Lazy way to clean corroded connectors

Working on old bikes (or any old vehicles) you often find connectors full of nasty corrosion. It can cause electrical gremlins that are hard to track down, reduce the power getting to your lights, and even stop the bike from running at all. You can painstakingly remove every contact and hand clean them or you could do this.

Step 1: Disconnect the battery. Seriously, you really must do this.
Step 2: put enough white vinegar in a plastic sandwich bag to immerse the connector.
Step 3: Make sure you really did disconnect the battery, then go away for a few hours.
Step 4: Remove the bag and discard or to another connector.
Step 5: Rinse it out with clean water and if possible blow it dry with compressed air.
Step 6: Fill the connector with dielectric grease, including packing it in the back side.
Snap it together and ride! :moped:

Just don't forget and leave it in too long or forget to tighten the female connectors. I've had some so bad I stole my wifes emory boards to sand them. Very tedious that way.

Why must you disconnect the battery? Because one of the conductors might be live and another might be a ground. Vinegar is acid. And what happens when you put positive and negative metal objects in an acid? It's called electroplating. The current can flow through the acid and as it does it will rip atoms off the negative and deposit them on the positive. If it goes long enough the negative metal will be completely destroyed, one atom at a time. I lost a third of a terminal in a few hours. Had I let it go overnight it would have been gone in the morning!

It's really great for female connectors that you can't get into at all. The male makes good pictures. Vinegar is a great mild rust/corrosion remover. Just soak your parts in it and it will come right off. Note it ate the deposits of corrosion off the plastic, too.

nice way to do it

Good tip ! Thanks

[url=https://www.classicgoldwings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=176453#p176453:am62z44y said:

Fstsix » Sun Jul 10, 2016 7:02 am[/url]":am62z44y]
Good tip ! Thanks

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+1 :good:

Does the plastic get brittle?

Acid doesn't seem to affect most plastics in my experience.

[url=https://www.classicgoldwings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=176458#p176458:31e0y1se said:

dan filipi » Sun Jul 10, 2016 7:18 am[/url]":31e0y1se]
Does the plastic get brittle?

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Down here most cheap vinegar comes in a plastic bottles. No problems with plastic :yes:

Good tip, I prefer to replace them, but that seems to work really well.

[url=https://www.classicgoldwings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=176479#p176479:33s4kdug said:

OldWrench » Sun Jul 10, 2016 10:37 am[/url]":33s4kdug]
Good tip, I prefer to replace them, but that seems to work really well.

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Replacement is good! :good:
That way the female connectors are nice and tight on the male ones... :yes:

Replacement is good! :good:
That way the female connectors are nice and tight on the male ones... :yes:

The mind reels with off-color jokes.......... :sensored:

Another nice thing about this method is it doesn't remove metal and then leave abrasive grit and metal dust in them like sanding them can, and they don't get any thinner.

I copied this topic to the "Tips and Tricks" section for future references. :good:

I have a question please. Just got thru with a stator wire problem with my 77 gl1000. PO over 13 years ago changed stator plug and had just used steel crimp connectors to his new plug and taped them up. My new AGM battery was acking a little strange . Checked charge rate 11.6 not good. Made the repair of just soldering wires together. Stator is good enough 13.25. I hope. I wanted to heat wires up a little (small soldering iron) with a torch to a void a cold solder joint. Couldn't get the large plug a part right next to wire the stator wires were. would this method help get that plug apart I can just guess what it looks like inside. Went ahead and soldered stator wires together. I think things are ok but I would like to clean that plug. Thanks Jerry

Wifey says CLR would work too. I have not tried it so use it at your own risk. It might work faster.

[url=https://classicgoldwings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=176543#p176543:caireamq said:

jpwinger » Sun Jul 10, 2016 2:40 pm[/url]":caireamq]
I have a question please. Just got thru with a stator wire problem with my 77 gl1000. PO over 13 years ago changed stator plug and had just used steel crimp connectors to his new plug and taped them up. My new AGM battery was acking a little strange . Checked charge rate 11.6 not good. Made the repair of just soldering wires together. Stator is good enough 13.25. I hope. I wanted to heat wires up a little (small soldering iron) with a torch to a void a cold solder joint. Couldn't get the large plug a part right next to wire the stator wires were. would this method help get that plug apart I can just guess what it looks like inside. Went ahead and soldered stator wires together. I think things are ok but I would like to clean that plug. Thanks Jerry

Click to expand...

It should work to clean it but do a bit more research on this problem. I believe it's a common one and the common solution is to remove the connector completely and solder the wires. It gets too much resistance with old age and ends up frying your alternator. The good news is by addressing it now you may have saved your alternator.

Stator wire solder was ok it was the large plug I wanted to unplug to get it out of the way while I worked on the stator wires. I didn't want to break it Jerry

[url=https://classicgoldwings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=176546#p176546:3bnoj4vb said:

jpwinger » Sun Jul 10, 2016 2:18 pm[/url]":3bnoj4vb]
Stator wire solder was ok it was the large plug I wanted to unplug to get it out of the way while I worked on the stator wires. I didn't want to break it Jerry

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Jerry, do you mean you tried to pull the wires out and could not? There is a special tool that reaches into the plug at each wire (kinda like a dental pick) that allows you to unhook the connector from the plug. There is a tiny tab on each wire terminal end that has the little hook. That is what hold the wires in.