Many folks bemoan the Wing's tendancy to melt its alternator connector, but few realize why it happens. And more importantly, how to repair it correctly, and how to avoid its recurrance. You almost have to have a history with the Honda product, and to some extent all vintage Big Four (Japanese) vehicles, to fully appreciate the issue. And guess what? It's not alternator heat. It's not system load. And it's more a defective manufacturing process than it is a bad part.

The fact is, mass manufacturing's wire crimping is the problem, made yet worse by open backed (unsealed) cannon plugs. Exposed to the elements through the old-school plugs, the factory's crimpings steadily oxidize, gradually increasing resistance until enough heat develops to melt the plastic plug. The fix? Address the two issues. Clean and solder the terminals (to their wires, not to each other -- i.e. upgrade from mere crimped to crimped and soldered) and then back-fill the plug with grease. If necessary, replace the melted cannon plug, sourcing it from one of the half-dozen online suppliers or even from Honda themselves.