I've got a problem with mine (2002) starting from cold in the rain. I've got the 150 solenoid and i'm going to check the brown connector and earth wire mods over the weekend. I have a Motobatt MTBX12U that turns over the engine fairly well especially for the first few attempts. The sprag is fine ( I had to change it a couple of years ago). It let me down outside a hotel on Saturday when the bike had been out in the rain overnight. The big battery and jump leads from the breakdown truck got it going within a few seconds. This happened once before when the bike had been out in the rain and the large battery with jump leads worked fine. It plays up when you wash the bike as well and never wants to start afterwards - including today. It's back on the Optimate overnight so i'll try again tomorrow.
I only use the "choke" when i'm starting it and in the dry it's fine. The full throttle technique used to work occasionally when it was wet, but not lately and I don't like to do that after wrecking my sprag before. The battery is at least 3yrs old and i'm wondering if a new one of those Varta TTZ14s-BS batteries might cure the problem, even though the current battery seems ok? I tried to cover the left air scoop this afternoon with tape when I washed the bike but it didn't make any difference. It had new plugs/leads and caps a few weeks ago. Any suggestions? I can't find an answer in other posts unless i've missed something.
