Electrical cleaner

[Suzukian]

You're a clearly unstable.

I just got an inbox saying to filter you as you have a chip on your shoulder and there's something wrong with you. Thought you might want to know how well you are thought of.I won't filter you though, I like a good chuckle every now and then
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[LAB3]

Nice to see you back.

My friends dad had an ole xs1100 with a fairing, bags...stashed in his garage for years

We got got it running, put tires on it. That thing would MOVE...LOL

That's what mine is, the bagger version and you're right, it's scary fast! The Goldwing was just nickel and dimeing me to death and I really wanted to pick up an ST1100. With the prices of anything used going through the roof a $2500 bike was going to cost me at least $4k, the XS1100 was $1500 and only required about two hours worth of work to get into top running condition. The Goldwing was donated to a guy in rehab that was "fighting the good fight" and truly deserved a break.

 

[Suzukian]

XS1100 is an awesome bike. I sold and rode many of those. These days I enjoy my ZZR1200 immensely.

 

[Nessism]

I've tried soaking terminals in mild acid solution before and while it helps, it's not as effective as physically cleaning. The problem with a bike harness is reaching down inside the connector to clean the brass. One idea to clean easily is to use a tiny media blaster with soda. Paasche makes one. Soak with water when done. Of course, this will be easiest to execute with the harness off the bike.

 

[bonanzadave]

How do I clean a switch? I take it apart, dip the parts in salt and let Deer lick them clean.

White tail Deer saliva is not conductive! Must be a Mule Deer for proper electrical contact. Sheesh ! this has turned into an oil thread.

I have 3 cans of contact cleaner. WD40 electric, CRC, and DeOxit.

 

[trent]

I have 3 cans of contact cleaner. WD40 electric, CRC, and DeOxit.

Stop bragging and gloating...LOL.kidding

I used some CRC and it worked it Cleared up sketchy response from Switches ,so far.

But fur real...I went to a shop that does a lot of electrical stuff after I had already used the CRC and noticed tech there using deoxit in and on pretty much same thing as I did.

CRC was my only choice in the town I was in at the time.

I'm sure someplace closer to home will have all options available.

I'm just not sure if any lubrication should have been applied after CRC ?
But like I said seen tech using deoxit.

 

[LAB3]

Here's my no-nonsense reply. Spray cleaner is your go to when you can't physically access the contacts such as inside the bullet connectors in the wiring harness. Steve is an electronics guy by trade and it would be tough to argue with how a pro does things, if he used deox-it then that's the wise choice. I've used CRC in the past with good results but I'll certainly keep Grimly's idea in mind for next time since he's a cheap ba$7@rd like me.

Handlebar switches are easy enough to take apart and you can readily get to the contacts. In that case I take some sandpaper and clean up the contact surfaces until they're down to shiny colored metal and reassemble.

As to using other cleaners or dielectric grease I'll defer that to others but one thing you can be assured of, they'll warn you that your bike will explode, you'll suffer from male pattern baldness, erectile dysfunction and eventually be sodomized by sociopathic street gang members if you don't do things the way they describe! Following my method I can assure you that this won't happen.

 

[Suzukian]

When I restored 450SL Mercedes, the rocker panels for the electric windows always corroded. I would take them apart, I had a box of them, as at time they were all the same, and take them apart, clean the little rocker in there where the ball bearing settles, clean or replace the spring, usually with some Pb BLaster kind of lube, .0001 sand paper, and a brass wire brush. Putting them back together was easy enough, I filled the chamber with high quality dielectric grease, and those windows and switches always worked flawlessly. I could never understand why Mercedes made convertibles that had switches with no drain holes, 1/16th in gaps around the rocker, and absolutely no waterproofing.

 

[trent]

When I restored 450SL Mercedes, the rocker panels for the electric windows always corroded. I would take them apart, I had a box of them, as at time they were all the same, and take them apart, clean the little rocker in there where the ball bearing settles, clean or replace the spring, usually with some Pb BLaster kind of lube, .0001 sand paper, and a brass wire brush. Putting them back together was easy enough, I filled the chamber with high quality dielectric grease, and those windows and switches always worked flawlessly. I could never understand why Mercedes made convertibles that had switches with no drain holes, 1/16th in gaps around the rocker, and absolutely no waterproofing.

