Wiring harness and plugs under the tank

[carpetbagger]

Hello again. There are two harness plugs under the tank that I cannot budge. They both look OK, and the electrics work fine, but I can't clean up the wiring without unplugging them. There is no apparent release mechanism. What's the trick? Thanks. '80 1000GLT

[Gorminrider]

I don't know about a trick yet but what I do is get a couple of cheapo "jeweller's screwdrivers" from the dollar store and winkle them apart by prying/wiggling on two sides..

Gently if you can-old plastic can be brittle but so far I've found it to be pretty tough ... the idea is not to mark them up too badly so small screwdrivers or awls seem best versus any squeezing and grabbing with vice grips or pliers. It can feel better to put oil in but on nylon? plastics it hasn't much effect that I've seen worse- like water, might get absorbed into the nylon and swell it so working on dry plastic is best I think.
Warmth might help a little but not Hot(distorts!) or cold(cracks!)...

OR you can just leave it alone if it's not exhibiting symptoms. I know it's "nice" to "clean" everything but personally, I've seen no good come from cleaning what doesn't need it without a definite syptom (voltage drop across the wiring) eg: I don't take my car's harness apart for no good reason either...

[bwringer]

In my experience, this is most often caused by one or more corroded and/or overheated connections inside the connector. This is very often the "stator loop" wiring, that sends one leg of stator wiring up to the headlight bucket and back for absolutely no reason. The connection corrodes, overheats, and warps the plastic shell.

Even after the stator loop is bypassed, you still really need to get the connector apart to check and clean the other connections. The connector shells often crack, but you can often re-use them as long as you secure them with a small zip-tie. Or extract the terminals and install in new shells.

One of those things you just gotta do. But if you've bypassed the stator loop already, I can see an argument for VERY carefully inspecting, testing, and cleaning the others and leaving the connector alone.

You can get connector parts in a couple of places:

http://www.vintageconnections.com/Products/Connectors

http://newmotorcycleparts.net/electrical/connectors.html

https://easternbeaver.com/Main/Elec__Products/Connectors/connectors.html

[carpetbagger]

Thanks. I should probably leave it alone, but I lack the willpower, and it's 3 or 4 months till riding season. So, no trick or hidden release tab. Gently pry and wiggle it is then.

[Gorminrider]

I should probably leave it alone, but I lack the willpower

Funny Guy! Yes,I know- it's awful hard to resist the itch no matter if makes me bleed..hee hee

...of course there are some that do have releases but they are pretty obvious..and THEY can be hard to get apart too. but whatever, you likely won't do any harm even if they get defaced a bit. But They are so hard to clean without slopping some chemical on them...so in the end it'll probably be hard to tell if it was all worth it without a real SYMPTOM.

if you haven't already, please read what bwringer is posting ..getting rid of "the stator loop" is good project if you're looking for one on your 1980...Around about here Suzuki had wiring for a circuit that controlled one "leg" of the stator's three phase using the headlight switch but lator discontinued it when Headlight On laws became general world wide....But they left the wiring in place and just put a bridge in at the connectors...instead of just running that "leg" into the regulator with the other two.
It's something to study in your specific wiring diagram to see what Suzuki did on your bike.

[fbody_mike]

I have some luck by soaking the connector with WD-40. However if they are stuck together because heat melted some plastic you will have use brute force. In my opinion if the connector got hot then it is well worth it to break it apart and clean/replace any pins that were damaged. Whatever caused the electrical resistance to cause that heat more than likely does not go away on its own.

[Brendan W]

I went in and took them apart. They were seized. One was melted from the outside.
The metal ties on the spine had rusted out and a lot of harness dropped on to the valve cover.
PO had replaced the turn/beam switch and believe it or not chopped into the switch tail just under the speedo and hacked the new tail and crimped the lot. wtf.
I had issues with voltage drops in the handlebar switches which made it easier to go in.

[carpetbagger]

Thanks again everyone. I've already done the stator and the R/R upgrade, and well worth it. Now I no longer curse Suzuki for deleting the kick starter. Maybe I will just leave it, or at least move it further down the list.