Electrical Issue??

[Dr. Frankenstein]

It's decided then, I'll change that sucker out ASAP. I did also buy a sealed AGM battery for it, I have developed a preference for them since they seem to hold a charge a lot longer than the regular 'add-acid' batteries I previously used in my other bikes.

The connector seems OK, so I guess that's a good sign -but based on all the posts here and the literature fixing that problem it's the thing to do. And me and my soldering gun have known each other Intimately for several years now, so that's no problem. A couple years ago I brought home a '78 KZ650 with an absolute rat's nest of wiring that had somehow been burned and melted when it was last on the road in the Eighties, and I'm happy to say that's my daily driver now. Big learning curve though, with hours spent in the garage with a voltmeter and schematic. Yah - Good Times.

Note, I only brought the GL home last month and am taking my time with it because I want to do it right, meaning I have high hopes it will start, run and idle with no problems. The engine turns over easily by hand, I put the new belts on, the carb rebuild is underway, and I still have to figure out why my headlight won't come on but everything else will - I'm Hoping it's just a burned-out bulb(haven't tested it yet), but I'm usually not that lucky - but sometimes the Motorcycle Gods smile on you, y'know?

[Fred Camper]

Dirty ignition switch is also common on these 40 something young ladies. Emco ignition can be used to replace the old plastic bits and you can then reuse the upper key parts. That way no key change is needed. The Emco switch has been working well for me for some 6 years now.

[Sidecar Bob]

Yes, this is a common problem but it is not a design flaw, merely that proper maintenance is not stressed (& usually not understood).

These connectors almost never fail due to overload (too much current passing through them). They are made to carry the full current of the regulator, (it regulates by passing current to ground until the load pulls the voltage down to the desired value). The usual cause of failure is for the terminals inside the connectors to become corroded. When the terminals are "clean" (no oxidization, good contact) the resistance of the contact points is close enough to zero to not make any difference but as they oxidize & the oxidation works its way between the contact points the resistance can increase to a measurable level.

For those not familiar with electrical principles, 2 of them apply here:
1) The voltage divider principle, which states that when there are multiple loads in series the voltage across each of them is in proportion to their individual resistances.
Examples (values selected to make the maths easy):
- if you have two 5 ohm resistances in series across a 10V supply, each of the resistors will "drop" 5V
- if you have a 30 ohm resistor in series with a 70 ohm resistor across a 20V supply the 30 ohm will drop 6V and the 70 ohm will drop 14V
2) Power = voltage multiplied by current (usually expressed P=E X I) and any power produced in a resistance has to be dissipated as heat (more power = more heat)

When the resistance is close to zero not much voltage will drop across it but as the resistance increases the voltage across the contacts will increase and, as the voltage increases the power will also increase, causing the terminals to heat up, which will accelerate the rate of oxidization, increasing the voltage, power, heat and so on until there is enough heat to melt the plastic.

So what causes the oxidization? Exposure to the elements (= rain water and dirt finding their way in) can play a role but mostly it is just exposure to the air for a few decades.

And how can we prevent it? The manuals never mention it (probably because they didn't expect them to last much longer than the first maintenance interval anyway) but the terminals inside all of those connectors used on your bike really should receive periodic maintenance. The easiest thing to do is to simply unplug the connector and plug it back in again every 4 or 5 years so that any oxidation between the contact points is pushed out of the way. If you spray a bit of contact cleaner in after unplugging and unplug & re-plug it several times more of the oxidation will be removed and you can increase the interval to 7 or 8 years. If you really want to do it right, a tiny amount of dielectric grease or equivalent (whatever you use must be non-conductive) applied to the contact points before re-plugging can help prevent new oxidation from happening, increasing the interval to over 10 years, depending on the conditions the machine is used in and where on the bike the connector is.

FWIW, my CX is used in the winter on salted roads so I try to do the connectors in the area between the engine and the rear wheel every couple of years and the ones in the wiring box (where the headlight would be on a non-faired bike) about every 5 years. My GoldWing does not see salty roads so its connectors get serviced when they are disturbed or if I am working on something nearby and think of it.

