OhioDeere
Been There, Done That, Got the Shirt.
The last couple of rides I was having problems of all sorts. high beam indicator coming on when switch was off, ignition key off and dash lights on. various dash lights on when they shouldn't be. Dim lights on dash. Bike would not start after stopping for fuel, however would then start with reset of ignition switch, etc.
Various searches on this site produced a ton of info all pointing towards connector or ground wire issues.
So last night I started in on the search to find the problem.
What I found (by no surprise) all of the wire harness connectors on the left side just below fuel tank had some sort of oxidation, corrosion or another.
Problem was started by the poly or rubber "boot" that is used to contain or cover up the connectors. This boot was installed (probably from OEM) backwards. the opening was facing upward and tight seal around harness was at the bottom. Thus acting as a cup to hold water!!
Prior to disturbing the connectors. I "pinned" (using straight pins) a few wires to get a ohm meter on them and found several with 5-100 ohms across the connector. This was definitely the problem.
To clean them I used WD40 to remove dirt, grime, dielectric grease, etc from them. soaked each connector with electrical cleaner and over again. Put all the connectors back together and tested with ohm meter. One of the small red connectors had to be re-done as the ohm meter reading on what was the worst corroded pin wasn't satisfying.
Now going back together is another issue. what to do to prevent this again. The rubber boots aren't going back on. The only way to get them on correctly is to cut them off. So re-installing them is pointless.
I can obtain fairly easily CRC silicone lubricant. a research of the MSDS sheet shows its a mild solvent with silicone. By soaking the connector and wiring with this, the solvent will evaporate off and leave a silicone film to keep water off the contact surface.. Remind you that this will be applied after the connectors are put together.
I know there is allot of products out there that everyone will prescribe however I spent a couple of hours on the internet and phone to find something readily available which was fruitless.
When I did electronic board repair for military electronic companies we would use conformal coatings which were basically silicone film product for water resistant specs.
I also checked just about every connector on the bike and only found this area to be of problem..
Various searches on this site produced a ton of info all pointing towards connector or ground wire issues.
So last night I started in on the search to find the problem.
What I found (by no surprise) all of the wire harness connectors on the left side just below fuel tank had some sort of oxidation, corrosion or another.
Problem was started by the poly or rubber "boot" that is used to contain or cover up the connectors. This boot was installed (probably from OEM) backwards. the opening was facing upward and tight seal around harness was at the bottom. Thus acting as a cup to hold water!!
Prior to disturbing the connectors. I "pinned" (using straight pins) a few wires to get a ohm meter on them and found several with 5-100 ohms across the connector. This was definitely the problem.
To clean them I used WD40 to remove dirt, grime, dielectric grease, etc from them. soaked each connector with electrical cleaner and over again. Put all the connectors back together and tested with ohm meter. One of the small red connectors had to be re-done as the ohm meter reading on what was the worst corroded pin wasn't satisfying.
Now going back together is another issue. what to do to prevent this again. The rubber boots aren't going back on. The only way to get them on correctly is to cut them off. So re-installing them is pointless.
I can obtain fairly easily CRC silicone lubricant. a research of the MSDS sheet shows its a mild solvent with silicone. By soaking the connector and wiring with this, the solvent will evaporate off and leave a silicone film to keep water off the contact surface.. Remind you that this will be applied after the connectors are put together.
I know there is allot of products out there that everyone will prescribe however I spent a couple of hours on the internet and phone to find something readily available which was fruitless.
When I did electronic board repair for military electronic companies we would use conformal coatings which were basically silicone film product for water resistant specs.
I also checked just about every connector on the bike and only found this area to be of problem..
