Washing and smoke
 

Hello,

any of my fellow Ten riders had any issues after doing a washing of the bike?
Today I had this strange problem after cleaning my bike. Turned the key as usual, the bike did the fancy light tricks but when pressing the start button, the bike didn't want to start! After a few seconds I just pulled some throttle and the bike came to life.
I just didn't like the smoke that came from the front cable and the smell of burned rubber.
Should this be cause for concern? :eusa_think:

I always use a pressure washer to clean the bike and have never had any issues when starting it.
I would always be concerned about the smell of burnt rubber!!!!!
Have you checked for any obvious damage to cables / connectors?

Does not sound good at all. I would inspect the smoking area & find out where the burning smell came from.

Which "front cable" was it??

Yes, if you've confused burnt rubber with burn plastic, then it is almost certain something shorted out in the wiring and melted... have you checked to see if all the other electrical circuits are working, and any fuses blown?

Jx

I've made a search on all the front cables but couldn't find any burned wires, rubber or plastic. I haven't checked the fuses yet, but i've tested all the lights and everything is working normally.

Let's just hope the bike won't fail me in the middle of nowhere. :D

Thanks for your help.

Just a thought,

When washing it, you haven't dislodged something that has maybe fell onto the header pipes ? A washer, Key ring fob, piece of tape ???

I'd start (in any of the cases) by looking for the evidence of a burn, the header pipe and work my way back - if you find nothing then as Jenny says it's maybe a short somewhere ?? Dare I say the rectifier ????

Good point.

I've only used a wet cloth and didn't forced any parts. I've dropped some water directly near the front screen protection because it's hard to clean between the light plastic and the screen. But even so, I would expect an adventure bike to be waterproof. It wasn't a tsunami on top of the bike. :)

I'll check the fuses later on...

I think we're thinking too hard - although I'm concerned about the 'smoke' you mention in the first post... a burning smell is one thing, but for smoke to appear, things have got really hot...

Was the smoke actually from the wiring (when you say cable, I'm presume you mean wiring cables/loom, not a throttle cable for example) itself, or could it have been from below like Gulgo suggests?

The problem you may have is that something caused a short and melted, but that the plastic coating on the wiring either resealed itself, or is in a position that the short is no longer happening (this happened with a friend of mine's DRZ, twice)... the bike might start/run fine now, but the danger is the exposed wires might touch again, either stopping the bike starting/running, or smoking again...

If you can be sure of where the smoke came from, that would be a start.

Jx

Hello,

today I took the bike to the dealer for the 6.000 Km revision.
I've explained the issue to the mechanic and he told me the smoke would have to come from below the bike, not from the cables on the front.

The bike has been working normally and the symptom haven't occurred since that first wash. I guess I'll have to wash it again to be sure where the smoke comes from. :D

just a thought when i wash the bike i then give it a good spray of wd 40 or similar on start up i get smoke as such from the front header pipes, it could be this that you have noticed it does smell a bit too but soon goes away.

hopefully it is nothing serious

It happened again. A few months have passed since the dealer had to replace the entire electronic cables on the bike, supposedly due to a burned rectifier.
Yesterday I had to leave the bike outside under heavy rain and in the evening, after I start the bike I've felt the same burning rubber smell. No smoke this time, but I really have no idea what can be burning or in short-circuit. :dontknow:
Any ideas?