Check engine light on when wet?

[Biquer]

I have a 2008. Whilst on a ride on Saturday I hit a big rain storm that took me about 2 hours to drive through. Twice during the (very heavy) rain the check engine light came on. I hit the kill switch off and on and it went out. After the rain I had about 500 more miles in dry weather with no issues. I have a lot of miles on this bike and I have ridden through day-long rainstorms previously with no ill effects. I checked for fault codes and no 32 was listed. The bike was running fine. I've trawled the forum for anything relevant with no real luck. Anyone else experience this?

 

[mcatrophy]

Fault code 32 suggests air/fuel ratio is too rich. Workshop manual suggests it could be caused by a open or short circuited O2 sensor. So maybe a connector complaining about water.

Could it be because of a waterlogged air filter?

 

[steve_g]

My 13 has the oil level light come on when wet. So far it looks like the problem is in the meter assembly.

 

[ionbeam]

The signal from the O2 sensor is very small and has to change in a very particular way to be seen as valid. It isn't unheard of for water to cause the sensor to pop an error code in the wet. The sensor must also be at a certain temperature to send a valid signal and perhaps all the water kept the sensor body too cool.

In all cases this is a non issue. If it really bothers you, just unplug it a la PC III

 

[Biquer]

Thanks for the replies. It doesn't really bother me, the bike ran fine. I was just wondering if a particular sensor or other piece of electrickery could do with a shot of silicone spray.

 

[Geezer]

I would probably not even notice the check engine light while I was riding in heavy rain because I rarely look down at the instrument cluster. However, if I did see it I'd like to know why it came on.

If you think it may be related to the O2 sensor, then maybe you could use some high temperature silicon or something similar to seal the exposed connectors and make it waterproof. That would remove that possibility.

It is unlikely that the air filter is getting very wet because it is well protected, but if the rain is heavy enough I suppose enough rain could be drawn in with the air. If that happened you will probably see water stains or other evidence on the filter even after it dries.

 

[audiowize]

The connector is way up by the bottom of the gas tank and shouldn't be too bothered by water. Yes, the voltage developed is small, but at the same time, water won't conduct much with such a low potential.

If you rode through very deep water that immersed the catalytic converter, this would potentially cause your issue.

If the light went out on its own, then you're good to go!

 

[RossKean]

Just noticed this thread...

Does your bike have a Power Commander? I used to get this from time-to-time; especially riding in wet/damp weather. It didn't seem to hurt the bike or driveability in any way.

I removed the Power Commander (didn't like what it did to fuel mileage) and haven't had that fault code come up since then.

 

[David Morrow]

I have a 2003 which I've owned almost since new and this happened to me very early on in a very light rain. It still comes on just about every time I ride in the rain. In a long stretch of rain it'll stay for a while and then go out. Repeat. Best fix is a bit of black tape over the light.

 

[fjrob1300]

My 03 light has come on numerous times in heavy rain. Ignore it.