Towed...........

[Kybenz]

Originally Posted by Big_Angus

This exact thing happened to me last summer during my trip through BC. I was in the Nicola Valley when all of a sudden my stereo cut out, headlight went out and my speedo was acting like a tach. I had just gone through a wicked rainstorm and heavy winds so I assumed something was shorted out. So here I am on the side of the highway literally an hour out of the nearest town scratching my head. What I found was this. I pulled the battery out and in front of the battery there is a wiring harness where all the ground wires connect for the bike. I believe there was 14 wires in total. The main ground black/yellow comes in on one end and then it essentially connects 13 more wires together. All which are black/yellow stripe. The main ground pin in the harness was burnt/melted making a terrible connection. Im made a jumper to get me going to the first house I came across. I borrowed a soldering iron and some extra tools and was back on the road in a couple hours. I made sure all my connections were good and I haven't had a problem since.

Same here. I shared that with him on his speedo post but as yet am not sure if he has checked that out. This connector is the MAIN ground buss for everything that he is having issues with, and you are correct there are 14 wires there.
Regulator/Rectifier - Rear (Charging issue)
Battery Negative Post - (Two wires)
Starter Relay
Radiator Fan
Turn Signal Control Relay
Oil Pressure Warning Light Delay Unit
Joint Connector #1
Regulator/Rectifier - Front (Charging issue.)
Speed Sensor (speedo acting like a tach.)
Electronic Control Unit (ECU) - (Four wires) (Backfiring)
Crank Shaft Sensors (no start)
Frame Ground
Fuel Level Sensor
Fuel Reserve Switch
Side Stand Switch
License Plate Light
Tail/Brake Light
Rear Accessory Connection.
Mine melted and when it did I had your symptoms and then some, speedo acted like a tach, turn signals wonky, backfiring on accel.Every one I have seen has also failed on the very end and made a mess of the connector. And now that you have chimed in it makes six bikes I am aware of that have had this EXACT same issue. Piss Poor design by MamaKaw. IMHO. Also this is not really a "connector" as it doesn't plug into anything it is simply a ground junction point. It wii affect charging, starting, FI, speed sensor, etc. everything you are experiencing. PLEASE look there first. easy to get to and takes mere minutes once you pull the seat and sometimes the battery to access it. It is wrapped with copious amounts of tape however.

[mr500]

I plan on looking at the junction tomorrow if I can get the rain to pass me by. Its the easiest to check.

I did look at it about 3 weeks ago as I had light issues and it was good. But I will look at it again. At this point anything is possible lol


Mike

[macmac]

Originally Posted by mr500

Is there an easier way to check the regulator(s) with out taking off the outside cover? Im trying to get a game plan for later in the week. Looks like it wants to rain damn near everyday except tomorrow.

Charged the batt up to 100% so I am ready to start with my meter but Im going to look at all the wiring around the batt IE the ground junction etc..

Just for my Info what's a shop charge for stator replacement? I am not set up to do that job. No way of jacking up the engine etc... So if I have to have that done it will go to a shop...

No. The best access is under the left side cover, and so the board needs off the crash guard needs loose enough to move it out of the way, both shifter bolts need to be removed completely, and then the shifters need to be yanked off after you note the dot marks or make your own marks. With the cover off and being certain the trans in in neutral you can access the wire connectors.

I am not sure if power gets to the Alts with the key off. So probe the connectors and see if there is battery voltage there first, if not turn the key on. It might be wise to pull a coil wire off each coil so they won't heat up.

Check battery voltage often at the battery. and probe the connectors seeking battery voltage. when you find that you have found a reg reg wire that is battery volts. Put the coil wires back on and start the engine. Next seek wires that are 1/2 battery voltage. These will be field wires. If these read high or low (not 1/2) the rec regs are bad. if you can;t find any reading other than the battey voltage the stators are bad.

There will be a black yellow wire which is ground and you can stick a paper clip in that to test if the ground is good after you find the battery + wires.

These wires will be all different colors.

There are more wires all the same color and these are AC volts. So set the meter to the ac side and see what these readings are. All these same color wires are going to the rec rgs to be converted from AC to DC volts.

1/2 of these wires end up going to ground thru the resistance of the rec regs, and just make heat which is why the rec regs have fins.

[mr500]

FOUND IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Holy Crapp Look what I found. This thing was brand new 2 weeks ago when I checked it. I guess moving it around and re taping it pissed it off. Its burnt dammit. WOW.

Whats the best you guys have come up with to fix this? I read where someone bought a buss bar for an electrical panel and wired the grounds back together that way.

[macmac]

Depends on how fancy you want it. If it were mine i would cut off the burn, strip all the wires and twist them all good adding one more in 12 ga wire with heat shrink on the wires, and solder them all as one, Slip the heat shrink over them with a good smear of dielectric grease and shrink the tubing. Tape over that 4 inches to each side and ground that wire you added in. Not real fancy huh ?

[ringadingh]

I'd splice and solder new wires were yours got melted. I'd also pull the LH crankcase cover and check the rectifier connections, as they tend to heat up and melt also. Check all the plugs you can see and pull them apart to see that they are all clean and tight. I use an anti corrosion paste on the plugs to help prevent this from happening.

