Hi folks, anyone have any idea why a wiring harness would get hot. More specifically the one with 3 wires I believe that are yellow. My bike recently died again on the road after replacing the R/R a year ago. Recently I found one of the three wires (I didn't manage to chase down where the wires are connected to, but there are 3 of them) melted.

So I respliced the wire with fresh wire and the bike started right up after putting the battery on the tender overnight. No matter what RPM I can't get the voltage to go above 12.6V. This can't be my RR or stator can it, I had those replaced less than 5K.


The one thing I noticed is that the three wires are getting hot.

 

If they are plugged into the R/R, they go to the stator.

 

What R/R did you use?

 

had a shop do it, it was a finned one...

 

Wires get hot or melt due to shorts, but usually the fuse eats it first. Or something is trying to pull more volts than the gage of wire allows or your charging system is capable of providing. Trace they wires, but you should be charging at 13.5V or so. This could be the real issue. It could be under powering your whole electrical system.

 

Look for shorts, or **** - poor connections (i.e. Corroded, loose, etc..) any kind of resistance or overloading (as stated by somone else..) will cause those wires to heat up. Good luck, electrical problems can (sometimes) be a bitch..

 

Even the finned ones aren't perfect (though they are better than the original).. Do you know anyone with a similarly aged Honda? (most honda's of that time frame used the same R/R) this would let you swap temporarily to see if it is the problem again.