Fouled spark plugs? Water in spark plug wires? I am back in Bangkok today and will look at it but I would appreciate your thoughts on what I should look for.

[madjbs]

Could be water in the fuel. Drain the tank and carb and fill with fresh fuel.

Edited March 11, 2012 by madjbs

[Gary A]

The first thing to do is to pull the spark plugs out. Connect the plug wire and lay the plug against the side of the block. It must be grounded to work. The engine will spin easily with the plugs out. If you can see the plug sparking, that eliminates electrical problems. If you have spark, there is only one thing left. It is not getting any fuel or it is possible that it is getting TOO much fuel. A wet air filter will act as a choke and will flood the engine quickly.

A quick way to check if you have spark would be to disconnect the plug wire and have your wife hold the contact. When you turn the engine over, you will quickly know if it has spark. This should be done with caution and you must make sure there is nothing handy for her to pick up and hit you with.

[adweb00]

Above post hit the nail on the head. Will add when you were cranking it was the bike firing or just sounded dead and just turning over. Id nearly bet that it's the coil pack or igniter whatever that bike uses

[floridaguy]

Didn't think about the air filter I guess because it was enclosed and it has sat so long I would have thought it was dry. Will take a look thanks

[Semper]

The first thing to do is to pull the spark plugs out. Connect the plug wire and lay the plug against the side of the block. It must be grounded to work. The engine will spin easily with the plugs out. If you can see the plug sparking, that eliminates electrical problems. If you have spark, there is only one thing left. It is not getting any fuel or it is possible that it is getting TOO much fuel. A wet air filter will act as a choke and will flood the engine quickly.

A quick way to check if you have spark would be to disconnect the plug wire and have your wife hold the contact. When you turn the engine over, you will quickly know if it has spark. This should be done with caution and you must make sure there is nothing handy for her to pick up and hit you with.

[floridaguy]

Well, I dismantled the bike, removing the gas tank and seat and the S&S air filter assembly and gave the bike a thorough once over. This may not be the only factor, but I found one of the spark plug wires was broken inside the boot. I missed this during several quick inspections because the rubber portion of the boot hid it. The Steeds have 2 spark plugs per cylinder, total 4. From what I understand, 1 per cylinder is the main spark, and the other supplies a secondary spark to help fully burn fuel and provide less emissions. I don't know whether the broken wire supplied the primary or secondary spark, but it certainly must have contributed.

Bad news is that I couldn't remove any of the spark plugs to test for spark. My sockets weren't deep enough, and my open end wrenches would't fit. I suspect there must be a deep well socket with thin walls that I can find at Home Pro or Home Works.

Also, the air filter is a metal screen type, so no water there. I also found a blown fuse, but I suspect that it is for the radiator fan. All in all, I really couldn't find a "smoking gun" as to why it wouldn't fire up. I think that it would have still fired up even on one cylinder.

Well, I am leaving Bangkok tonight, so I will have to wait for next week to take the broken wire to the mechanic and have him order a replacement. These spark plug wires are hard, heat resistant plastic. They have aged well for being a 16 year old bike, but does anyone know if they make a braided or heat resistant rubber replacement?

Here is the broken spark plug wire with the rubber boot section removed.

[sirchai]

The first thing to do is to pull the spark plugs out. Connect the plug wire and lay the plug against the side of the block. It must be grounded to work. The engine will spin easily with the plugs out. If you can see the plug sparking, that eliminates electrical problems. If you have spark, there is only one thing left. It is not getting any fuel or it is possible that it is getting TOO much fuel. A wet air filter will act as a choke and will flood the engine quickly.

A quick way to check if you have spark would be to disconnect the plug wire and have your wife hold the contact. When you turn the engine over, you will quickly know if it has spark. This should be done with caution and you must make sure there is nothing handy for her to pick up and hit you with.

+ 1....lol

[transam]

The first thing to do is to pull the spark plugs out. Connect the plug wire and lay the plug against the side of the block. It must be grounded to work. The engine will spin easily with the plugs out. If you can see the plug sparking, that eliminates electrical problems. If you have spark, there is only one thing left. It is not getting any fuel or it is possible that it is getting TOO much fuel. A wet air filter will act as a choke and will flood the engine quickly.

A quick way to check if you have spark would be to disconnect the plug wire and have your wife hold the contact. When you turn the engine over, you will quickly know if it has spark. This should be done with caution and you must make sure there is nothing handy for her to pick up and hit you with.

+ 1....lol

I held a plug wire once, l say again, once.

[sirchai]

Again, please let your wife hold one spark cable to a cylinder, or any other part that has Minus. Remove the spark plugs before. The spark normally jumpis about 1.5 cm.

A bright violet spark should be seen. You can even see that at daylight. Don't forget to check your fuses!

If there's a spark stick the spark plug in its socket,again let your wife hold the socket, while you start again if there's still a spark.in the dark.

If there's no spark, please try to get a voltmeter to check if there's power at your coil, when ignition switched on.One wire brings 12 Volts through your ignition lock to your coil, the other one from your ignition, bringing Minus.

