Changing hall sensor 'on the road'

MattW

MattW

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I'm about to buy a hall sensor plate to keep as a spare and take with me on trips (no indication that mine is failing but it's 15 years old now...). I take a basic selection of tools but I'm not sure if there's anything 'special' I'll need - eg for timing the new plate.

ta

Edit : forgot to say - '94 1100
 
Hall sensor

If you mark the position of the old one before removing you should have no timing issues if you place the new one in the same position.
 
16mm socket or spanner to undo the pulley.

easy way to undo the pulley is put the spanner or socket on the 16mm pulley nut, turn on the ignition and give the starter button a tap while holding the spanner/ratchet . Result = nut cracked loose. :thumb
 
As it appears to be so easy to swap.. why not do so anyway with some degree of comfort and keep the OLD one as a spare. you just might be hugely grateful for doing so when you see the condition of the old one coming out.

The problems come when your bike breaks down.. could you quickly and easily diagnose that it IS the hall sensor.. easy enough if you notice the rev counter dancing madly up and down. but what if that doesn't happen? Sods law dictates that when something fails it will fail at the most inopportune time. .

I'd just swap the thing. As it IS one of the few things that can kill your bike stone dead. 16 years is a good innings.. who knows what kind of abuse its suffered over that time.

my opinion is the best place for new parts is FITTED. not being carried hither and yon as dead weight. just on the offchance.
 
Why not change it at home, in the garage, at your convenience, then rewire the old one and carry that as a spare ?
Stewart
 
Why change it? A new sensor could fail as easily as a 16 year old one, leave the working one in place. If it aint bust dont fix it!!
 
motobiker said:
As it appears to be so easy to swap.. why not do so anyway with some degree of comfort and keep the OLD one as a spare. you just might be hugely grateful for doing so when you see the condition of the old one coming out.

The problems come when your bike breaks down.. could you quickly and easily diagnose that it IS the hall sensor.. easy enough if you notice the rev counter dancing madly up and down. but what if that doesn't happen? Sods law dictates that when something fails it will fail at the most inopportune time. .

I'd just swap the thing. As it IS one of the few things that can kill your bike stone dead. 16 years is a good innings.. who knows what kind of abuse its suffered over that time.

my opinion is the best place for new parts is FITTED. not being carried hither and yon as dead weight. just on the offchance.
Click to expand...

wot he says - do it now at home , not at the side of the road.

doing the first one will make the second one easier, too. :thumb
 
If you are thinking of carrying a spare, make sure you can get the bolts out by the side of the road when/if you need to do it-the swap is easy but getting the bolts out took me a couple of hours in the shed.
 
Good points about changing it at home and keeping the old one as a spare :thumb2
 
david vaughan-birch said:
If you are thinking of carrying a spare, make sure you can get the bolts out by the side of the road when/if you need to do it-the swap is easy but getting the bolts out took me a couple of hours in the shed.
Click to expand...

Sound advice, thanks.
I changed the alternator belt a few months ago (deliberately using only my 'travelling' toolkit) so I've confirmed that all but the crankshaft pulley bolt are doable while away from home (and Steptoe posted a neat way to loosen that one :) )

That said, (although it goes against my 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' philosophy :rolleyes: ) as advised I think I'll change the sensor at home and pack the old one as a spare, assuming it arrives in time - currently on back order.
 
New sensor just arrived - don't get much for £150 do you? :rolleyes:
 
Packer said:
Don't look at this previously posted link then http://advwisdom.hogranch.com/Wisdom/oilhead_hall_sensors.pdf where the author bought the bare sensor for less than US$13.00 :D
Click to expand...

I know, I've seen that article :D
Farnell sell the Honeywell 2AV54 hall sensors for £10.22 ea (although they're a US stock item so you have a one off £16 shipping fee).

Which is fine if you've got a spare sensor plate and connector kicking around or can take your bike off the road to do a repair on the plate.

My original idea was to carry a spare sensor plate so that I could do a quick(ish) on the road repair if necessary. This has now changed to me fitting the new plate and carrying the old one as a spare.

However I may well fit new hall sensors to my old plate and replace the wiring depending on how it looks when I remove it. If I do, I'll be buying a couple of those sensors from Farnell (and possibly doing a little group buy to spread the shipping cost a bit). It's complicated by the proper heat resistant silicon insulated wire being flippin' expensive and only available in big reels.
 
My reaction was "IS THAT IT!!!???" :blast

I just wish I had thought to buy one in advance. would have saved me. breaking down just as I was about to ride INTO the MOT station. a wait for almost an hour for rescue to turn up. then having to 'produce' from thin air the money for a new one. Have Mr Hill drive over to fit it. and then re-book the MOT!!

However I'm rather pleased it happened in my own back yard as it were then somewhere obscure with zero phone reception. and a long walk

I was very lucky to notice the rev counter doing its little 'death dance'.. for that I'm grateful. It only did it once. That really saved me a whole load of faffing about.

was very odd to see what I've seen described so many times though. very.


I would add.. I think its a bit pointless carrying a spare when you've had a brand new one fitted. From all I understand these things tend to fail due to abuse. mainly running the engine at a standstill. You know, following posts like.. "I left the bike to warm up and the header pipes were glowing". I know there are other reasons the part can fail... but overheating is the main culprit. Never do that and no reason your bike shouldn't do a 'Hank' :thumb2:
 
motobiker said:
My reaction was "IS THAT IT!!!???" :blast

I just wish I had thought to buy one in advance.
Click to expand...

I agree (and it's what I've ended up doing) but the trouble is, £150 is a fair chunk of money to spend on a 'just in case' spare. If they were £25 it'd be a no-brainer and everyone would probably have one in the shed but it took an effort of will to make me spend that sort of money when as far as I'm aware there's nothing at all wrong with the one that's fitted...

Anyway, I've got it now so I have some (expensive) piece of mind :rolleyes:
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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