Motorcycle Repair: 1995 honda vt1100 c2 electrical problems, VT1100C2, spark

Question
I have a 1995 honda vt1100 c2 A.C.E. A few months a go I washed the bike and took it for a ride.The bike began to sputter and then died. I pushed it home and began to diagnose. I was getting intermitant spark and determend it was a bad cdi box, so i ordered a used box with no fix. After playing with the ignition pulse generator connections i seemed to have fixed the problem.  I put about 600 miles on the bike and washed it a couple of times with no problems. This past weekend I washed the bike and got ready to take it for a ride. It was running fine until I stood it up to pull up the kick stand. it then began to run on one cylinder amd back fire. I added more fuel and it would only run on one cylinder still after trying to trouble shoot for a bit I could not get it to start again. I waited a day and still it would not start, no spark. today I played with the wires to the ignition pulse generator. and can get it to run consistant on one cylinder. I have 12 volts going to the coil. I have proper resistance at the coil. but no spark. it is the coil that provides spark to the rear cylinder. To make a long story short, How can I be sure it is the Ignition pulse generator, and do you have any ideas. My brain is racked. Any help would be great. thanks

Answer
It sounds like water could be getting into something and if it is just happening when you wash it (you didn't mention if it happened in the rain) then maybe the pressure from the hose is what's getting the water in where it shouldn't be. Or maybe the water is just running into something when you wash it from a direction it doesn't normally run from in the rain.

You don't use a pressure washer, do you? Using a pressure washer to clean it is just about the worst thing you can do to a bike. The extremely high pressure can force water into a lot of places that it should never get to, such as past oil seals and into the bearings behind them. A lot of wheel bearings have been destroyed that way.

I wouldn't suspect the pulse generators itself because it is under a cover with a gasket that should protect it from the water. If water got in there you would have bigger problems than no spark.

My first suggestion would be the connector where the pulse generator plugs in. It is possible that water is collecting in the connector and causing a short or partial short of the pulses.

Try it again now that it has had a chance to dry out overnight. If it starts you need to figure out how the water is getting to the connector and do something to prevent it from happening the next time you wash it. If it still won't start unplug the connector and see if there is water in it. If there is, try drying it out with a hair dryer and again figure out how the water is getting in there and prevent it from happening next time.

Some dielectric grease (available at auto parts dealers) can help keep the connections dry too.

It is also possible that the metal parts inside the connector are corroded and when it gets wet the corrosion conducts and shorts the pulses. If this is the case you can try to clean it out and use dielectric grease to help prevent more corrosion or you can replace the connector with something else - either use crimp on automotive connectors or solder the wires tigether and insulate them with heat shrink tubing.

One final possibility: You could have a broken wire or poor connection and when you wash it you disturb the wires and move something out of contact. If everything is clean & dry and moving the wires around causes you to loose (or regain) spark you need to separate the wires as much as possible and try moving each one around until you find the culprit, then repair that wire or connection.

I would suggest the obvious: If it only happens when you wash the bike, just don't wash it.
But it probably will eventually start happening at other times too and you don't want to find yourself stranded by the side of the road when it does.