Is any of this possibly related?

[amontyg]

I have a 82 550l that I have owned for about two years. A couple weeks ago the tail light went out so I replaced the bulb with one that was slightly different but seemed to work fine. The same day the headlight went out but when I got in to change it I found that the bulb didn't actually blow; the connector that attaches to the backside of the bulb had actually melted causing a bad connection. Upon fixing that, I measured the voltage at the battery when the engine was off and got about 13 volts, when the engine was on and i cranked the RPM's i got about 18 volts. obviously this was high so I checked the water level in my battery and it was dry. Is this most likely a regulator problem? and if so what are the procedures for making sure of this and/or fixing it?

[bwringer]

The Stator Papers.

But it sounds like you have a bad regulator, which has been destroying bulbs.

All the above is caused by corroded connections, so the first step is to clean all the electrical connections, especially those crappy bullet connectors.

[Steve]

Have you received Basscliff's greeting?

If you have, have you read it?

Lots of good information in there, but the one that should interest you the MOST right now would be The Stator Papers. By following the excellent troubleshooting tree in the papers, you will see that one of the possibilities that could cause your problem is a bad ground connection from the regulator (r/r) to the chassis/battery. Another possibility is just a bad r/r, but follow the tree, you will soon know.

.

[amontyg]

advise for cleaning connections

Thank you all for your help so far, I seem to be stuck on bad connections. I tried using a small wire brush to clean all the bullet connectors that i could find the problem is that it doesn't really clean the female end too well and i have no idea about how to clean the multi-wire plastic connectors. What are some successful methods that you all have used in fixing wire connections in your bikes?

[Calvin Blackmore]

Thank you all for your help so far, I seem to be stuck on bad connections. I tried using a small wire brush to clean all the bullet connectors that i could find the problem is that it doesn't really clean the female end too well and i have no idea about how to clean the multi-wire plastic connectors. What are some successful methods that you all have used in fixing wire connections in your bikes?

how timely
I too am clenaign my contacts this wild long weekend

any of you guys know a liquid that can be used to di contacts for cleaning?

[Larry D]

You can buy wiring cleaner...stuff..at most electrical stores. Forget the name of it right now.
-OR-

You can replace the bullet connector with spade type connectors, which is what I did. A rainy Saturday afternoon, a few cold adult beverages and some good tunes on the radio and you can knock it out easily. Here's a pic....and yes.... I need to work on my soldering skills. My friend bwringer bought a slick crimper thingymabob that easily and quickly crimps them in place without the use of solder. I think he got it a Radio Shack...

Oh....get some shrink tubing to protect everything when you get it done.

[Calvin Blackmore]

You can buy wiring cleaner...stuff..at most electrical stores. Forget the name of it right now.
-OR-

You can replace the bullet connector with spade type connectors, which is what I did. A rainy Saturday afternoon, a few cold adult beverages and some good tunes on the radio and you can knock it out easily. Here's a pic....and yes.... I need to work on my soldering skills. My friend bwringer bought a slick crimper thingymabob that easily and quickly crimps them in place without the use of solder. I think he got it a Radio Shack...

Oh....get some shrink tubing to protect everything when you get it done.

I am looking for something nasty that cleans off oxidation as well as any surface oil etc.
some of my wires are black quite far into the insulation so I assume they should be cleaned.

[Calvin Blackmore]

darn that search function is handy

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?t=127908&highlight=dipped+electrical+contact

hydroflouric acid

i bet its good for a skin chemical peel as well

[Calvin Blackmore]

good god

"The danger in handling hydrofluoric acid is extreme, as skin saturation with the acid in areas of only 5 in2 (160 cm2) may be relatively painless, yet ultimately fatal. High concentrations of hydrofluoric acid and hydrogen fluoride gas will also quickly destroy the corneas of the eyes."

do not try this at home

[BassCliff]

Hi,

I found this page on some guy's website:

Electrical Odds and Ends

On it are a couple of articles about repairing and cleaning your wiring harness.



Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[amontyg]

I have been tinkering a little bit more this afternoon and come up with a few more questions for you guys. In using the fault finding chart I was provided in previous posts my readings have been erratic. Sometimes they have been in spec and others have been way off. I guess one specific question has to do with the third row of the chart. In testing the voltage between the positive battery terminal and the positive lead from the R/R I get a reading below .2, if I idle the engine at about 1000 RPM's or below. If I idle the engine above that i get a reading that is too high. What RPM's should i idle at?

[morpheus666]

I think I am the only one that does this, but I have many times just cut the ends off, put a piece of heat-shrink tubing on it, then soldered the ends together and shrink the tube. No muss no fuss, no connector to get loose or corroded. If in the future I have to remove the part the wiring goes to, it really doesn’t take that long to unsolder it. If I am replacing the part, I just cut it off near the bad part's end and solder in the new one.