Member Contributer NVR2L8 Posted October 19, 2008 Member Contributer Share Posted October 19, 2008 During the last part of the tour ride with MichaelF3 and VFRMoua, I noticed my voltage begging to steadily drop from a normal 14.2 volts or so to less than 12 volts, to the point where the bike wouldn't run or start. I replaced the battery with one from Walmart, but my onboard volt meter is telling me that the electrical system just isn't pumping out a charge. I know the first thing is to check the RR and stator, but I was wondering if there is anyone here in Fresno that can help with a garage and tools/test equipment? If so please PM me with a way to get a hold of you. Thanks!!! Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baileyrock Posted October 20, 2008 Share Posted October 20, 2008 Any help yet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Rivcyko Posted October 20, 2008 Member Contributer Share Posted October 20, 2008 My Gawd, Jeff,....You are very tolerent. I now understand, why you've gotten so flustered. It may have been covered, (I don't recall). 1) Recall done? 2) To what extent? 3) off un-educated-hand,.....Stator comes to mind. 4) Happen to be on the stator trek, today, but it seems to be in line, if not the problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer michaelf3 Posted October 20, 2008 Member Contributer Share Posted October 20, 2008 We're actually home now. Jeff had to rent a Uhual truck and we trailered his bike and mine home. I figured it'll be a 4 hour slab home so I got a ride in the truck as well. I'll let Jeff finish rest of the story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer NVR2L8 Posted October 20, 2008 Author Member Contributer Share Posted October 20, 2008 Yea, what a fricking adventure/nightmare, but at least I had Michael and Cheng's help. I would probably still be there if it wasn't for the help of their extended families, from Cheng's brother coming to give me a jump start and following me to Walmart for a new interim battery, as well as the hospitality of Michael's cousins home, which included shuttle service to rent the truck and Home Depot for straps. All of them were great people and I am in debt to them. Anyway, I'm back home now and my preliminary tests lead me to believe the stator is bad. The ohms check seems to be okay, but at high rpm I'm only getting a little under 50 volts from one leg. The other two legs are around 10 and 20 volts, so it would appear that the stator is bad. I decided to call it a night and check to see if this stuff might be covered under my extended warranty, when I noticed two drops of a red or purple fluid under the bike. Closer inspection shows that it came from near the area of the water pump cover. I know I have no red fluids in my bike, although after thinking about it, the fluid might be some cooked engine ice blue coolant, which tells me I probably also have a water pump leak. Ugh... Here are a few pics of the trip... Overlooking Lake Isabella from Caliente Bodfish Road Just a stretch of Hwy 190 A nice twisty section of the road thru the Sequoia National Forest While I was taking pictures in Sequoia, Michael and Cheng talked about family, and after a few minutes realized they were related!!! If I remember correctly, Michael's brother married Cheng's first cousin. Small world... Loaded up and heading home... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspanglish Posted October 20, 2008 Share Posted October 20, 2008 Fugging VTEC stators... the insulation on them is faulty/insufficient. Still, looks like a nice trip!! If you happened to be in the South of Spain I would have fixed you up... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 20, 2008 Share Posted October 20, 2008 I hate it when trips end like that. Ironically that is why I'm back on a Honda because that is how some of my BMW trips ended, even one 2,000 miles from home. As for the electrical and the fluid, I'm not sure I would jump to the leaking water pump conclusion so quick, it would appear that a leak from there on a vtec is very uncommon. Do you have a pic of where it came from or why you think it came from there? As for the stator, again a bit rare for the vtec VFR, not so on earlier generations. As we all know the vtec bugaboo is the wiring harnesses. You have done some wiring work on your bike, as noted you have an on board volt meter set up, what motivated you to do that? Did you have any problems previously that led you to install one? Best of luck sorting it all out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer NVR2L8 Posted October 20, 2008 Author Member Contributer Share Posted October 20, 2008 No picture of the fluid near the water pump, but I'll shoot one if I have time after work. It has me a little puzzled, but I'm thinking it has to be the Blue Ice coolant. I installed a voltmeter because I wanted to keep track of the charging system when I run heated gear and other accessories. And I also wanted to be able to monitor the voltage since mine was high (15.3) before I did the monitor wire fix. After the fix it normally it ran about 14.6 volts with no other loads, and that was the first thing I noticed when the charging system began to fail. All of a sudden it was 12.6 or so, and steady dropped. The bike finally stopped running when the voltage dropped below 11.0 volts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baileyrock Posted October 20, 2008 Share Posted October 20, 2008 All of a sudden it was 12.6 or so, and steady dropped. The bike finally stopped running when the voltage dropped below 11.0 volts. Glad your home safe and sorry the trip was cut short! How long did the bike run and what accessories were on when your voltage dropped out? I would think the bike would run for an hour or two w/o a bunch of accessories on just running on the battery. :biggrin: Not sure how long these little batteries will carry the load before dying, maybe pull the H/L fuse (daytime) to add run time in an emergency situation. I ask so that we can use your experience to hopefully help out other members if the future if they suffer similar issues out on the road. :laugh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer NVR2L8 Posted October 20, 2008 Author Member Contributer Share Posted October 20, 2008 My running voltage was typically about 14.5v with no accessories, but I didn't notice the voltmeter until it was about 12.5v. But I do remember the throttle acting a little strange where it seemed to drop off abruptly from about 2000 rpm to the idle point, but I figured the altitude might be causing it as well as myself being a tired from riding all day. To answer your question requires a caveat, as about two years ago I had replaced the stock battery with a YTZ14S, so I had a little more reserve capacity than a standard 12S battery. And whatever problem I currently have obviously started before I noticed it, and when I noticed the voltage at 12.5v I rode for about 50-60 minutes before it totally died. As far as accessories I had none other than a radar detector, which started to cycle on and off when the voltage dropped below 12v. Anyway, with a fully charged and good 12S battery, my guess is that the bike would probably run about 60 minutes, and perhaps longer if running with no headlights. In fact, I would think the two 55 watt headlights were pulling about as much power as what it takes to run the bike's ignition system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Rivcyko Posted October 20, 2008 Member Contributer Share Posted October 20, 2008 As for the fluid, make damn sure it's not just a hose clamp. (It deceived me, once). Could have sworn it was coming out of the weep hole. Glad to be wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baileyrock Posted October 20, 2008 Share Posted October 20, 2008 To answer your question I had replaced the stock battery with a YTZ14S, so I had a little more reserve capacity than a standard 12S battery. Anyway, with a fully charged and good 12S battery, my guess is that the bike would probably run about 60 minutes, and perhaps longer if running with no headlights. In fact, I would think the two 55 watt headlights were pulling about as much power as what it takes to run the bike's ignition system. Good info, thanks. I think the ytz14 has only 10 more cca than the 12s so probably not a huge factor, but for sure pulling the h/l fuse and saving that 110 watt draw should greatly improve your drive time in an emergency. Just thinking that an hour or two of ride time should be able to get someone to a town at least. I need to install a volt meter on my 02, I have 65k miles on the original Alt. which was a Recall item. I meant to have it replaced before the recall expired, but I missed it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer NVR2L8 Posted October 20, 2008 Author Member Contributer Share Posted October 20, 2008 As for the fluid, make damn sure it's not just a hose clamp. (It deceived me, once). Could have sworn it was coming out of the weep hole. Glad to be wrong. Hey Travis...thanks for the heads up!!! I looked under where I saw the fluid, and it looks like it was coming out of small slot on the bottom of the water pump cover. Is that the weep hole and exactly why do I need a weep hole? LOL Still could be a hose clamp though... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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