ignition woes

[lebicicletta]

1981 R65....
everything was fine till I got caught in a downpour. Bike stops and wont start. dried off everything with a towel, opened can, no moisture there, all looked ok. Nothing going thru sparkplug wires. plugs looked ok when removed and reinstalled. all other electrics functioning perfectly.
Next morning, bike starts, no problem.  so...what should be my sequence/activity ro  diagnose this problem? It rains a a lot in beautiful central ohio....thanks!

[Bob_Roller]

Is your ignition coil black and gray in color

If it is, replace it, it's a known problematic part and quitting in wet conditions is the most common result of the cracks in the coil case .

If you have no idea how old the ignition leads are, you may want to replace them as well at this time .

Here's a couple of sites that have coils and wires .

http://www.motoelekt.com/ignition.htm

http://www.euromotoelectrics.com/searchresults.asp?Search=dyna+coil


http://www.euromotoelectrics.com/Ignition-Wire-Set-BMW-R-Airhead-BMW-WSR18-p/bmw-wsr18.htm

You will need the 1.5 ohm, ' brown ' coil .

And a mounting bracket, unless you can fabricate one yourself .

[Justin B.]

Also, sometimes the stock spark plug wire ends at the spark plug can cause issues when wet.