Can Washing Cause Bike Trouble

I had my bike washed at a car wash place that sponges down, hand wipes and then blow dries. They do a nice thorough job, but generally know nothing about bikes. This weekend after a wash the bike sounded a little less steady when idling, so I went to a friend's place nearby and we dried it more thoroughly with a stronger dryer he had in his garage. Today, (4 days later) after riding about 6 highway miles, my bike stalled when I stopped for a light after exiting. It started up OK and I then went back home, 5 miles with no issues.

Can washing adversely affect bikes?

UGGHHH! I hope my bike is OK and that a little riding did it some good. The stalling out thing has never happened though, so it has me a little worried. I'm planning on riding from home (Manhattan) to New Jersey on Sunday for a HOG charity event. It's relatively close, but still, another state, which can make towing more complicated. I was really happy that I didn't have to hand wash the bike myself since I live in an apartment and don't have my own garage, but I guess I'll get the ol' bucket out and clean it carefully myself next time.

I'll try to take it out for a local ride before the Sunday ride. It was cold today (37), and at first I thought it was just the cold weather making it stall, but then realized that can't be, 37 degrees isn't that cold and I just rode 6 miles at 60- 70 mph, so the engines should be plenty warm. Also I have EFI, so it should never really stall. One other thought, I added the wiring for using a battery tender this Sunday. I haven't needed to use one yet, as I average 2 one hour rides (or more) a week in the winter. I installed it just in case there's lots of snow and I can't ride. Could this have made any difference in stalling/performance?

Chuck hit it on the head water and electrical current, it doesn't work in a bath tub and it doesn't work on the road. dielectric grease on every thing that connects, bulbs included, heat shrink on as much bare + wires and connections as possible and once you have good grounds brush on a little liquid electrical tape to seal them, and paint or seal the battery connections some way, that will eliminate the water/salt/future corrosion problems.
although, you may also look under the tank, seat, where the washing was done to see if a connection may have gotten loosened up during the wash.

wash or no wash

YES, never never wash your bike, and don't ride in the rain.

Thanks Chuck, I'll check those connections tomorrow and see what's up there.

AFN, good to hear from you. I agree, I almost always choose riding over cleaning, but I do enjoy seeing my ride all shiny and clean when I'm meeting up with a babe somewhere... or hoping to

unfortunatly I get to ride in the rain all the time, and I think that they build bikes pretty weather proof, not just for sunny days:roflmao: rain doesn't help with the problems it could cause, but when you wash your bike you get water in places that the rain won't. you prob. just had a nicely soaked air filter, so you might want to look at it and if it's wet let it air dry out, if its the stock one you might just replace it being that it's like paper

Went out for an hour today, ran about 15 miles. I filled the tank in case the last batch of gas had any issues. Did 1/2 highway, 1/2 street, got up to 6th gear a few times, and the bike ran OK.

I'm nearing 4,000 miles now and am debating if I should bother with Harley Davidson's 5,000 mile service. I think they mainly change oil and clean filters, but mine's been changed, I have a Kuryakin Big Sucker air filter that I can clean myself and the clutch was recently adjusted. It's possible I could use a tune up by spring, but I think that's all I might need. I'd also like to switch from dino to synthetic, but I'm afraid of creating the whine I've heard about occasionally.

you have 6 gears, must be nice. my last one had 4 and this one has 5 and it still feels like it runs like the 4 except I have to shift faster, top end doesn't feel like I got a extra gear from the 4

Hey Sportsterboy, good to hear from you. I do miss my Sporty and wish I could have kept it. I needed the cash for the down payment on my Dyna. The thing with the six gears is the comfort zone in each gear is almost always at a the right speed. With the Sporty I often felt like like shifting, but it was too soon.

Hellboy, my serk came with SYN3 oil, i changed to dino then went to Mobil 1 V-Twin SYN oil in all three holes, motor and tranny are not as noisey and the tranny shifts a lot better, clanging in the tranny when changing gears seems to be gone.

Thanks DKIN, so at first you had synthetics, then you tried dino and decided syn was better, so you switched back, right? Can you elaborate a bit? Is there a whine when you're cruising?

Also, I sure wouldn't mind an easier shift into neutral, sometimes I have to try 3-4 times before finally getting to neutral. I know it's not a clutch adjustment, since I had that done recently.

Hellboy, Yes the bike new from factory had SYN3 in it, At first oil change dealer talked me into dino oil, only in the motor, said to leave syn in primary and tranny which i did. His reason for the dino was to make the motor run quieter and cooler. Before i go any further i have a 07 Screamin Eagle with the 110ci. which you know the 07 runs hotter than anything H-D had ever come out with and the 110's are hotter than the 96 ci. The dino did make run quieter but not any cooler plus i think oil was breaking down because of the temp. so after two more oil changes i went back to SYN3, the noise came back, so at the last change after doing some research i was going to change to Amsoil Syn but only one auto parts store here Amsoil so went with Mobil 1 V-Twin in all 3 holes, So far so good. The only noise (whine) you should be able to hear in the tranny is in 5th because of the different cut than the rest of the gears. The Mobil 1 seems to have made a big difference. I think i read you have 4,000 miles on your bike, i had 12,500 on mine when i went to the Mobile 1, so i would not worry about changing to SYN or to a different brand.

Hellboy, As far as having trouble getting into neutral, mine was the same way and the more miles you put on the bike the eaiser it will get, I know the oil changes are expensive if you have it done by a dealer, but if you can do it yourself i would change oil in all 3 holes at every change, the reason is that there are 3 Dyna's in our group all 6 speeds that have had a bearing in the tranny go out, one at about 4000 another at 5500 miles and the last one at 26,000 miles, The last one changes all 3 holes every 3,000 to 3500 miles. All three bikes are 06's but have found out that all the 6 speeds are having same problem. Might be something to think about.

DKIN21, thanks for the helpful tips. I've heard of the "5th gear" whine, and that's what I've been concerned about. Most of my highway rides are in 5th gear between 60 and 70 MPH. I only go to 6th when I'm staying at cruising speeds for a while.

FLHTbiker, the Redline you're using is synthetic or dino? What weights?