Motorcycle Repair: Bike Wont Start after sitting in rain, ninja 250, bill silver

Question
Bill,

My 2003 Ninja 250 sat in the rain last night and this morning I started it up and it turned on with a little choke. After 2 minutes of riding it out, it died out on me whenever the bike idled - I would have to hold the throttle in. Eventually, that didn't work anymore and I walked the bike home. The bike was working perfectly yesterday so I don't understand what the problem is. I appreciate any and all help.

Thank you,

PJ

Answer
Pj....not real familiar with the details of this bike, but I would say in general that rain has either gotten in the ignition switch, handlebar kill switch or perhaps gotten in and around the spark plug caps, shorting out the sparks.

It may have cleared up by the time you get this message, if it was just needing to evaporate from wherever it was causing the problem. This kind of problem often happens when a bike is subjected to a carwash nozzle or other kinds of pressure washing.

Bill Silver