HK1 not running after washing

zack_novak

zack_novak

Member
Finally got my HK1 running after rebuilding the transmission and carb. Today I took her out for 2-3 hours on a local dirt trail. I was washing it off (covered in mud) while it was running. I shielded the air intake, exhaust, etc. so no water would enter the engine. When I was washing the chunks of mud off the chain, it suddenly killed. After looking, I found there was no spark. My question... did I perhaps kill an electrical component on the stator plate? Would the coil short/kill if it got wet? I tried a new plug/cap, I reset the point gap, and I checked the wiring coming off the stator. Still no luck. I took the tank out and there was some moisture on the coil, so I dont know if that would affect it. Any help or ideas would be appreciated. Thanks
 
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b52bombardier1

Well-Known Member
I think you got some water into the stator area through the wire loom grommet in the top of the cases.

Maybe try blowing things out with compressed air with the left side case removed.

Rick
 
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fatcaaat

fatcaaat

Well-Known Member
Ahhh...the dreaded wash and die. Your stator is wet most likely. I have done this and it is very very frustrating. Problem is that you have to wait. I actually waited 3 days until it worked again. I took the cover off, blew with air, left it out in the sun...spark magically came back when it was good and ready, but I never touched anything.

To keep water out of the stator, you can actually buy a gasket that goes over the stator cover and use a little silicon to seal off the wiring area. That's a little trick I've been using with a lot of success. I can now run the bike though deep water and it doesn't stall.
 
zack_novak

zack_novak

Member
Both of the replies seem to be correct. I took the LH cover off, and saw water on and around the flywheel. Its quite odd, I had the bike in a 2-3 foot deep creek without it dying. Then an hour later, I get a little water on it and it dies. Anyways, I saw the grommet was missing for the neutral indicator, so I suspect thats where the water entered the case.
 
zack_novak

zack_novak

Member
Update: I blew off the stator with air, then parked it in the heat. I checked my voltage with the multimeter, and the plug cap is showing voltage. Still no spark. How is that possible?
 
cjpayne

cjpayne

Well-Known Member
Spraying WD40 in the stator area and plug cap might bring it back. It might have gotten water in through the key hole, especially if you were using a power washer. Maybe spray that too. Hope this helps.
 
Bevelsd

Bevelsd

Active Member
If your getting power at the spark plug cap(boot)) try a new plug. The cold water could have cracked the insulator inside the plug itself if the motor was hot.
 
6

69ST

Well-Known Member
All sound advice in the above posts. Trivia fact: "WD" stands for "water dry", thus cj's advice is spot-on...even better than using duct tape on HVAC ducts. Care to guess how many failed attempts the inventor(s) endured before they succeeded? :19:

I would, however, clean the breaker point contacts after the WD40 treatment. It takes very little surface contamination, of any kind, to render them non-operational.
 
cjpayne

cjpayne

Well-Known Member
Thanks Racerx. WD40 is ONE OF THE GREATEST INVENTIONS OF ALL TIME!!!
Wd40 - encyclopedia article about Wd40.

I remember one time it saved me a tow bill, due to my own stupidity. I was at a carwash years&years ago and washed my beautiful bigblock clean, just to find out I blew the points window off of the distributor and soaking the inside of it. Sprayed some WD40 in there and RUMBLE,RUMBLE,RUMBLE. LOL
 
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fatcaaat

fatcaaat

Well-Known Member
Not at all...drench it. You could also spray carb cleaner all over the place too or ether starter fluid. I don't think you can hurt it. I'd file the points while you are in there and clean up the coil ends while you have the flywheel off.
 
zack_novak

zack_novak

Member
I think I found the issue. I have one of those modes on my multi-meter where you can touch the two leads together and it will make a loud buzz, to test a circuit. Anyways, I put one end on the coil connector (black wire) and was playing around with the other lead. I touched it to the ground, and it buzzed. Basically the power to the coil is grounding out somewhere. Any ideas now???
 
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b52bombardier1

Well-Known Member
Your coil might have picked up a bigger load of water than you think. It could be damp enough to be conductive across the primary and secondary windings. As these coils get old, the internal insulation starts to get a little dodgy and it might not take too much water to make it conductive where it should not be.

John Pardue has posted a series of resistance test values and procedures for 90 cc coils over on the CT90 Yahoo Group that might still be relevant for 70 cc bikes. His efforts have kept a lot of perfectly good coils out of the trash heap and might be helpful for you.

Rick
 
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