Was it the rain? I don't know but you might.

[Barneycanoe]

1982 GS850GLZ Maroon 27500 miles.

Got caught in a thunderstorm yesterday, just as I was about to go on reserve. I kind of felt the engine sputtering a bit, and I put the petcock on reserve. It sputtered more. I realized I had left the choke on a crack (by now I had been riding about 10 mins.) Took off the choke.

Then I hit some heavy rain. The bike seemed to be sputtering - was running about 4000 rpm but wouldn't accelerate (Although I didn't try too much due to the rain)

Could this just have been due to the extremely heavy rain and high humidity or was there something else going on?


Question 2. Later on, out of the rain, I wound the bike up in second gear to just short of the redline (which is 9000 rpm). At about 8500 it seemed to stop pulling, like the power just shut off. 1982 bikes didn't have rev limiters did they?

Cheers

Dave

[Guest]

Maybe the spark plug wires are bad.
Maybe you fouled the spark plugs a bit when running with the choke on.

[Steve]

Answer 1: Had somewhat similar problems with my wife's 850 before I replaced the plug wires. Used to carry a can of WD-40 just to spray on the wires if any moisture was looming on the horizon. Actually, we still carry the WD, just don't need it for the wires any more.

Answer 2: No, no rev limiters. At least not the type you are asking about. Depending on how the rest of the mechanical bits are tuned (valve adjust, carb jetting, air filter cleanliness, etc.), you may have just reached its breathing limit.

.

[bonanzadave]

Try some NGK Plug Caps. Cheap, quick insurance.

[Barneycanoe]

Thanks for the help

I never thought of the plugs - was thinking only of the intake area. You guys are the BEST.

Dave