HES Replacement

[Jim Moore]

Folks,

 

I have a '02 GS with about 56K miles on it. I'm planning a long trip out West this summer and I'm thinking about replacing the HES before I go. Here are my three reasons:

1. I will then have a known good HES.

B. I will have a known good spare.

On the third hand, I will know how to replace it if I need to.

 

The HES looks to be about $190 at Bob's. That seems to be pretty cheap insurance, considering that if I lose my HES in the middle of nowhere I could be screwed for several days. Opinions?

 

Edit: Are there replacement instructions anywhere?

[smiller]

Kind of a tough judgment call, there was a thread on this subject a while back. On the one hand the absolute chance of an HES problem on a given bike is probably not very high, but on the other hand... while the HES sensors themselves are probably very reliable the wiring harness itself definitely has a known problem of degradation over time leading to unpleasant failures (such as in the rain as is quite common.) If you want to have the issue completely out of your mind I don't think it is a crazy idea to have a spare. Unless the wiring harness was upgraded over the years (some suggest this although I've never seen a shred of evidence to support the notion) then sooner or later you will be replacing it anyway.

 

There are a few excellent documents detailing all you need to know, will post the link here in a little bit if someone doesn't beat me to it. Also do a forum search, there's a lot of info on this topic.

[russell_bynum]

Seems like a good thing to do, I think. If nothing else, you'll have a spare and the know-how to help someone else replace theirs.

[Steve W.]

http://advwisdom.hogranch.com/Wisdom/oilhead_hall_sensors.pdf

 

Take a look at the advrider.com site. Click on WISDOM at the bottom of the home page. Lots of GS info.

 

SW

[KDeline]

Funny, IMHO, I think you are blowing $190 and wasting time. And I had one fail, in the middle of SD. Were do you stop? Change out the rear end before it goes? Maybe the splines also? I guess I just live dangeresly.

[Jim Moore]

I'm picturing breaking down in the middle of nowhere, UT on Saturday afternoon. It's 50 miles to the nearest town. When I get there, I can't even order the part until Tuesday. It shows up Thursday and I've just lost 5 days out of a 17 day vacation. BTW, I'm definitely gonna check the splines before I go.

[smiller]

I'm picturing breaking down in the middle of nowhere, UT on Saturday afternoon.

 

And if you have the part you will be on your way by Saturday evening.

 

Another less expensive option you might consider is to simply pull the HES and check for degradation of the wiring harness insulation and replace the harness if necessary (or even if it isn't since you will have gone that far.) As many have noted it seems to be failure of the harness insulation that is causing the problems rather than any actual failure of the HES pickups themselves. Take a few hours and attend to this before you leave and you will probably nearly eliminate any chance of an HES problem, and the total cost (if you do the labor) will be under 20 bucks.

 

I know that if I were to purchase a used oilhead with some miles on it this would be one of the first things I'd do.

[KDeline]

I'm picturing breaking down in the middle of nowhere, UT on Saturday afternoon. It's 50 miles to the nearest town. When I get there, I can't even order the part until Tuesday. It shows up Thursday and I've just lost 5 days out of a 17 day vacation. BTW, I'm definitely gonna check the splines before I go.

 

THAT is exactly what happened to me ecept the dealer opened on Monday, but through his incompatance, we had to leave one bike and go the rest of the trip two up on the wifes bike. She really liked that. I was in SD but I won't say the dealers name.

[KDeline]

As many have noted it seems to be failure of the harness insulation that is causing the problems rather than any actual failure of the HES pickups themselves.

 

Yea that was the problem with mine, wires were showing.