[Kybenz]

I had a feeling you should look there first. My way worked for me with an electrical buss bar as you can see from previous post. Or you can go with Macs way and put them together with solder. Bottom line be sure to get all the wires clean twisted tied and soldered very well before you put them in a busbar or just solder them together it really doesn't matter. I did check my stator plugs when this was over and they were fine. But that was on my bike. Be sure you do what Mac says and cover whatever you do with dielectric grease and plenty of electrical tape to keep that watertight. As you know and now grounds can be a bitch when they start degrading. I am sure this problem is lurking under a lot of peoples butts right now just waiting to rear its ugly head in the worst possible place and time. That is now the sixth picture I've seen where they all melt in the exact same place. I am sure this is a design flaw. Like you said it was fine a couple weeks ago and now it looks destroyed this is just the nature of the beast, I doubt what you did caused it. The loose spade connector in the housing is the problem.

[mr500]

Ill have to pick up some dielectric grease from Advance today. What's the best Contact Cleaner that you guys have had the best results for you guys? I was thinking some CRC from the auto store?

Does it matter which gnd is soldered to which gnd? Is there a method to the madness.

Never seen gnds do this, but Im not electrical lol.

Gonna be fun that's for sure. lol

[Kybenz]

[QUOTE=mr500;625467]Ill have to pick up some dielectric grease from Advance today. What's the best Contact Cleaner that you guys have had the best results for you guys? I was thinking some CRC from the auto store?

Does it matter which gnd is soldered to which gnd? Is there a method to the madness.

Never seen gnds do this, but Im not electrical lol.

Gonna be fun that's for sure.

Do what you feel you can do best. That is why I soldered 7 and 7 together and then also tightened them down inside a buss bar. The main thing is be sure you strip back to shiny copper, solder securely, and protect the final job from moisture and corrosion. I am sure I went overkill on mine but I can assure you, it's not going to fail there again. I do like Mac's idea of adding a heavy gauge wire to the mix and running that to a secondary ground point. Easy fix really and beats all the other issues that it could have been.

[macmac]

Originally Posted by mr500

Ill have to pick up some dielectric grease from Advance today. What's the best Contact Cleaner that you guys have had the best results for you guys? I was thinking some CRC from the auto store?

Does it matter which gnd is soldered to which gnd? Is there a method to the madness.

Never seen gnds do this, but Im not electrical lol.

Gonna be fun that's for sure. lol

No All grounds are ground and add another wires to the bunch somehow (just solder in a spare 12 ga black wire , solder on a naked eye and bolt that to the frame, cleaning some existing bolt, like the battery hold down bar.And clean the battery hold down bar to the frame. The frame is ground the (-) side of the battery is ground, the ground cable is ground on both ends , clean these grounds.

CRC brand is fine.

[macmac]

AND for anyone with after market passing lamps on the ft forks ADD a ground wire from the head light bucket / forks / forks covers / etc etc to the frame ! All on existing bolts. otherwise the neck bearings, the ones you steer with yeah those...... become little black rocks!

Moving greasy bearings don't make good grounds and neither do the bearing races. Arcing happens over time and it just chews the shit out of these bearings and races.

[macmac]

The blasted connector: One wire got to be like the feet on the wicked witch of the west and friggin curled up and caused a High resistance, due to some spec of dirt got on it and then fried the rest. High Resistance does that. It can happen on the + side of things as well. Sometimes you get warning like a head lamp is dim. You see that on trucks and cars all the time. One bright head lamp one dim one......... Yeah that's a bad ground usually right at the plug in for that lamp and if not down line to grd somewhere, where ever that IS on the make and model. AC and heater motors are also common. For years on Volvo the brush holders would melt being plastic. Some bean counter thought he was an engineer. The book gave 10 hours , which the bean counters didn't like to pay for, so they told us to hack a ole in the blower squirrel cages and just use duct tape to cover it all back up. I never did that. but i would on a bean counters car if I knew he was one I didn't like some customers much and if they got high and mighty I would charge a variety of unheard of fees.

Like for doctors asking too many questions about how the repairs were made I would add on a consulting fee that had to be paid. For lawyers I added on fees that were hidden LOL. For regular folks I did lots of things for free. And for the whiners who said I made their cars rust I told them to go tell 10 friends to never ever come to my shop. And they could never come back either. And for local bean counters i would sneak over to their mansions at night and either steal gasoline or add it. I got reports these cars were so bad like 2 MPGs one week, and the next 55 MPG's from the gloating bean counter that it was real fun.

[mr500]

Sounds good. When U guys solder wires, do u twist them then solder? or push them together end to end then solder? I have not done this solder thing for a longgggggg time hahah

[Kybenz]

Originally Posted by mr500

Sounds good. When U guys solder wires, do u twist them then solder? or push them together end to end then solder? I have not done this solder thing for a longgggggg time hahah

I prefer twist and solder.
Twist and shout or twist one up....it's all good.

[recumbentbob]

Twisted