Corrosion on solenoid power contacts (pic)

[E30TECH]

How common is this? Once I clean the contacts, what type of coating is recommended to stop it?

 

[just954rr]

Dialetric grease.....found at any autozone...NAPA..ETC...

[Lineareagle]

Riding in salty air are we?

 

That is pretty bad, I am not sure dielectric grease will protect it, I am thinking battery terminal grease might be a better choice. I'd drop into my friendly auto mechanic and get a dab.

[E30TECH]

Riding in salty air are we?

 

Actually this is from the previous owner. I was amazed with the corrosion that I have seen on this bike. He lived in Somers, NY and was 20 miles from the hudson river. I have always wondered HTF some of this corrosion got here. He had the bike in his garage, a BMW bike cover, and the bike had just over 6K miles on it.

 

I ended up removing the wires, hitting them with some emery paper and coating them with Dow Corning #4 silicone grease. Only the exposed areas were corroded (which would be expected). I still thought that was a little extreme.

 

I may take some other pictures and post them just to see what others think. The aluminum housing on the trans seems to have a slight coating of corrosion. I suppose that would be expected as it is bare aluminum.

 

The bike was really in good condition - the paint was flawless. He gave me all the records, including the 600 mile and 6K service receipts.

[Eckhard Grohe]

It could be a case of riding very early in the season before a good spring rain has had a chance to wash the salt off the roads. Even in my most enthusiastic times I wait till a good solid spring rain to wash the salt and salt dust away after winter.

[Lineareagle]

You know, and all the AR's are going to jump all over me for this.

It COULD be the guy washed the bike TOO much and used a degreaser on it. Hence any natural oily deposits were gone and it just rusted. Could also explain the corrosion on the case, I assume it is the white powdery stuff.

It is ok to flush the bike but unless you are going to really clean AND preserve the bike washing with harsh detergents etc can be counter productive.

[E30TECH]

I assume it is the white powdery stuff

Yes that is the stuff.

 

You may be right as the bike was pretty clean, but there was some rust under the poweder coating where the front fender mounts. I stripped the rust and painted the area with POR15.

[ShovelStrokeEd]

Don't forget that it looks like at least 3 dissimilar metals there leading to galvanic action. Brass bolt on starter, tin plated tab on the lead and a steel nut. Not a good idea. Pick up a brass nut at the very least.

 

The Hudson River is not a river until about 80 or so miles upstream. Before that, it is really an estuary with the attendant salt air.

 

Judging by the level of corrosion, I would also consider replacing the cable between the starter and the motor. Good chance it has moved a good way up under the insulation of the wire.

[E30TECH]

The washer did have some material missing due to dissimilar metals. I looked at the wires, and they appeared to be OK.

 

I will replace the nuts and washers. I do believe these are factory pieces.

[Ken H.]

Yeah, looking everywhere in the picture, that's one of the worst I've seen. I'm not sure I'd have bought the bike.

 

And I've never been a big fan of bike covers either. Sometimes I wonder if they trap moisture and cause more problems than if the bike had just gotten wet then been allowed to dry in the open air.

[E30TECH]

I dont think the bike even sat outside as he had a 3 car garage. The cover seemed almost new.

 

I think the above pic makes things seem worse than they are. There is not really that much corrosion on the bike as a whole, but there is some corrosion in what I think are strange places.

[twolfy]

I'd say that the bike sat under a cover that did not have a vent. It could have been inside a garage that had a lot of moisture due to leaks or more likely from the cars that were parked in there when they were wet or covered with some snow. Also could have sat outside under a cover and got corroded also from sitting in the sun and trapping moisture under the cover. Gotta have some good air circulation to avoid this. You have some sanding and touching up to do unfortunately in many areas. Get after it now and prevent further problems down the road.

Tom

[Flyer5]

Wash it good let it dry then spray all unpainted areas good with. http://www.wicksaircraft.com/catalog/product_cat.php/subid=2868/index.html

[E30TECH]

Most of the corrosion seems to be centralized around the starter. I will remove the tupperware (once again) and have a better look. Maybe I'll do it at the NE Tech Daze in 2 weeks. There are some spots on the welds of the frame, but they are very minor.

 

I must admit that I am a little surprised by Ken's comment of not buying the bike (although I appreciate the honesty). I thought that this was somewhat normal. I have noticed it in the past when I had the tupperware off. I just wish I posted the question then while it was still winter and had plenty of time to do the required work.

 

Thanks for the info / advice

[SAMSAR]

Hi Perry,

 

Take a look at mine during the Tech Day.

 

I had a similar thing happen after a very messy day ride in January through snow and sleet. The bike had a road salt haze on it for a couple days until I could wash it down. Then, I realized a month later when I removed the tupperware to do some work that I didn't get it all.

 

I'm guessing all it takes is one messy ride in New England.

 

See you in a couple weeks.

 

Paul

[E30TECH]

I'm looking forward to meeting you guys.

 

I have this here at work http://www.lpslabs.com/Products/CorrosionInh/Lps3.asp

 

I recall this stuff being recommended by one of our UK members. I have a spray bottle ready to bring home.

[LanceJFerraro]

I see you live in Jersey. When I lived in NYC I had a constant electrical corrosion problem on my beloved Honda CB400F. It was in the fuse box and I first discovered it when the lights went dead. I opened the box and all the fuse to holder connectors were corroded. It had melted the plastic (more corrosion = more resistance = more heat) so I had to get another fuse box. Then, a couple of months later, boom, corrosion all over inside the fuse box but no melting this time. I cleaned everything up but it came back again. After I moved out of the city and to a small town in the mid-west the corrosion stopped. As near as I can figure it was caused by some of the acids and such in the air pollution. After all, if those upwind coal burning power plants can kill all the fish in a lake due to acid rain, it surely can effect the metals on our bikes.

[E30TECH]

Wow...Thankfully, this has not gotten that bad.

 

The bike came from Somers NY (as mentioned above). I have been in the fusebox installing the signal minder. Everything under the seat looks like new. I am going to take care of the corrosion that is pictured by cleaning the area and coating it with LPS3.

 

Thanks for the reply

[AndyS]

How common is this? Once I clean the contacts, what type of coating is recommended to stop it?

 

1/.Common.

2/. Clean with wire brush

3/. A good heavy coat of vaseline.

then stay on top of it each time the plastic is off.

It'll all stay good.

Andy

[E30TECH]

I removed the plastic today to treat the metal with LPS3. I cleaned everything with Simple Green, followed by "Bull Frog" degreaser, which is supposed to have a bonding agent in it to protect metal. After all was rinsed and dry, I sprayed the LPS3 on lightly several times.

 

Reinstalled the plastic, went for a ride

 

Once everything was cleaned up, it looked pretty good.