Oil in electrical connectors

I was just out doing my Penski install and had to unplug the two power plugs in the Reg/Rectifier to fish the hard/soft cables out. when I unplugged the grey connector, it was full of oil. The black one was clean.

I know terminal grease is sometimes used for corrosion prevention. but oil? Enough to come dripping out and make spots on the floor.

Do I have a problem? or just plug em back in and finish the shock install.



The one lable input from stator had the oil



sorry for the blur, but you can see the oil in the corner and a lot has leaked out at this point.

Sorry MSC, I had the time today so I took advantage of it. I'll be around when you are ready to do yours.

Rectifier is made to handle a lot of heat. Fins are for cooling.

It could be liquid filled, better heat transfer.

Oil could be leaking out through harness connection.

Don't know for sure. Where else could it come from? Is harness below rectifier?

I have 05 its in a different location.

Part will overheat without oil, charging system failure.

Dude, forgive me for not actually adding useful information... but it sure looks like the Locktite got away from you. Is that what the blue spots are?

luvtoride said:

Dude, forgive me for not actually adding useful information... but it sure looks like the Locktite got away from you. Is that what the blue spots are?

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I borrowed that pic from Warchild, I think its wet from a wash.

luvtoride said:

Dude, forgive me for not actually adding useful information... but it sure looks like the Locktite got away from you. Is that what the blue spots are?

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One *some* of the bolts in the photo, you can see the blue spots indicating the bolt has been torqued at the factory. There are these "check" marks on a lot of the fasteners. Very noticable on the two silver heads on the top left, and barely visable on the two black torx heads on the right.

I recently had these plugs out, no oil. Can't imagine why oil would be in there, also can't imagine how it got in there

FJRFencer said:

luvtoride said:

Dude, forgive me for not actually adding useful information... but it sure looks like the Locktite got away from you. Is that what the blue spots are?

Click to expand...

I borrowed that pic from Warchild, I think its wet from a wash.

Click to expand...

Correct, those are simply water spots.

Oil in the connector, hmmmmm..... not something I would expect.

I also wouldn't expect oil in the R/R, either. Though the way Yamaha changes components over the years without mentioning it, who knows.

Was your old OEM shock oil-free? No blown seals or the like?

Was the rest of the area clean... no oil anywhere?

Weird. And not right, IMO....

I just had my connectors off of an 06 and had the same thing. AC plug was full of oil. Interestingly, I was in the process of removing all of my connectors to PUT oil in them for corrosion protection. I believe it was done by the factory to prevent corrosion due to the location of the RR on the 06. It is right in front of the rear wheel and subject to moisture. I don't understand why they put oil in the AC plug and not the DC plug though.

I think the only problem you have is that all of your plugs don't have oil in them.

Perhaps AC current combined with moisture has a tendency to "electroplate" the connectors together or corrode them. DC would not have that problem due to the lower voltage and unidirectional current flow.

Just thinking out loud.

Warchild said:

Was your old OEM shock oil-free? No blown seals or the like?
Was the rest of the area clean... no oil anywhere?

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clean and no oil/blown seals

The way it was connected and leaked when pulled would lead me to believe it was purposely done :blink:

JeffAshe said:

Perhaps AC current combined with moisture has a tendency to "electroplate" the connectors together or corrode them. DC would not have that problem due to the lower voltage and unidirectional current flow.Just thinking out loud.

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That's what I was thinking too, but I don't really know. The DC side was definetly bone dry.

Can some other 06 owners "Pull their Plug" and let us know what happens? :blink:

Hmmmmmm............a connection to harley davidson?.....say it ain't so.......just make sure there is a puddle underneathe the scoot before you ride...otherwise, you ain't got no oil left.....suckers!!!!!

You would be surprised at the strange shit that migrates through electrical wiring. In the mid 1980s when some GM coolant sensors would go bad, anti-freeze would “wick” up the wire all the way from the engine, through the firewall and into the ECM. The car would quit running—when the ECM was removed it was full of coolant. Maybe your oil in the rectifier connector is a similar problem? Just a thought.

Though I don't know for sure, I wouldn't be surprised if there was oil in the Regulator, as a cooling medium. PCB's, after all, come from transformer oil, and the regulator isn't much different from those.

radman said:

Though I don't know for sure, I wouldn't be surprised if there was oil in the Regulator, as a cooling medium.

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Who knows, maybe so.... these are, after all, a new type R/R for the FJR1300 starting with the 2006 model year.

But if that's really the case, I am guessing the oil isn't supposed to emerge out of the unit.... can't really serve as a cooling medium if it's not going to stay put....

Looks like the engine oil is wicking thru the wiring from the stator to the regulator connector. Not too surprising, really.

3dogs is right. Water, coolant, oil can all migrate thru the wiring harness in some situations. I too have seen "sealed" engine and ABS brake controllers (among other devices) filled with "water" that wicked thru the wiring from an unsealed connection or failed sensor.

Possibly the situation with the voltage regulator is exacerbated by the regulator being very much lower on the 06 than on previous models. Any oil woul only have to wick slightly "uphill" in the harness then it would easily migrate downhill to the voltage regulator connector. The stator wire ends are not sealed from oil so oil can easily enter any of the three wires. The voltage regulator connector is hermetically sealed so any oil getting there will be trapped.

I would categorize this as an interesting but harmless observation. Oil is harmless inside the wire and connector and will not hurt anything.

Just as a matter of interest, not only do liquids migrate thru the wiring harness by capilary action. Oxygen sensors in the exhaust systems of modern cars require an oxygen reference inside the zirconium element. That oxygen reference gets there thru the wiring harness. It is desireable to get the oxygen reference to the element and also desireable to keep anything else out. It was found out years ago that enough "air" wicks thru the wiring harness to support the sensor operation with the rest of the sensor sealed to the elements. So that is how they work these days.

Ever had the trailer lights on your bike trailer stop working and started cutting into the harness to find the open wire. Common to find the complete harness wiring green and eaten up by salt water wicking thru the wire. That is why you found that "black" copper wire (that you couldn't solder a splice to) 6 feet from the nearest connector inside the insulation. Salt water wicking thru the wire.

jestal said:

I would categorize this as an interesting but harmless observation. Oil is harmless inside the wire and connector and will not hurt anything.

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Is there not the potential for a short across the connectors? I don't know the eletrical conductivity properties of oil but if it were water in there would it not short out?

Oil will not conduct electricity at low to moderate voltages (less than 100,000 or so).

Schleep tight, oil has a huge resistance to conductance factor. Well heck, Yamaha runs the rotor in engine oil.