| Author | Message | ||
     Rwven |
I left work today, pulled out of the industrial park into rush hour traffic and bawwwww the Uly just died. Check engine light came on briefly high beam light was on dim but the high beams were not on. I Switched the key off and on and it restarted but repeated above about 75 yards down the road. I repeated this a few times until I got to a parking area I could pull into. I won't go into the details but, thanks to you guys here on BadWeb, I recalled that there was a plug somewhere that was prone to problems. Of course I have no idea where this plug is...so I just start poking around. On the left side right behind the plastic heat deflector that the '08s have I found a squarish four conductor connector that looked strangely familiar. I popped it apart an sure enough one of the connectors was burned off. I popped the effected wire out of each 1/2 of the connector. Scabbed up a splice using a piece of wire donated by my Battery Tender connector and some electrical tape. I then plugged the 77 connector back together and made my way home. A note to Eric and Buelliacs, this connector has been known to be a POS for years now. Replace it already! I have a flat 4 conductor trailer plug that I am going to solder splice in to replace this thing tomorrow. It works on a trailer in the rain so it should be just fine for this application. I'll goop it up good with some dielectric grease and secure the plug with a wire tie. I sucked it up when I had to replace the front rotor and pads at 6000 miles due to pulsing. I replaced the battery at 7500 miles and just sucked that up too. I'll suck up having to sit in the middle of rush hour traffic on a stalled bike because of the failure of a part that has been known to be defective for several years. But all this sucking is really starting to suck. OK, rant over. There is still not another bike in the world I'd rather ride. | ||
| Hughlysses |
Ronald- From what had been posted here, there isn't a 77 connector on the 08's. The 77 connector on my 07 only had 2 conductors (2 in/2 out just to be sure we're using the same convention). The other point is a failed 77 connector would result in the battery not getting charged, so you'd ride the bike until the voltage dropped so low that it wouldn't run. Your bike's behavior sounds different. I think you found another defective connector- maybe the 08's and 09's have a different weak link from the 06's and 07's. At any rate, glad you found the problem and fixed it. | ||
| Rwven |
Hugh, I'll have to get out my shop manual and find out what the plug is called and what it does, including which terminal had burned up. | ||
| Froggy |
The plug you describe sounds like the plug where the ECMspy/Digital Tech cable plugs into. | ||
| Rwven |
OK I found it. It is the Fuel pump connector. Connector # 86 The terminal that burned up was the ground terminal (Black Wire). My Service Manual shows that the 77 connector still exists on the '08 models. A better plug perhaps? (Message edited by rwven on October 08, 2008) | ||
| Panhead_dan |
I had a problem with my fuel pump connector last winter. It would make intermittent contact. I had to take it apart and bend tiny things inside it so that contact was better and have had no problems since. | ||
| Rwven |
Dan, I had hoped to do that also when I first took the connector apart, but the female part of the contact came out of the connector fused to the male part. It had melted off inside the connector. | ||
| Panhead_dan |
I was surprised to see how small the pieces inside were! It's a wonder they can carry the current draw. Seems like a little beefier one would be better... | ||
| Panhead_dan |
I had to read, search and learn just to understand how to work on the connector. They are kinda expensive to replace. | ||
| Ironhead1977 |
Good stuff here. Rwven ,any chance you could post some pics of the plug in question? | ||
| Rwven |
Ironhead, I am going to replace it with a different connector tomorrow. I'll take some pics. Dan, I had the same reaction. With all the beefy automotive connectors available today I can't understand why Buell would use such a delicate thing. | ||
| Panhead_dan |
It's actually a very high quality unit. These same connectors are used in Caterpillar equipment among other things. I just don't think it is sized correctly for the current draw but I am no electrical engineer. | ||
| Rwven |
Dan, I agree, it is an elegant design. I think it needs to be engineered to about 2X the capacity it is now. | ||
| Jlnance |
My charging system went out on Sunday. I took the 77 connector apart expecting to find it melted. Imagine my surprise to find that after 53k miles it's in perfect shape. Which was sort of a shame because it would be a lot easier to fix the connector than the stator.  But I'll throw some dielectric grease in there and put it back together and hopefully never have any problems with it. | ||
| Pso |
Rwven-Interesting about the #77 plug still in the 08's. All the messages so far have stated that the stator was changed and also the #77 plug was removed for 08. I wonder if they have upgraded the plug. I have an 06 and the plug went out and I was stranded in rush hour traffic in the passing lane on a four lane highway, I had to push the bike across traffic to get it out of moving traffic, very nerve racking when folks are zooming past at 60 MPH. I still think due to almost being run over this is a NAFTA recall issue. | ||
| Jlnance |
I still think due to almost being run over this is a NAFTA recall issue. Are you sure you mean the North American Free Trade Agreement?  | ||
| Pso |
Jlnance- Ooops your right, watching too much politics and economics news on TV. I mean NHTSA or whatever the acronym is. | ||
| Ironhead1977 |
Maybe being part of NAFTA is what is wrong with the plug. |
