Unnecessary Wires And A mystery Vacuum Line

The Goldwing was overdue for it's oil change so Friday I got around to it. It's really nothing different than changing the oil and filter in your car or truck, except instead of popping open the hood you remove the lower front faring, front cover and two right side covers. While the oil drained I looked over everything that is normally hidden by the "Tupperware" that had been removed. Hmmmmm. . . there were a few previous owner installed wires connected to relays (solenoids) going to different parts of the bike. A little tracing revealed whatever one of the relays was originally connected to was no longer on the bike and the wires were clipped off and left to remove themselves (seems they were in no hurry to do that). These particular wires lead to the right side horn connection and when removed made no difference in the horn operation. OK then, time to get rid of those wires and the associated relay.

I'm sitting on the driveway disconnecting the useless green wire added to the horn when my fingers feel something move away as I push it. What the heck is it? Feels like the end of a fuel line, or more likely a vacuum line. Could the bike run so well with a vacuum line not connected? Possibly but I really need to figure out what this is and what that open end should go to. Only one problem: I'm changing the oil and filter which lead to tearing out a bunch of added in wires which lead to the discovery of this not connected line. So I tell myself "prioritise LeRoy" and decide to leave the line for tracing until Saturday. After all the bike is running really good as it is so take care of what I already have underway. Oil change got completed, wiring got removed and bike still started and ran just dandy so not a biggie except the mystery of the open line.

I love and detest these types of mysteries. There's the incredible satisfaction of solving it but first there's the frustrations of digging deeper and deeper into each sub-assembly while attempting to expose enough to see where the line being traced actually starts. Fortunately Janice went to a "Pampered Chef" party (one of those obligatory annual things she anticipates with dread) before I started this project. By the time she arrived back home there was more of the "Tupperware" lying about than she ever imagined could be hung on a motorcycle. She sensed my frustration and kept conversation short while insisting I needed to come in and cool down because sun exposure doesn't work well with some of my medications (who the heck invented that kind of medicine anyway).

Cooled down and back out to the bike when it is decided the other cluster of wires needs to go away. Not a problem, they get pulled through from the right side faring pocket back along the space between the fuel tank and fake tank until all is lying on the driveway beside me. Then a little rerouting of other wires I wish to keep because they serve useful purposes (charging the cellphone and/or charging the ipod) and "oh, yeah, I was trying to figure out this other thing. Enough stuff was opened to my view that it became apparent this was not a vacuum line but rather the line to drain overflow coolant from the coolant reservoir. Why, oh why didn't Honda put a tag on that line down at the bottom end of it saying "coolant overflow". Better yet, now that I've gone through all that fun why didn't I put a tag on that line explaining just that?

Don't ask!