Help!! Battery Cable

Hi,

I live in Hawaii and I am totally stuck right now as the part I need is not available until January 2009!!!

OK, it happened twice: after riding to work on the freeway and getting into town - pof - my bike stalled. I could restart it after a few minutes and manged to arrive.
Listening to my Dad & brother (thanks!) I found that the fuse (30A) was still operational but melted on one side. The box where it goes also shows signs of heavy melting. Went to the Honda dealer but the part (cable # 32401-MCW-D00) is not available until January 2009!!!!
Went online and every parts dealer says the same.

I am totaly stuck without my motorcycle, what can I do???
To me it does not look like so difficult to be fixed no? Can I just replace that box with one found in a electrical store? The guys at Honda told me it could damage the computer... I don't see how because there is a fuse there anyway.



Being a single woman does not help! Living in Hawaii does not help either, guys I need some serious HELP!!!!

Thank you
Anne

 

Look in the back pages of a motorcycle magazine. There are lots of ads for Honda parts, new and used. I wouldn't hesitate to get a used part from a wrecked bike, if it was in good shape.

 

Help! Battery Cable

Good point:
I have a Honda 2003 Interceptor (so VFR 800).
I'll look for used parts locally and on a back page of a magazine. However I'd like to know if this part can not just be replaced by what seems to me like just a fuse holder?
I could find that in any electrical store and that would be an easy fix no?
Thanks again!
Anne

 

Electrically there would be no difference in having the fuse in the official Honda fuse holder and having it in a fuse holder off to the side. I think some investigation as to why that circuit is pulling so much current and why it's causing things to melt would be in order though. If the circuit is fused for 30 amps and the fuse isn't blowing then the circuit is drawing less than 30 amps, but by the same token if it's melting the fuse block it's pulling a good bit. Even 20 amps @ 12 volts is 240 watts, and that will get pretty hot over time.

 

Thanks, Yes I don't know why it blew at the first place. I wish I could send you a pic... Because the fuse is actually still working (the filament inside is intact) but one "leg" or plug (no idea how it's called) has melted the plastic around...
Could it be that I get careless while washing my motorcycle (I rarely do it with the seat removed) and some water drips inside?

OK, the way things happened is that prior to having the bike stall while driving, I notice that 1 light wasn't working even if the bulb looks fine (can see the filament). Then both lights did not work so I switched to highbeam which work fine. After the 2nd stall I notice that the one light (lowbeam) worked again. So it must be all linked no?

I think I'll go with just a fuse holder. No way I can wait until January 09... I'll check used parts as well, but here in Hawaii it's hard to get!
Mahalo (thanks in Hawaii) Anne

 

It's real unlikely that water caused the problem. Electrical current flow (which is simply the flow of electrons through a wire) always generates a certain amount of heat. If everything is properly selected, wire is the correct size, etc. there is never a problem. If the wire is too small or the current flow is too high problems occur, and that is generally in the form of something melting or catching fire. With a 30 amp circuit as 12 volts you have the potential for 360 watts of energy (watts = volts x amps). Grab a 100 watt light bulb some time and then quadruple it.

The two highest-current circuits on a bike are the starter circuit and the headlight circuit. It sounds to me like you have a problem somewhere in the headlight circuit, so that's where I'd start hunting.

BTW, I know what Mahalo means. I spent a couple of weeks over there in the early 70's and road a Honda CB350 all the way around the island of Oahu. Gorgeous country!

 

It sounds like there might be some corrosion in various places in the electrical system. I would probably pull out each fuse and look at the blades for an indication.

I don't know of any easy way to address corrosion in an electrical system other than to mechanically remove or displace it. For switches, sometimes just cycling them, without power applied, 5 or 10 times will knock it off the mating parts. For blade-type fuses, removing and installing them multiple times will knock off some of the surface corrosion. There is a specialized electrical spray cleaner made specifically for switches, etc., carried by RadioShack and probably some hardware stores.

If one end of the existing fuse holder had a dirty connection, that would explain the melting. And like SCraig says, if the part you are describing is nothing more than a fuse holder, it could be replaced with any fuse holder, provided that the wire size was the same size or slightly bigger than what is currently in place.

 

I would look for a bad or dirty connection causing the overheating and melting.

 

Have you had the factory recall, wiring harness replacement, performed?, you might want to scamper down to your local honda dealer and start with getting that scheduled....your problems might be associated with this issue....

 

Hey guys,

Actually it sometimes helps to be a single woman Went again to the Honda dealer and one of the mechanics did a quick fix: basically replaced the entire fuse box and put some connectors Yeh!
I actually brought up the recal because Yes I get the letter and yes I did bring my bike to them a while back.
Last night I read online the recall is for ground wire-harness. Being clueless in mechanics I could only guess it's electrical. Anyway, the lights etc makes me think it's the same thing. Honda guys too, which would explain while Honda ran out of stock for this part...
So far we are not sure but I made an appointment for next week so they can check it out. In the mean time I'll just put the wires back and remember to squeeze the clutch if my bike stalls while on the freeway!

I'll add a pic to my profile soon!
Aloha,
Thank you again for all your help! That's my first forum ever and I must ssay that it does help a lot!
Anne

 

Have you had the recall as well?