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gl1200a - caught fire @ stator plug

4K views 40 replies 14 participants last post by  CWN 
#1 ·
Yesterday I was out enjoying the weather and running errands on the bike. Caught a whiff of that ozone smell you get when electricity arcs. I blamed the car in front of me, thought maybe it was brakes or who know what. It kept getting stronger. After a minute or two I looked down, and there were flames coming out around my left side cover. I drove it into a shallow ditch and snatched off the cover and patted the flames out. I called for a ride and came back for it with trailer.

So.. the wiring around that 3 wire plug burnt to a crisp. The plug was not OE.. some previous owner had swapped it in there and I checked it out and put dilectric grease on it when I got the bike. So I knew about this but figured I was covered.

Is there any point in even testing my stator? the wires are crispy fried below the plug, I'll have to go way on down there to see if there's anywhere that has insulation left on it. above the plug looks ok. I already talked to poorboy to make sure he's still in business with those kit parts (he is). So I'll probably be getting into that soon.. I just want to make sure there's no hope for my stator
 
#4 ·
well I had literal flames.. orange and yellow coming out around side panel. speaking of I need a new side panel.

thanks, I will test my stator with fingers crossed.

So why are you not a fan of the poor boy alternator route? Sounds like a slam dunk to me.
 
#9 ·
I think it was the insulation, there was little to no grease on those wires and the grease inside the plug did not burn, the plug was blackened on the outside but was not the source of the fire and was basically intact after. there were 3-4 inches of bare copper exposed on each wire with no insulation left. Here's the only picture I took and it's not too good.

yeah if somebody has that stator test procedure handy that would be great.

 
#7 ·
And you guys wonder why I still talk about the dreaded 3 wire stator connector.
There are still bikes without the fix riding around, blissfully ignorant...

Honda used it on most of their bike line from the 70s-80s and on. It does corrode, get loose, melt thru
and yes---- even the possibility of Fire- which is more exciting than you would think!
Even the Honda/Acura cars use the same connector- fried the cabin fan motor on my Acura.

If you see the problem before its serious, Cut back wires till you find good, then splice and solder in a replacement set of wires,
minus the connector- its only there for assembly.
If you need to take the stator out in the future, apply wire cutters~

Hopefully all is well inside the stator- Good Hunting!
 
#11 ·
High heat from resistance cooked what was an inadequate for the job connector's housing. Hard to say looking at the pictures, but some of that wire they used looks a bit small too. There is a good amount of current that they deal with.

I know when I bought my 1200 in 1995 it's connector was already spliced and I lost one leg of the stator couple/three years later. I replaced the stator with Honda supplied one and a new plug .... still looks nice and OEM yellow, shiny brass, no burning.

http://goldwingdocs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=35206

Just sayin' ......... ;)
Good thread.
 
#13 ·
My 85 ltd stator harness went up in a cloud of smoke as I watched the wires burn into the case with 24k on it back in 86. The only 1200 that I won't install a poorboy kit in would be my 84 S.
 
#14 · (Edited)
So the main reason to NOT do the poorboy alternator is to keep your bike in factory condition. I can respect that, not wanting to chop up your pristine specimen.

Thanks AzGL.. I'm going to do those tests..
--If the wires aren't burnt all the way to the stator housing and
--If none of the legs are shorted to ground and
--all have the correct resistance between each other
Then I will crimp in new heavy gauge wiring, shrink tube it, and go about my business with factory charging. Otherwise I'll be looking into the poorboy fix. Will post up here what happens.

oh and Crystal P I think you are exactly right about the failure. wimpy gauge wire it looks like. I'll be replacing with something stouter if it's not too late.
 
#18 ·
DDLewis
I don't understand keeping the bike in factory condition, that stator design has been flawed since day one, the poor boy is how the bike should have been designed from the start.
Factory condition or not that stator plug will fail, it just a matter of time & miles.
My poor boy has been installed for 3 years with no electrical issues since, runs like a top.
Just my 2 cents.

