Bought a 2010 XT660Z alegedly with 14 k kmtrs on it 6 months ago and love it.

When I bought it there was evidence it had been previously been kitted out to cross most deserts in the northern hemisphere; panniers, top box, GPS bracket etc. and lots of black spagetti leading to unknown black boxes cable tied behind the headlight kit.

First atempt to drive it home 25mtrs from the dealer it died, all lights up like a Christmas tree then just packed up. Dealer replaced battery and regulator and it ran ok for a couple of k then started flashing error code 46 before refusing to start. All points to regulator and battery again but seems a bit weird given both bits are brand new.

Any logical input appreciated

Welcome on board Graeme.

It is not the regulator/rectifier unit that fails on the Tenere; it is the connector on the loom that causes the well documented problem of no charge, flat battery and dead bike.

Have a look in the connector on the loom and see if all the pins are intact and not corroded or melted. It is the earth pin in the corner of the block that is the one that normally melts and causes the problem.

Yamaha replaced the whole loom when rectifying (no pun intended) this issue, but for a bike out of warranty it is much more cost effective to replace the reg/rec unit with a secondhand one that has tails, rather than just a connector. This can then be spliced into the existing loom and the offending connector can be ditched.

Check out this thread for details…

http://www.xt660.com/showthread.php?t=17054

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and to

Hello and welcome

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XT660Z

Big thanks Pleiades. **** on with that diagnosis. Took the connector off and it looked shot to **** and full of gunk.

Cleaned it out as best I could and scraped up each of the individual small plug sockets one by one and managed to get it charging the battery again.

Obviously this isn't a permanent fix but a rubber boot from LR Industries sealed in place with a cable tie might keep it out of trouble for a while until I can come up with a "permanent" solution? Any point greasing up the connections, I have no idea how to do this or what grease to use so a pointer in terms of links would be good.

Cheers.

This is the stuff I use, it's generally rated as the mutts nuts when it comes to contact protection. However, any dielectric grease packed into the terminal block will do the job.

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Thanks again.

Just an addendum to the Regulator issue; went to see local Yamaha delaer in Portim�o yesterday and got him to run FI diag' doodah and check connections on regulator. His view is that it won't be long before female connector from loom is burned out so he rang Yam' Portugal and Italy and asked for a solution.

Upshot is they recommend replacement of the whole loom +/- 500 euros, yeah right, then on the QT they told him best solution is to carefully remove all wires from connector block and solder each one directly on to the 8 regulator pins, protecting each connection with heat shrink cable sheath. This would supposedly avoid any future corrosion issues, get rid of a crap connector, be totally waterproofed and could be undone in the unlikely event of regulator failure.

I'd be interested in views/input on this before I let Dr Frankenstein run amok with the soldering iron.

As I mentioned in my OP, the cheapest and most effective way forward is to fit an FZS600 regulator/rectifier which has a cable, rather than a connector. With a slight enlarging of the mounting holes it will fit in exactly the same place as the OE item. Just cut off the knackered connector from the loom and fit spade terminals to the end of the loom and also to the cable on the FZS reg/rec unit. If you were OCD about it, you could buy some multiway connectors and fit them instead of the spades. Either way it can easily be changed out if needed.

http://www.xt660.com/showthread.php?t=17054

I don't think just soldering direct to the pins on the XTZ reg/rec unit will be either easy, secure or work very well, also the heat from the soldering iron could damage the internals through conduction? Plus, and here's the rub, you've still got the main problem in that the joint (whether soldered, heatshrinked or whatever) is still going to be in an exposed position. With the FZS600 option, you can place the joint/connector out of harms way, or you can relocate the reg/rec unit completely like this...

http://www.xt660.com/showthread.php?t=20030

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Last week I persuaded the dealer that sold me the bike to take it back and fix it (In Portugal they have to give you a 2 year warranty on 2nd hand sales).

They are specialists in marine engines, mainly jet skis so they took a new reg connector from an old Yamaha jet ski harness which was a perfect fit, cut the old one away, fitted the replacement, sealed it up with some silicon spray they use to waterproof marine electrics and brought the bike back to me last night.

Happy as Larry I set off to work on it this morning thinking all was well - not so; on changing up and revving away from second into 3rd both red and orange warning lights came on, the engine cut out and stalled for a few seconds then lights went out and engine caught again. It did same from 3rd to 4th and 4th to 5th. Had it happened on a corner I'd be either dead or at least in hospital as there's no warning as the back wheel almost locks out before it picks up again.

Underwear now changed, bike is back in garage awaiting dealer to collect and rectify.

In the meantime I thought I would post this to see if any of you can offer any diagnosis/help that I can pass on the the mechanic before he fiddles again. Could it have anything to do with the possibility that he may have wired the connector up arse about tit?