| Author | Message | ||
     Motorbike |
Yesterday I was just inspecting my 08 XT with 17,000 miles on it. Uly_man has repeatedly recommended that we check the wiring harness to make sure it is not rubbing anywhere, especially on the engine. Well guess what. I just happened to notice that the stator wire harness that runs from the engine up to the regulator was rubbing on the cooling fins on the left side of the rear cylinder. The engine vibration caused the cylinder fin to cut completely through the heat resistant wire loom and also into one of the stator wires. The wire was cut almost completely through with only 4 or 5 strands still intact. I apologize for not taking any pictures until I had this all repaired. Take a look at the picture below and you will see where the fin is actually cut away slightly from rubbing on the wire. It also appeared to have been arcing as the aluminum fin was discolored a sort of black color before I cleaned it off. I cut the bad piece of wire out and spliced in a new piece. I used good crimp type connectors and a double layer of shrink tubing to seal it up properly. No solder. I also re-routed the harness a bit and tied it all up nice and neat with cable ties. After all of that, I did the stator resistance test and running voltage test and it is all well. I'm really surprised that I was not having any charging system problems but I'm sure it would not have been long and I would have been stranded. Thank you Uly_man for suggesting to check wiring harnesses as a precaution. It's just too bad that Buell did not leave a little more slack in all the wires on this bike. They are all just a bit short in my opinion and they will eventually rub through and cause problems. View from under left side scoop at rear cylinder:  | ||
| Rayycc1 |
good catch. I'll be having a look at mine in the A.M....Thanks for posting this! | ||
| Uly_man |
Good job Motorbike. Thank you for posting the details. There is NOTHING wrong with this bike but it does have a few design/ build issues most of which are easy/ cheap to fix/ mod. A classic example, which I have never posted, is on fitting an aftermarket can to my 10 bike. On the cans rear chin fairing mount the bolt was a bit long and it wore a hole, through vibration, in the low pressure oil return pipe to the swing arm. Something that I would not, did not, consider at the time. Anyways I am convinced that a significant number of problems can be avoided by just by a careful check over of the bikes wiring and cables once in a while. Easy and cheap. |
