Wiring Harness Repair/Rebuild

Hey folks, posted this on Kipper's electrical post.

Note to all: Our Yammies have all shown their age and a propensity to suffer from corrosion in their wiring. It is regrettable that the factory did not make more of an effort to prevent this from happening. I'm still of the mind to make harnesses but I would need a good harness of each model and year in order to create the forms I would need to make this work. Would this be a desirable thing for you all? I'm fishing for comments to determine if this is viable. I can repair harnesses to factory specs and make factory-looking mods (using OEM connectors) rather easily but lack the space right now to go and take on all the work I'm sure is waiting out there. I could conceivably handle one or two harnesses a month right now so long as I have the correct schematics. Another thing to concern myself with would be price. I'm not at all certain as to how much it would cost in materials (wires, connectors and pins) to create a new harness. Given that there is no current company that offers this service, I'm going to have to do a bit of research and find out. I'm going to create a new post so you all can comment without blowing Kipper's post out of shape.

I can tell you that a new connector costs anywhere from $5 to $25 USD and wire is running about $30 for 100 feet of medium (16) gauge high grade wire. Knowing this before hand I can guestimate that each harness would run about $300 to $400 (less if I can harvest your connectors off of your old harness). Comments or thoughts?

 

After spending the last 3 weekends doing the search and clean on connectors, I like this idea.

I am wondering about replacing connectors with non-OEM connectors. I work with Duetsch "DT" style connectors that have been used by auto and engine companies for the last 10-15 years.

I found the alternator connector under the seat cooked, yes I know big suprise, and I have a 3 pin DT connector I'd like to use, so finally my question is, what types of non-Yamaha connectors have you used and what level of success have you had?

I can say the previous owner loved those blue butt splices with bathroom caulk :-(

 

Fancy connectors are overkill on an old bike.
I used screw type terminal strips and crimp on lugs to replace the fried connectors. They are cheap & easy to find, lugs are $5.00/100 at the hardware store and I can easily get to the terminals for testing & troubleshooting.

 

If the price was more reasonable i'd be interested for sure. I know it would cost 300-400 to do it right, but I just cant afford or justfy that kind of money. Although I would be interested if the price was a little more affordable

 

3 or 4 to replace the stock ain't bad but it's kind of a overkill i think
that fancy pants dash on my 750 is nice since it works but if it ever messes up it's outa here
now a bare bones kind of this'll get you started kit with aftermarket plugs
and some instructions might fly for about 150 or 200
i don't need a gas guage, turn signal indicators, high beam warning light and all that interlock stuff
most of the posts here are DIY things anyhow

but there are pureists who want oem kind of stuff so who knows

 

Custom harnesses aren't too much of a stretch from the bare bones unit. Just add a wire here or there. I was directed to the XS site that had OEM for the old 650 XS going for about $150 USD. A far more reasonable price but I'm almost certain that it is because they were purchased in bulk. I'd like to think you could scoop up the XS harness and modify it to XJ specs but I think that would be stretching it.
Arizona Steve: Great idea but it still doesn't address the corrosion problems. Terminal strips are great in a controlled environment but I'm afraid I would only use them to get home with, not a permanent repair. The connectors are running about $5 a whack from the sources I'm finding so doing a quality repair isn't too awfully expensive.
I guess this harness build up idea is not too popular because of the price. I can totally understand. I'm not in a position to make bunches of them to get the price down so it will have to wait.

 

I'm about to start rooting out corrosion in the wiring, and to be honest it's kind of daunting right now. Can I get a box of connectors from an auto store and start soldering, or do I need special connectors from Yamaha? What kind of supplies am I going to need? Do I replace corroded connectors outright or try to clean up the connection? Some kind of a guide on this would be awesome.

 

Sadly the replacement route is nice but doesn't get rid of the corrosion that has already worked it's way down under the wire jacket. If you strip the wire back two inches you'll still find corrosion, and two inches is a lot of wire to loose off of a harness.
To answer your question Egor, it depends on what route you wish to take as to whether or not to replace the connector or just clean up. I have mentioned a Pasche Air-Eraser on a few other posts and I would advocate using it to clean off the corrosion (a very time consuming job but yields excellent results) but there are bound to be several connector pins that are buggered up badly enough to warrent replacement. If I had my "druthers", I'd replace OEM but the crimp Fast-on(AMP) connectors will do for an interim fix to get you along for a while (a season or two at most in my estimation). I would start with the easy, inexpensive way first, clean what exists and make a determination of other repairs after you can see the condition of your harness.
Hope this is of some use, ask questions as you need.

 

I am new here but would absolutely love to have a new OEM "knockoff" wire harness for this soon to be 30 year old bike. Electrical problems are a nightmare and for $200 - $400, I'm in for sure. As it is, I'm going through and checking/replacing components that are just old and tired. I like new, shiny, working parts. Just my .02 though.

 

Speaking of connectors, anyone ever seen posi-lock brand connectors in a store? What store?

 

Robert,
Which model are you going to make a harness for first?