Goodoni
 
#16 ·
Here is the 3-part stator test :

http://www.goldwingfacts.com/GL1200Statortest.htm

as well as also testing the rect/reg ( see your Honda manual )

I would either add an EC harness ... or hard solder / double shrink wrap all the connections at the RR and at the stator .

thats about 10 solder joints .

Strip back all wires till you get good clean wire ... possibly add some extra wire.
Use a western union splice , and practise a bit ... its tough to do correctly

IMHO a fire in the plug does not necessarily fry the stator or RECT / reg .. test to see

I agree with Dennis ...
I am also mildly " anti-poorboy "

Although a Poorboy gives you power to burn ( LOL ) careful selection of LEDs and you can have a 1200 wing the way the original engineers designed it

SilverDave
 
#20 ·
The Honda dealer will happily sell you-- what the experienced clerk called The GoldWing Update kit ~$25 (years ago for my 86 Shadow)

they said: Fits all Honda 3 wire stators over 2 decades- If you own any older Honda atv thru Wing, replace or simply remove that connector.
Same amount of work involved, if you need to remove stator in the future apply cutters to the wires.

Kit includes both halves of the new connector with some wire coming out each one,
you cut and splice - in a special braided method- and solder on top of that! cover in shrink wrap
Build it for 50 amps all the time is the idea.
Reminder to ck the other connector next to battery for same problem.

Note: Honda uses the same part in their cars cabin fan. Winter brings on full blast use of cabin fan and resultant high amp-heat draw thru that same cruddy plastic piece!
If you drive any honda-acura of the 80s thru 2005+...worth cking its power to blower fan connector when you replace the cabin air filter.
Bad things happen when it melts and shorts itself.
 
#21 ·
Reminder to ck the other connector next to battery for same problem.
.
If you mean the PG connector, it will not have a problem, there is almost no current flowing through it, leave it alone.
Also, if you solder in another connector you are adding 1 more solder joint and a connector, why not just solder the wires together and be done with it?
 
#23 ·
I personally would never use crimp connectors. Take the time to actually solder the wires together. Crimp on connectors are in my opinion one of the worst "short cuts" man has ever invented.
 
#28 ·
I personally would never use crimp connectors. Take the time to actually solder the wires together. Crimp on connectors are in my opinion one of the worst "short cuts" man has ever invented.

This little connector here is maybe the worst short cut to a connection that I have ever seen. These things will fail eventually and are often hard to find the trouble.

 
#25 ·
Dave I was only telling the story of the dealer kit- as I foolishly installed many years ago on a Shadow.
The special braiding of wires- in a way I had not seen before and its not simple twisting THEN you lay some solder in-thru-on it to make it solid.

I agree, why would you install a new connector, its purpose in life was to facilitate speed of assembly at the factory.

What models were having a prob with a connector next to battery? pretty sure I read about it here
 
#31 ·
I'm glad I ain't the only one who has nothing but loathing for these "tings".



Many a time on the side of the Interstate or other highway, sometimes in freezing or rainy or etc weather .... I have watched a poor truck's driver chase wiring faults through a long series of them. Like wise, a few people pulling trailers. I tried to be helpful ..... holding a flashlight or offering to call a service truck to meet us at the next exit. Abominations they are!

When we bought the Trike in 2004, soon afterwards I discovered that my buddy who was the original owner of it as a bike and who had converted it to a trike after going to Lehman's school had used what Lehman sent with the kit, these same connectors .... and he had for other light additions. Only took me a couple afternoons to remove and properly (IMHO) splice and or remake connections.

Them "tings" cut wire strands, let in moisture, and cause problems with dissimilar metals .... corrosion .... and they seem to let people down when times are the worst timing wise .... like when a trooper is loafing along behind at 1 am.


:rofl:
 
#32 ·
I'm glad I ain't the only one who has nothing but loathing for these "tings".



Many a time on the side of the Interstate or other highway, sometimes in freezing or rainy or etc weather .... I have watched a poor truck's driver chase wiring faults through a long series of them. Like wise, a few people pulling trailers. I tried to be helpful ..... holding a flashlight or offering to call a service truck to meet us at the next exit. Abominations they are!