I'm gonna have to do that with my trucks drivers door window switch.. I don't think new switch cost that much but I'll try cleaning it up first.

 

[Suzukian]

My Ford Taurus cleaned up with PB Blaster.

 

[bwringer]

...I could never understand why Mercedes made convertibles that had switches with no drain holes, 1/16th in gaps around the rocker, and absolutely no waterproofing.

I'm not a Mercedologist and can't remember the exact model , but you'll probably know what I'm talking about... quite a few Mercedes convertibles, and other models I believe, had transmission troubles stemming from an exposed circuit board for the transmission sitting directly below the cup holder. The area below the cup holder had a seam which did a fine job of collecting and funneling liquids directly to the circuit board. There were also reports of coins making their way to the boards and causing havoc.

Even if there were no spills, over time drops of condensation from cold drinks would inevitably find their way to the entirely exposed and unprotected circuit board, (not so much as a box, or sheet of plastic or any sort of conformal coating... nothing) and the car wouldn't go no mo. The failure rate approached 100%.

At the time I ran into this on a friend's car, replacements from Mercedes were thousands of dollars if you could even get one, and used boards all had the same problem. One of the more doomed and idiotic things I've ever seen. Germans in general have never been able to comprehend why on earth Americans want cup holders.


On the same level of electrical idiocy is Ford's famed Fuel Pump Control Module; a wee aluminum box of magic circuits lurking under lots of their trucks that was bolted directly to the steel frame. Apparently no one at Ford had ever heard of such a fool thing as galvanic corrosion. Or road salt. Or rain. The replacements come with little rubber standoffs.

 

[Suzukian]

I have had a 1964 230SL, 2 450Sls, 1 450SLC (my favorite), a 280SE, a 250C, a 280C and a couple more I can't remember. I do know that it was cheaper to buy a used tranny from the junk yard, and do the preventative repairs, than try and fix a broken one. That being said, they were robust cars, and all rusted in the exact same places, which made patch panels readily available.

I knew where to source parts, one good thing is that German law requires that people be able to source from the manufacturer, and no be penalized. I really liked my 1998 Ford Taurus 24V Duratec, but really weird stuff would go on that car, which weren't difficult to fix, just hard to find. I only have one Benz left, 1 '73 450SL, I am the 2nd owner of the car, but do not know if I will have enough years in my life to restore it. My son wants it, so I gave it to him. He's getting all of my bikes, and machine shop stuff, and electronics stuff anyway. If he applies himself, he'll be able to make just about whatever he wants to, combined with the CAD software I own.

 

[salty_monk]

I'm not a Mercedologist and can't remember the exact model , but you'll probably know what I'm talking about... quite a few Mercedes convertibles, and other models I believe, had transmission troubles stemming from an exposed circuit board for the transmission sitting directly below the cup holder. The area below the cup holder had a seam which did a fine job of collecting and funneling liquids directly to the circuit board. There were also reports of coins making their way to the boards and causing havoc.

Even if there were no spills, over time drops of condensation from cold drinks would inevitably find their way to the entirely exposed and unprotected circuit board, (not so much as a box, or sheet of plastic or any sort of conformal coating... nothing) and the car wouldn't go no mo. The failure rate approached 100%.

At the time I ran into this on a friend's car, replacements from Mercedes were thousands of dollars if you could even get one, and used boards all had the same problem. One of the more doomed and idiotic things I've ever seen. Germans in general have never been able to comprehend why on earth Americans want cup holders.


On the same level of electrical idiocy is Ford's famed Fuel Pump Control Module; a wee aluminum box of magic circuits lurking under lots of their trucks that was bolted directly to the steel frame. Apparently no one at Ford had ever heard of such a fool thing as galvanic corrosion. Or road salt. Or rain. The replacements come with little rubber standoffs.

