| Author | Message | ||
     Pwnzor |
What is the deal with the wiring on Buells? It appears to me now as if most if not all of the wiring harnesses were made by hand, which might be a good thing if the actual wire used were of higher quality. After a little more than 2 years, all my wiring now has stiff, brittle insulation that flakes off the wire if you bend it a little or move it out of the way to reach something. Not to mention the fact that the wiring has all sorts of unnecessary detours in it. Thin wires with barely any insulation laying directly on the motor. Seems to me $12500 american dollars should buy better quality wire. It's not as if wire is relativley expensive for the task at hand. Its almost as if the bike was wired by someone who looked at a drawing and then did it from memory, with all the things he forgot being done at the end and hastily. I just recently looked into this after reading some threads here that indicated wires getting "rubbed through" the insulation and shorting out seems to be a fairly common problem. What I discovered on my bike was wiring that looked like it was from 1968, all oxidized and faded insulation, dried and cracking in many places. Anyone else sharing my pain? How about it 2004 XB12 owners? Im curious to see if the situation changed as the serial numbers get higher. | ||
| Kdan |
Jeez, where do you park? I have an 03 XB9S and have had zero wiring problems, other than periodically needing to tighten the battery cables. | ||
| Cataract2 |
huh? | ||
| Pwnzor |
I park in my garage, period. Never ride in the rain or any type of wet, ever. I never leave it parked outside for more than the time it takes me to eat something when I stop somewhere, only rarely has it been left outside overnight, and always under a good cover. All I'm saying is every inch of wire on this bike is now in a state of decay. I've recently had occasion to be moving around a few things and rerouting some hoses and wires, also eliminating some wires. Doing this, I had to split open more than one bundle of wires to remove the irrelevant strands and every time I discovered that all the adjacent wires are too stiff for a stranded wire, they felt like solid core to the touch. Scraped my thumbnail against the insulation at the butt of a connector, inadvertently, and the insulation is brittle and dry, and crumbles away, exposing stranded wire. So then I get to deal with an exposed hot wire. Anyway, since "nobody" else has this problem and I'll probably get flamed for going on about it this is the last I'll mention it. SUBSTANDARD WIRING, it reminds me of my 1974 Chevy Nova. | ||
| Aeholton |
Maybe it has something to do with the meticulous cleaning method you described in the other thread. A little WD-40 might help keep that insulation soft. Sorry...couldn't resist.  | ||
| Jerseybuell |
Live near the ocean? Salt air is brutal on stuff...  | ||
| Bartimus |
I've got over 150,000 miles on an S2, no wiring problems whatsoever. My city-x only has about 10,000 miles on it, but no problems yet... What are you cleaning it with? | ||
| Dbird29 |
Banks of electric motors in the garage? Ozone attacking the dielectric? | ||
| Skyguy |
No wiring issues for me either and I ride rain, ice and snow. I Really do need to do a full detail on the bike this spring though. | ||
| Perry |
Seriously, that sounds like either ozone, UV rays, or some chemical issue. My bike's only two years old, but the wiring is still just like the day I bought it (except for a few mods  ) | ||
| Skully |
My XB is over three years old with no wiring problems. What do you clean the bike with? Keith |