If there's power at your ignition coils and Minus coming from your ignition, you can also check the coils resistance. All you've to do is to check with an Ohmmeter if there's a resistance between Plus and MInus, when wires disconnected.

You've got two coils, each coil's bringing a spark to one cylinder to both spark plugs at the same time,there's no different spark at one cylinder! Greetings from a biker who doesn't like small motorbikes..........

P.S. Should your wife feel the spark cosmic energy, make sure to have all tools removed next to her, it's just about 15,000 volts that will hit her.....

Edited March 11, 2012 by sirchai

[transam]

Again, please let your wife hold one spark cable to a cylinder, or any other part that has Minus. Remove the spark plugs before. The spark normally jumpis about 1.5 cm.

A bright violet spark should be seen. You can even see that at daylight. Don't forget to check your fuses!

If there's a spark stick the spark plug in its socket,again let your wife hold the socket, while you start again if there's still a spark.in the dark.

If there's no spark, please try to get a voltmeter to check if there's power at your coil, when ignition switched on.One wire brings 12 Volts through your ignition lock to your coil, the other one from your ignition, bringing Minus.

If there's power at your ignition coils and Minus coming from your ignition, you can also check the coils resistance. All you've to do is to check with an Ohmmeter if there's a resistance between Plus and MInus, when wires disconnected.

You've got two coils, each coil's bringing a spark to one cylinder to both spark plugs at the same time,there's no different spark at one cylinder! Greetings from a biker who doesn't like small motorbikes..........

P.S. Should your wife feel the spark cosmic energy, make sure to have all tools removed next to her, it's just about 15,000 volts that will hit her.....

And wear rubber wellies.

[floridaguy]

Well, I am out of Bangkok for a week or 2, working in Chonburi. Anyone know of any place in Pattaya where I can buy a spark plug wire for a Honda Steed 400?

[pauljones]

The bike is 16 years old.

Change all the spark plug wires and spark plugs.

[sirchai]

I don't know where you can buy "a spark plug wire" in Pattaya, but almost all bike shops do have such a wire. How comes that you're thinking it's just one wire? Did you read my post how to check your bike?

If it would be just one wire, your bike would at least start on one cylinder.

There's also something which is called "resistance" Just follow my instructions and you'll see how easy it is to get it started again. Good luck to your Moped!

[wantan]

Well, I am out of Bangkok for a week or 2, working in Chonburi. Anyone know of any place in Pattaya where I can buy a spark plug wire for a Honda Steed 400?

I may be wrong, but i guess there isn't much difference between a spark plug wire for Honda steed 400 or any other bike. Some have carbon core, some copper core. I would look for the same type you want to replace. Normally sold by meter. Maybe a good idea to replace all cables at once if its an elderly bike.

[sirchai]

Please see link for your kindest consideration:

http://www.fixya.com/tags/testing_pickup_coil/motorcycles/honda/page-3

[floridaguy]

The bike is 16 years old.

Change all the spark plug wires and spark plugs.

Yes, I had planned to.

[floridaguy]

Well, I am out of Bangkok for a week or 2, working in Chonburi. Anyone know of any place in Pattaya where I can buy a spark plug wire for a Honda Steed 400?

I may be wrong, but i guess there isn't much difference between a spark plug wire for Honda steed 400 or any other bike. Some have carbon core, some copper core. I would look for the same type you want to replace. Normally sold by meter. Maybe a good idea to replace all cables at once if its an elderly bike.

These wires are hard plastic wires, and they seem to be custom bent for the bike. I am sure that I can get any good flexible rubber spark plug wire and have them cut to length. The custom fit of the wires leads me to believe that they are original, 16 year old wires, so replacing them all would have been smart ages ago. The ends where they connect to the coils are a screw in type. I hope that I can get a replacement in that style easily.

I have the wire in my truck out in the parking lot. I will post a photo when I get a break.

Edited March 13, 2012 by floridaguy

[Gary A]

Most shops have the plug wire on a spool. It is cut to length and the connectors are then attached to it. I doubt that any shop would stock OEM plug wires.

[Semper]

The bike is 16 years old.

Change all the spark plug wires and spark plugs.

As the OP said: " I drove the bike a couple of hours before the washing, so I know it was running flawlessly before"

[nattydread]

i had my scooter washed the other day and the they put that shiny black stuff on the panels that makes them look new...........however this time the guy decided to slop it all over the walls of my tyres which gave way to me nearly losing the rear end at the first corner..needless to say i went back and told them they were ting tong and could kill somebody doing that......they washed the tyres again for me

[wana]

i had my scooter washed the other day and the they put that shiny black stuff on the panels that makes them look new...........however this time the guy decided to slop it all over the walls of my tyres which gave way to me nearly losing the rear end at the first corner..needless to say i went back and told them they were ting tong and could kill somebody doing that......they washed the tyres again for me

stanadard practice here to put soap then wax on your tyres (sidewalls usually ) buut sometimes they do the whole tyre .......they probably thought YOU were TingTong