Southampton Sparkies

[monkeyboy]

On Saturday I gently knocked my GSA as I walked in the garage and set off a mini fireworks display as the fuel pump multiplug decided to go up like a firework fuse and fill the garage with white smoke.

So I need a new fuel pump housing with the wiring but the GSA is different to the normal GS, Motorworks don't have one and a new one is 200 earth pounds.....

Could anyone recommend a competent sparky in the Soton area that might be able to rewire it please? Its one of the strands from the 3core section that has chased itself back an inch from the plug to the 3core (and beyond maybe).

ta

 

[(RIP) DitchWater]

I take it you can't solder and need someone to swap the parts over.

Try an automotive workshop or TV repair man. Take some digital photos so you can check it's gone back together correctly. It should take the electronics geezer about 20 minutes to do it carefully.

BTW he could just swap the three wire connector.

 

[cookie]

Not sure what you want done, but I can solder and am not too far away near Bournemouth.

 

[monkeyboy]

Thanks for the help, and the offer to solder

I should have posted a picture! The burn is down to the contact in the multiplug so that's going to have to come out and be reconnected. It's lost at least an inch of wire so rather than have all the other (4?) wires longer than the repaired one it'll probably be best to have them all out and reconnected evenly. Problem is I might have to chase the 3core back a bit to find some good wire and I don't want the whole lot getting too short.

I reckon I'll take it to an auto technision or TV bloke as suggested and see what they say. There is a bit of slack so it should be fine - I dont want to have to replace the cable all the way through the plate into the tank obviously.

 

[twizzle]

An automotive / marine sparky should sort plus they are plentifull in soton area...

 

[twizzle]

http://www.autonautech.co.uk/

Not certain if they will come to soton but I have used these guys on a camper van I restored and on my yacht......not too dear and good problem solvers!!

 

[monkeyboy]

I'm going to drop it off with this lot - they do marine as well so if they do have to put wires through the panel then they should know what they're doing

http://huntersautoelectrical.co.uk

thanks

 

[(RIP) DitchWater]

I'd be interested to know the total charges on your invoice, if you are willing to disclose that information, when you are sorted.

 

[monkeyboy]

I'd be interested to know the total charges on your invoice, if you are willing to disclose that information, when you are sorted.

I'll let you know....

I took it down this morning. On the wires on the INSIDE of the tank has overheated too. The insulation has all bubbled and the wire is brittle. Looks like it's one to the rheostat for the fuel level sensor that's fooked. Good job that didn't spark like the outside wire did - I'd have had quite a nice explosion I reckon

 

[(RIP) DitchWater]

Was there a problem with your wiring before you gently knocked your GSA? Was the wiring insulation damaged or was it the connector?

 

[monkeyboy]

Was there a problem with your wiring before you gently knocked your GSA? Was the wiring insulation damaged or was it the connector?

Not that I knew of. I changed the complete loom 18mths ago but it's done another 25-30k since then. It's obviously difficult to tell now that the damage is done whether there was an obvious fault there. I'm going to check again that it has only caused damage one side of the multiplug.

I'd really like to know why it happened though

 

[(RIP) DitchWater]

I'd be looking for evidence of the loom rubbing against the frame or the wiring being pinched somehow. Further to this you could consider that there has been too much current running through whichever wire shorted out. This is quite difficult to achieve without blowing a fuse.

 

[monkeyboy]

This is quite difficult to achieve without blowing a fuse.

That doesn't surprise me! I've had the tank off a bizzilion times without incident but maybe this was the one in a bizzilion time I got it pinched

 

[monkeyboy]

The electricians have chickened out of rewiring it as they can't find a fault but they suspect the closed plastic connector that goes through the plate. It won't come apart without destroying it

So - I CAN put a normal rather than Adventure plate in as Adventure ones are like hens teeth secondhand. I'm told the fuel gauge then misreads which I'm not too worried about but can anyone tell me how much it misreads and is it pessimistic or optimistic

ta

 

[(RIP) DitchWater]

If you can wait until April (when I'm heading south) I'd definately have a go at swapping the internal parts over for you. Why don't you get a camara out and post some pictures here because it would help to see the details of what's going on in there. I've seen them a few times (on my bike) but don't pay too much attention, when changing filters, to the wiring.

What you need to do is determine whether the float arm, wiper, and track can be removed without a chisel or saw. Further to that is it possible to remove the float arm alone. You need to look at the parts in detail because I presume they are in your hands, and I don't want to take my tank apart because I've just jammed 28 litres of fuel in it.

Alternatively, just use your trip meter and rely upon your non-ADV float to measure the last few litres to tell you to pay attention to your speed & revs.

 

[monkeyboy]

If you can wait until April (when I'm heading south) I'd definately have a go at swapping the internal parts over for you. Why don't you get a camara out and post some pictures here because it would help to see the details of what's going on in there. I've seen them a few times (on my bike) but don't pay too much attention, when changing filters, to the wiring.

What you need to do is determine whether the float arm, wiper, and track can be removed without a chisel or saw. Further to that is it possible to remove the float arm alone. You need to look at the parts in detail because I presume they are in your hands, and I don't want to take my tank apart because I've just jammed 28 litres of fuel in it.

Alternatively, just use your trip meter and rely upon your non-ADV float to measure the last few litres to tell you to pay attention to your speed & revs.

Thanks for the offer

I was thinking about that exact same thing as I was sat on the Hammersmith flyover today thinking my bike was going to melt down... flippin rubberneckers.. one small accident on there and London turns into a car park...

anyway, I'm sure the components can be swapped as you say. I would assume it is only the float and that hopefully is just a pressure fit. I'll retrieve the part back tomorrow and see. I'm sure the rest is identical. They're not going to make a different rheostat for the Adventure I'm sure.

I'll post some pictures of the damage.

 

[monkeyboy]

Here is the damage inside the tank

inside and outside

the float looks like a simple pressure fit

so should be a simple swap. If not, the whole rheostat can be removed quite simply as it's a clip on - just a couple of joints to re-solder

Got a replacement coming anyway - just hope the fault was in this part of the loom and it won't just do it again when I plug a new one in

 

[(RIP) DitchWater]

That brown wire is your ground, return, earth, or -Ve if you prefer, and appears to have a poor solder joint on the terminal inside your tank as seen in picture No 1. A poor solder joint, or dry joint as it is known, will have a weak electrical contact and therefore will draw current to breach the bad contact. This creates heat and could be the cause of your problem.

You could recover your parts by replacing that wiring and taking some resistance measurements to the -Ve connection on your battery. You should be looking for 0.1 to 0.2 ohms only. It might also be worth taking a few more resistance measurements on your earth wiring to ensure it is all intact: no more than 0.2 ohms. That is every electrical component on your bike so, there's alot of scope for a problem.

BTW. Don't throw your old parts away because they could be useful one day.

 

[monkeyboy]

Mystery solved. As usual, it's my own stupid fault...

I was in the gym this morning, wondering how this could of happened with the ignition off. There should not have been any current. Then I worked it out.

I have one of the big, TALL odysee batteries fitted and there are a couple of extra circuits connected for lights, gloves meaning the battery connectors protrude slightly ( as I have the connections on the outsideof the terminals). The big tank lock bolt was out as the tank has been on and off a lot lately. So when I knocked the bike the tank touched the positive terminal and earthed through the fuel pump. Game over

So there you go, self inflicted. I'll reverse the L connectors on the battery to move them 'inboard' and I'm going to put insulation tape on the tank nearest the connections.

At least I know what happened, no matter how embarassing