91 Bad Stator?

[Guest Jay_eS_Iye]

A little history on it, I parked my bike after laying it down and having to leave 2 weeks later for the Army, and other than a handful of starts by my wife, it sat for about 8 months before trying to start it and the battery was dead. About 9 months after that I finally was able to get the forks rebuilt, changed oil, bought a new battery, and after some problems with fuel leaking from the carb and some cleaning, it started up and I was able to drive it about 15 mintues to our new house. That was in March. A week or so later, I noticed the battery was almost dead again. So I charged it up, looked good to go, bike started up and everything. I kept starting it about every week or so since I wasn't insured or registered, and I noticed the battery not holding a charge. Took the battery back on warranty, charged it up, and left it off the bike until I got legal again (May). Drove it to the inspector, no problems, so I headed on out. About 5-10 minutes down the road the bike died. Luckily stopped at a garage, tested the battery, dead. Charged it there, started the bike and tested the battery and the voltage was dropping while it was going. So I charged it once more time, unhooked the fan hoping that would give me the little juice I needed to get home, and made it within a mile of my house (pushed it halfway until someone with a trailer stopped to help).

So now I'm trying to find out whats wrong with it. I tried checking out the regulator and it looks all good, but I've never really messed with my multimeter so I'm trying to find out if I'm testing it right (wasn't sure on the ohm setting to put it but it looks ok I think). So I took off the alternator cover and looked at the stator which is brown. Now, looking at a picture someone else post a while back I'm taking that as a bad thing, but not sure. So here's whats it's looking like, figured i'd post this and then go try to read my manual on how to test it out. Any help on this would greatly, greatly be appreciated it since electrical is one of the things I've never had to really work with automotively.

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[rctwentyfour]

Hello:

I just went through all this in my '89.

My first reaction to your post / question is (if I am reading this correctly) you have not yet replaced your battery. If it was sitting for months, without getting fully charged from time to time, the battery can go bad and not hold a charge. Anyway, that is where I'd start. (I am also "Mr. if-it-ain't-broke-fix-it-anyway.") I've come to see batteries as "consumables."

Second, this sounds like a classic regulator / rectifier problem to me. When they go bad, they don't always die a complete death. They'll work, then they'll fail, and then they'll work again. Heat is the culprit.

After having dealt with this "stuff" for way, way too long, I just replaced my R/R (and added a computer fan atop it), my stator (with an after-market ElectroSport), and replaced the generator / flywheel too. (I confess that replacing the rotor / flywheel was probably "over-kill.")

http://www.electrosport.com/

Here is a diagnosis chart, which is helpful:

http://www.electrosport.com/technical-reso...ing-diagram.pdf

I see from your pics that you have all this apart. Again, I almost always err to the side of replacing stuff, whether needed or not, but I'm not suggesting that you be equally obsessive.

I can't really tell anything by simply looking at a photo of a stator, unless, of course, it is really "toasted." The discoloring in the stator is from the "stain" of the oil.

I dunno, do what you want to do. I just know - if it were me - I'd replace the stator coil while I had all that apart. It is a relatively simple job and, in the grand scheme of things, the replacements aren't all that expensive.

Your connectors look pretty good. I've seen others, which actually melted. However, what I did was cut off the connectors and hard-wire / solder every connector in the charging system. The downside to that: It is a pain in the butt if you have to get back "in there" to do more work.

I got the stator from this outfit: http://www.regulatorrectifier.com/ They were extremely helpful. (My bike is a "gray market" bike, and we had a bit of a challenge trying to figure-out which stator was the correct replacement.)

So, bottom line, if you replaced the battery, the R/R, and the stator, I think you'd be a happy rider. Just know that the R/Rs on these bikes are susceptible to heat, and you might start thinking about a long-term solution to that classic VFR problem. And, yes, all that can add up to a few bucks ... but I'd argue it is money well spent. The last time I was riding with someone who's bike failed in the boondocks (due to a failed stator, by the way), it cost $150 to get the bike towed about ten miles.

rctwentyfour

[JZH]

Your connectors look brand new! My guess would be that your reg/rec failed in no-charge mode, and you may or may not need a new battery. Battery is always the cheapest part to replace, and it's a service part anyway, so you may as well go ahead and replace that (make sure it is PROPERLY charged before use). Once you've got a running (and warmed up) bike, test the voltage across the battery at 5,000rpm and that will tell you if your reg/rec is dead or working properly. If it is, then either your problem is solved, or you've got to keep looking at other things, like wiring, connectors and the stator. If you want to be thorough, you can check all of those things right now, but my bet is on the reg/rec and the battery...

Ciao,

[Guest]

well I tested the R/R off the bike and everything was within limits (some of them were barely but still good). i'm going to double check the charge of the battery, hook it back up, and then do all the voltage checks (printed the list from another post). I'm hoping to find it pretty soon. I started my insurance and registration in May, so hopefully I won't lose much more time