When we bought the Trike in 2004, soon afterwards I discovered that my buddy who was the original owner of it as a bike and who had converted it to a trike after going to Lehman's school had used what Lehman sent with the kit, these same connectors .... and he had for other light additions. Only took me a couple afternoons to remove and properly (IMHO) splice and or remake connections.

Them "tings" cut wire strands, let in moisture, and cause problems with dissimilar metals .... corrosion .... and they seem to let people down when times are the worst timing wise .... like when a trooper is loafing along behind at 1 am.

:rofl:
Then suddenly those blue "tings" cause blue lights to flash! :surprise:
 
#33 ·
So I finally got some time to mess with my wing. Cut out all the burnt wire/connector mess.. it was not as bad as it looked - most of what appeared to be burnt was really just soot and wiped off. Final diagnosis - a previous owner had done a pretty poor job of replacing that original 3 wire plug. they used a 4 wire trailer light pigtail. first problem is that is pretty light gauge wire, maybe 18ga? second they used about a foot of it to make a 2 inch splice. third, they used crappy crimps. anyway, all the insulation burnt off all three wires for the whole foot long length hence all the fire. I should have given it a closer look before riding it so much. I saw it had been modded and took that as a good sign - but no.

After clean up, pulled out meter and tested the three wires from the stator, none were shorted to ground and .6 ohms between any pair.

turns out there was plenty of good slack left in those yellow wires/black stripe.. since I had so much/easy access I went ahead and soldered them and did a pretty good job for me, and shrink tube.

Had to charge battery.. apparently in all the fire excitement I didn't turn the ignition all the way off. After charging, fired up and @ ~3000 rpm showing 14.6 between battery posts. which I understand is a little high, but I'm not going to worry about that.

So no poor boy, looks like I'm back in business. Thanks for the advice and hand holding. I feel much better now!
 
#34 ·
the 14.6 will drop when the engine gets warm...
that is what the regulator is supposed to do with a cold battery, push it hard to ~14.6 to recharge it fast after the heavy drain from the starter motor.

then as the temp comes up to normal, the regulator will drop back to ~13.6
 
#35 ·
I thought them wires looked a bit "puney" to be used there. :)

There is a mod that I need to do whether I do a Poor Boy or not ..... that is running a heavier wire from black wire coming out of the reg/rec past the plugs to the battery positive terminal through a relay activated by the ign switch. http://www.goldwingfacts.com/forums...um/355343-gl1200-charging-system-voltage.html
It is to give a more accurate "system voltage" reading to the reg/rec unit without the voltage loss at various plugs.
Mine is charging a bit high too, not bad, but "high" just the same. If it looses 0.3 or 0.4 vdc in connections, the reg/rec charges higher to get what it's looking for in that black wire. I already have my voltmeter wired through a ign switch controlled relay so I'll maybe use that. Everything coming off the battery positive terminal gets a fuse in my book.
 
#36 ·
there are some connectors out there that are good to use and seldom cause problems,they are called posi-locks and they have some for connecting wires together and posi-taps to tap into wiring circuits
POSI_LOCKS,TAPSOrder Online- Discounts
 
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#38 ·
I like the posi-locks too. I have a little accessory 3 circuit fuse block on one of my bikes that has posi-lock terminals for the circuits.. pretty cool idea. The only negative is on the tap, if you tap into a very thin wire be careful that little spear tip can cut strands of wire in the source you're tapping into. happened to me and caused weird intermittent problems and took a long time to figure out.
 
#40 ·
Without the text, that makes no sense. The two graphics seem to disagree.

Chart one say's over 30% of Honda stators burn out but chart two says Honda gets more miles between burns outs than all but the BMW.

The only thing that makes the 'Wing's stator a real issue is its location. I remember '70s Suzuki 4 bangers having stator issues but it never became a big deal because it took an hour or less to replace it.
 
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