Hi guys,

I'm having some trouble with my sporty. I ran in the rain for the second time with my new Heavy Breather. The bike's a 2010 XL1200C with the Fuelpak, breather, and V&H HS Slipons installed.

I was riding in what I'd consider light rain, with the sock installed, and the bike had a rough time. About a minute from home, the bike started to stutter. When I pulled into the driveway, the bike really had difficulty. I could feel the bike beginning to misfire and when I pulled into the garage, it gave a couple of big pops from the filter and died. I removed the sock in the garage, and tried turning it over. It started ok, but within 20 seconds stuttered and died -- with a nice plume of smoke from the air cleaner. All the searches I've done on the site didn't reveal anything like this -- and some people even ran without the sock on!

I'm wondering what you suggest. Could it be an incorrect map in the fuelpak? What about the fact that the bike was in the rain for a few minutes while I ran into the store?

I'm somewhat troubled by this, with all the posts about users not needing the sock, I'm a little curious as to why my bike's giving me a rash of hell.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I'll shoot an email to fuelpak to see what they recommend as well. Thanks!

 

Maybe I need to oil the filter. I did notice the other day that it's getting a little gray. Any suggestions on the oil to use?

My guess is that this is the problem. Still, any suggestions or comments would be appreciated.

 

not a mechanic but sounds to me like a fuel problem not anything to do with the heavy breather.

 

I've only had this issue in this rain. Hasn't done this at any other time. I'll check the FP settings in the morning, though.

 

k&n recharge oil is best.

 

Can you bypass the fuel pack and see if the problem goes away?

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carburetor_icing
sounds like carburetor icing, only your bike is EFI. Still, maybe something to check into. Or dirt in the fuel line/injector. Try a bottle of injector cleaner in the gas tank.

 

Just out of curiosity, once you were in the garage, why would you pull off a WET sock, turn it inside out and reinstall it so that the wettest side of the sock is against the filter?

 

sounds more like your coils got damp just a thought.

 

I've riden several hundred miles in heavy rain on my SG with a RSD exposed ac with no issues. You do want to re-oil after exposure to water as it can and usually will wash away some of the oil in the filter. I cover mine with a plastic sack when I wash them just to prevent always having to re-oil them.