I do NOT recommend soldering the yellow wires. Unless you are expert at soldering and the wires are completely clean (= no oxidation) you are likely to overheat the wires and they will become brittle next to the solder joint, potentially breaking at a later time due to vibration. I also don't recommend using so-called "sealed" connectors because they won't seal perfectly on cloth covered wires (like the ones from the stator) and once water gets in it will stay in and corrode the contacts.
The original type of connectors that Honda used are open so that any water that gets in can easily drain out and if maintained they will be fine for many years if the terminals are crimped onto the wires properly.

[Fred Camper]

The issue I see with cleaning the connectors is the next owner will forget. We really want a solution to last another 40 years. So cleaning and packing them with dielectric grease seems reasonable, but I would go one step further and remove the terminals out of the plastic and replace the three gang plastic with an 8. The 8 gang plastic connector is on the same wires near the regulator, so it can handle it. Now you can space the three wires out in the 8 gang connector body so no two wires are next to each other. That will eliminate the tendency to melt the plastic and result in a short. But many of us have soldered those wires and not seen fatigue, but certainly solder ability varies greatly and the longer you apply heat the more likely you are to make a brittle joint, I do see your point Bob.

[Sidecar Bob]

I don't think that will make much difference. It is heat generated between the male and female terminals inside the connector that causes the damage so the plastic will still melt.

[pidjones]

I don't think that will make much difference. It is heat generated between the male and female terminals inside the connector that causes the damage so the plastic will still melt.

I think the point being that with the greater separation, little chance of them touching and taking out the stator.

[Sidecar Bob]

OK, I can see that. But it won't help prevent the terminals from getting hot in the first place.

[pjlogue]

What Sidecar Bob said is very good advice. I have done repairs on many car wiring and what I have found is to do a splice, you have to go way up the wire before you get into "good" wire for either soldering or crimping. The crimp connectors on these bikes were two part and made to keep air and water out. The fist crimp was on the exposed wire and was done with enough force to deform the wire so it was basically air tight. The second part was at the end of the insulation with enough force to make the end of the insulation air tight. This worked for a decade providing the connector didn't over heat. Once the connector overheats corrosion starts quickly.

If you splice anywhere on the harness you need to be sure the wires you either solder or crimp are bright and shiny. The splice needs to be supported and use heat shrink tubing with heat activated glue on the inside of the tube. If you clean or replace any connectors be sure both male and female parts are very clean (cleaning the inside of a female connector is difficult) and use silicone vacuum grease liberally on both pieces. If you have a connector that was over heated just replace it as the heat has destroyed the temper in the metal and it will no longer make a good electrical contact that will last.

-P.

[ob1quixote]

Problem isnt limited to the GW, I had the exact same connector fail on my Suzuki DRZ400.

[Dr. Frankenstein]

Well, in my case the point is moot because I soldered them up yesterday and sealed them with shrink-tubing, and yes I did have nice bright shiny copper showing; so we'll see what happens.

While I loathe to cut any wires unnecessarily - I think in the almost 20 years I've been working on bikes I have literally only intentionally cut six 'good-looking' wires, and that includes the three I cut yesterday - I did that because the preponderance of evidence in here and elsewhere seems to reveal a documented history of these parts going bad over time if they are not "fixed", so I went ahead and did it, despite the fact that my three-wire spade connectors looked brand new, shiny and un-burnt, with a light coating of dielectric grease on them.

That being said, there is still enough 'meat' left on the wires that nothing I did can't be corrected if anything ugly happens. I thought about using bullet connectors but instead soldered them in-line with the wires as per the recommendations in here. So there you have it. If I had seen Sidecar Bob's post before the operation, it might have been different - but It Is What It Is now; so I hope this will help the bikes operation.

[tlbranth]

I replaced the high amp connectors with Anderson Powerpole connectors. They can be fastened together in any configuration and I've had no melting problems since.
https://powerwerx.com/anderson-powerpol ... gK5WfD_BwE
Many sellers. I used the 30 amp version