Burned alternator leads revisited

[redglbx]

Just an FYI, on my 86 Sel the plug for the stator looked perfect,nice clean white plug, until I pulled it apart and found the connectors inside were black and very brittle, and literally just fell apart when I touched them, don’t think just because the plastic connector looks ok that you’re good. By the way I had cleaned and used dielectric grease there when I replaced the regulator/rectifier. Which brings up another point, I thought I had a bad stator because it was a 1200 after all.

I contacted Rick’s about buying a new one and Rick himself told me he’d never seen a bad stator on the Sei/LTD model(different from a normal 1200) and that’s basically what he supplies for replacements, he gave me a procedure (on his website) to check my reg/rectifier which was indeed bad. Part of the problem there is that they bury it under a pile of wire so it gets no air to cool, I found mine to just run incredibly hot, moving things around let me uncover it enough to allow it to run cool, highly recommended!

[Sidecar Bob]

I have a 83 Interstate. Checked my connections and they are clean with no sign of overheat or corrosion. This bike never had a ton of aftermarket lights, CB or radio installed. Just wondering if the people with problems have that heavy load on the charging system?

See post 10 of this thread for a full explanation of why these connectors get hot. It all comes down to bikes that are way past their design's life expectancy and lack of maintenance of the connectors.

[sphen]

Part of the problem there is that they bury it under a pile of wire so it gets no air to cool, I found mine to just run incredibly hot, moving things around let me uncover it enough to allow it to run cool, highly recommended!

can definitely feel the heat from the area around the reg/rect...it does get quite hot (naturally), but makes you wonder if they are truly properly ventilated.