Another electrical fault

[ukzknos]

Being a mechanical engineer I admit very poor electrical acumen so I need some help please!

Bank holiday monday went on a long ride through the Yorkshire Dales and the bike performed faultlessly (with lights on continuously).
This morning got the bike from the garage for the commute to work and started her up, no problem.

However, when I switched the main headlight on the engine cuts out and no idiot lights in the rev counter??? (parking/side light is OK).

Help!

Steve

[ukzknos]

Please ignore my earlier plea.

On closer examination it appears to be nothing more than a dodgy connection on the ignition switch (30 year old wear & tear on the barrel I guess)!
 

Steve

[Rob Valdez 79 R65]

 [smiley=thumbup.gif]  

[montmil]

With these sorta vintage bikes, effort expended in cleaning up accessible electrical connections is time well spent. After getting the connectors all shiny, a light smear of dielectric grease will keep them working properly for years.

Monte

[Yikes]

Monte, what tools, materials would you recommend to clean those little electrical connectors, especially the female ends?

[k_enn]

What he said ^^^^.  I found it hard to clean the insides of the female spade connectors.  I ended up using a little emory paper.  It got the job done, but not to the level I would like to see.  Is there any kind of solvent that will do the job?

k_enn

[Justin B.]

CRC makes an electrical contact cleaner but most of these type products depend on two of something rubbing together in the presence of the product to do any cleaning.  I have sprayed contact cleaner on a stainless steel bristled tooth-brush looking thing and mashed the bristles up inside the female connector and brushed the male part with some success.  As Monte says a coat of silicone grease will help prevent "fur" from going back.  In some climates this is an annual ritual on a Volvo 240 fuse box if you don't want to get stranded somewhere...

[Bob_Roller]

You can remove the metal terminal ends from the connectors .

If you look at the connector when it's disconnected, there is a small slot next to the slot for the metal terminal end .


Push the terminal end up into the plastic connector, this will dis engage the small spring tab from the connector body .

In this small slot, place a thin piece of metal, to depress the spring tab, then pull the wire out of the backside of the connector .

You can do the same thing on the round pin connectors, but you need something like a round wire butt splice to place over the round pin, press down until the spring tab is disengaged, then pull the wire out of the connector body .

[montmil]

You can remove the metal terminal ends from the connectors ...

Bob beat me home today, I guess. Yes, you really can remove the terminals from the plastic "prison". From there, use a Scotchbrite pad, 400 Wet-or-Dri, or whatever... anything but absolutely no steel wool. Think rust.

Everything electric works better with clean terminals. Everything.

Monte

[nhmaf]

I generally use some electrical contact cleaner and some old toothbrushes.  If one scrapes/sands things down tooo far, they won't fit together tightly and make an intermittent contact.  If it is heavily corroded I just fit new terminals when possible.

[Bob_Roller]

If you remove the wires from the connector, just make a note of where they went .

Wire colors should be the same on each side of the connector .

[Rob Valdez 79 R65]

And if you want to easily get the exact size replacement connectors, you can get them from BMW.

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?model=0363&mospid=47851&btnr=61_0199&hg=61&fg=10

Unsure which one to buy?  Just get a couple of each.