jsouth
Member
Over the last year, I did a lot of research and bought the necessary components to rewire my HES wiring harness. Since my dad has a 2001 1100RS to match my 2000 R1100RS, and neither had been rewired, I bought enough wire to do two. I also bought an LED to do the testing of the individual HES devices on the plate, and to do the required timing on re-assembly. After disassembly and inspection, I thought my harness didn't need replacement. Nothing was obvious (of course it was still functioning) but when I got into the wiring under the plate, the original wire insulation was extremely brittle. Failure waiting to happen.
I will say this -- I have done LOTS of electronic assembly and soldering, and consider myself handy with wiring. This job is fairly tough, mostly because you are rewiring an existing harness and wires are already short, so there is no extra wire from the sensors. The fit is a little tight and required considerable thinking and some on-the-spot engineering. The second one (on my dad's bike) will be MUCH easier.
All in all, sending it to GSAddict who has this all figured out and is experienced, would be the best option for most people, and easily worth the price he charges.
On reassembly I noticed that the timing was a bit different from the original. I used the test LED clipped on the wiring harness (and battery power, of course) and rotated the plate until the LED just went off. The marks I made in disassembly were retarded in comparison to the position the test LED gave me. The bike does seem to start quicker and run a little better with a tiny bit of advance from the original setting (but actually right at TDC according to the LED).
I also took the opportunity while the tank was off to remove the alternator and install a new 14.5V Voltage Regulator, designed for AGM batteries (like my Odyssey) installed by the factory in later BMWs. That necessitated removing the Motronic controller and ABS modulator (and bleeding the entire system).
All in all, a productive weekend. I will no longer worry about my HES failing on the road, and my Odyssey should last very well.
But I will repeat -- unless you have a desire to engineer your own repair, and have a lot of time and experience to do it, send your HES harness to GSAddict!
I will say this -- I have done LOTS of electronic assembly and soldering, and consider myself handy with wiring. This job is fairly tough, mostly because you are rewiring an existing harness and wires are already short, so there is no extra wire from the sensors. The fit is a little tight and required considerable thinking and some on-the-spot engineering. The second one (on my dad's bike) will be MUCH easier.
All in all, sending it to GSAddict who has this all figured out and is experienced, would be the best option for most people, and easily worth the price he charges.
On reassembly I noticed that the timing was a bit different from the original. I used the test LED clipped on the wiring harness (and battery power, of course) and rotated the plate until the LED just went off. The marks I made in disassembly were retarded in comparison to the position the test LED gave me. The bike does seem to start quicker and run a little better with a tiny bit of advance from the original setting (but actually right at TDC according to the LED).
I also took the opportunity while the tank was off to remove the alternator and install a new 14.5V Voltage Regulator, designed for AGM batteries (like my Odyssey) installed by the factory in later BMWs. That necessitated removing the Motronic controller and ABS modulator (and bleeding the entire system).
All in all, a productive weekend. I will no longer worry about my HES failing on the road, and my Odyssey should last very well.
But I will repeat -- unless you have a desire to engineer your own repair, and have a lot of time and experience to do it, send your HES harness to GSAddict!
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