MN

 

I'm looking at my 82 750 Seca as soon as I've got about $400-500 laying around to buy wire and connector stock. I've envisioned making my Seca entirely digital to reduce the current demands upon the alternator as well as an updated fuse panel and relocated relay system.

 

I think i'll be tackling this as well this winter. I REALLY want to replace every wire on the bike, new connectors all around (if i can find matching connectors for tci, RR etc.) While i've got her all torn down for painting and detailing this winter.

I'll be replacing all incandescents with LED as well, as i find the electrical system a design disaster. Not enough juice being made to even support the bike. LED's all around will pretty much fix this.

What i really think will help tho is the elimination of any resistance in the old wiring. It'll be like having a bad heart and getting all your arteries replaced with 1/2" tubing

 

robert what do you mean digital?

i have ripped all the unnecessary electrics off my seca and wired the thing with the old wires. most of them were in good condition. i have only ignition and charge, headlight, taillight, horn, starter switch, light switch and key switch.
im planning to use 4 a123 cells to make a battery and i am interested in reducing current demands with what i got left

 

Simple Venlis, almost all systems on the XJ are on/off switches. Lower current models of relays are easily available (and inexpensively too) and easily packed into half or less of the space used by conventional relays. With a little planning, the entire bike can be operated at a much lower current. I want to interface the inputs with a programable processor that will allow future expansion if I decide to add additional circuits.
I like the a123 cell idea, I hope it works out easily (and it ought to). Sounds perfect for a digital system and eliminates a bunch of weight and hassle. Be sure to post pictures of your efforts on the cell.

 

Hey Robert, how about a central control panel, all labeled up as to show where it all plugs in. Something like a 'doll's eye' switchboard.

 

i dont think im simple enough to be called simple!!

ha ha



i will post a writeup of the battery mod but thats for the winter with everything else.

ill also be watching what you end up doing, sounds like a good idea! on my bike i dont have any relays so i wouldnt know where to start or what to do.

 

Heres a wiring harness story told to me by one of my colleagues. He was in The Royal Navy and his friend had a 1970's Ducati (Who's electrics were even worse that an XJ Yamaha).

One time, when they were in port, and most of the crew were ashore on leave, the Ducati harness was rebuilt with much better grade connectors. Obviously I have no idea where they came from but the ship had helicopters in service!

The bike never let him down again!

 

nice story markie, id love to put aircraft circuit breakers instead of the fuse block. ive only found them online at the us for $20 a piece and id like to have three. well im using four glass fuses in the 30 year old fusebox at the moment but i can wire the lights and horn after a single fuse. or a circuit breaker.

 

Reviving this one again!

Robert where were you finding the pins for the connectors? I want to rebuild my wiring harness. Either shorten it or time permitting completely rewire it. I've had some issues after pulling the bike out of storage this spring. It's either save the stock connectors and use new wires and pins or get all new connectors. At this point all new connectors are going to cost too much so I would like to go the pin route.

Any suggestions on what brand/model pins these old girls use?

Thanks!

 

Sounds like a good thing to do but the cost is pricey. Instead of the factory connectors, would using ths solderless connectors work the same and just label the wires good to prevent confusion? Just wondering and my 2 cent thought.

 

If I did end up using aftermarket connectors I would def be making my own wiring diagram and probably replacing all the wiring in the bike. Would still need to re-use some of the connections for the components that need to stay on the bike and only have a male end on them though. At this juncture I would like to just shorten the harness up for better fitment with the shorter handle bars and components moved under the seat there is way too much wire in there and not a lot of room for it.

 

Howdy TMHack, you can get OEM replacement connectors and pins from Digikey, Mouser, or other electronics supply house. You just need to be able to tell them which one you want. The OEM part is from AMP and is from the Faston series. I can recommend the P/N 60295-2 for most 18 AWG applications. I would recommend you have a look at Tyco/Amp's Faston data sheet to get good part numbers.
Good luck and let me know if you get stuck.

 

Awesome Robert, exactly what I was needing. Hopefully I can start digging in soon. The weather has been hitting close to 50 and supposed to almost break 60 up here this weekend so I got the itch to ride, but need to take of some of this stuff first...

 

I made a boo-boo, the part number I'm using from Tyco/Amp is 60249-2 but those are for the larger AWG wire (16-14). You probably want something smaller for the regular wires. I looked up the recommended p/n (the one I quoted) and it isn't stocked. I'll get back to you with a better part number. Bear with me here...

 

Sounds good... I will be pulling my harness tonight probably and start checking pin sizes and stuff. As long as I have a direction to look I should be able to figure it out, but every little bit helps ya know! Thanks again.

 

Here you go:
The p/n 60249-2 I gave you earlier is for 12-14 AWG.
42282-2 will get you coverage for most of your wires, 18-14.
In stock starting at 0.19 each. Price break is at 100.

 

So I was looking around on SOHC4 at some projects for ideas on my CB500F I picked up last summer and will be starting on shortly and I came across this site.

www.vintageconnections.com

Looks to me like what they have there will fit what we would need. I'll be ordering a few pieces from them tomorrow to see. Looking over my harness I'll be able to salvage most of my connectors but I may need to replace a few of them. I'll let you know when I get the terminals in and see how they fit.