My neighbor across the alley at my old place... Her granddaughter did that with a penny. Dropped it straight in there. The harness smoked up behind the dash before they managed to pull the fuses. Car was a total loss as it was a few years old! Was one of the convertible two seaters from memory.

I use some contact cleaner sometimes, mostly at the end. Sometimes I have a bit of a scrape with a small screwdriver... sometimes I get a bit of wet n dry paper down there. I usually put dielectric in most of the connectors. Generally don't have a problem... Generally I have a life so I don't think about it too much

 

[Rob S.]

I think we used to call that "tuner cleaner." Spray it around your volume knob to eliminate static.

 

[bwringer]

Oh, might as well have another whack at this ol' horse...

So, this happened to my KLR650 a while back when a water crossing turned into an impromptu bike wash, thanks to a collapsed slab. The first picture is the state of the bike after an epic struggle to get it upright and pointed upstream; it spent about 20 minutes completely submerged. And right about then, of course, is when a group of riders showed up going the other direction.

Fortunately, I had inspected, cleaned, and protected all the connectors on the bike (all of which are unsealed) with dielectric grease shortly after I bought it. It's a standard thing I do when I buy a bike, and it has headed off many troubles. I also inspect and grease all bearings and linkages, etc. and so on -- a general "laying on of hands" to prevent future problems and detect any issues early.

So following this swim, I inspected each of the connectors again, and none had any water inside or corrosion developing at all. For 12VDC connections, dielectric grease does not interfere with current flow, and does a lot of good because it protects the connections from water entry, and all the things water carries with it.

 

[Suzukian]

Most people don't realize electricity travels along the surface of the wire, not through the center. That's once reason common Lamp Shade cord makes such good speaker wire, all that surface area on those fine wires. The bigger Cross Section of a wire, the better it conducts, as the circumference has more surface area. A Circuit Board with "Green" corrosion on it cannot conduct electricity.. Power down, go to town sand that crap off, and clean it with a good cleaner. If you clear coat it, after you determine it works, it will take much longer to corrode, if you built it up enough, it will prevent pennies from accidentally shorting the circuit board.

 

[trent]

Oh, might as well have another whack at this ol' horse...

So, this happened to my KLR650 a while back when a water crossing turned into an impromptu bike wash, thanks to a collapsed slab. The first picture is the state of the bike after an epic struggle to get it upright and pointed upstream; it spent about 20 minutes completely submerged. And right about then, of course, is when a group of riders showed up going the other direction.

Fortunately, I had inspected, cleaned, and protected all the connectors on the bike For 12VDC connections, dielectric grease does not interfere with current flow, and does a lot of good because it protects the connections from water entry, and all the things water carries with it.

Fascinating story, glad everything turned out well and you got to participate in a game of tig of war...LOL

 

[trent]

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[Suzukian]

Great video!! Very informative. The right hand rule also works if you are winding your own coils. If you wind them to the left, use your left hand, and that will tell you the current flow (towards your left thumb.

 

[trent]

Oh, might as well have another whack at this ol' horse...

So, this happened to my KLR650 a while back when a water crossing turned into an impromptu bike wash, thanks to a collapsed slab. The first picture is the state of the bike after an epic struggle to get it upright and pointed upstream; it spent about 20 minutes completely submerged. And right about then, of course, is when a group of riders showed up going the other direction.

Fortunately, I had inspected, cleaned, and protected all the connectors on the bike (all of which are unsealed) with dielectric grease shortly after I bought it. It's a standard thing I do when I buy a bike, and it has headed off many troubles. I also inspect and grease all bearings and linkages, etc. and so on -- a general "laying on of hands" to prevent future problems and detect any issues early.

So following this swim, I inspected each of the connectors again, and none had any water inside or corrosion developing at all. For 12VDC connections, dielectric grease does not interfere with current flow, and does a lot of good because it protects the connections from water entry, and all the things water carries with it.

Just revisiting this...lol

I'm curious what shape was bike in after this?
Motor alright, just curious.