Guest Raindog Posted May 3, 2009 Share Posted May 3, 2009 Hi, I'll try and give all the details without being too overwhelming for my '94 which has been rock solid for the 10 yrs I've owned it: -keep on a trickle charger and no electrical problems -washed and cleaned the bike 3 weeks ago, started up fine -last week I went to start and lights came on, but didn't have power to turn the engine over -used a battery charger/jumper to give 60A and start the bike -after 5 minutes of idling it died, so I repeated the 60A jump and the same thing happened -then when I tried a 4th time with the 60A boost it wouldn't start, so I waited and tried again (I was hellbent on riding) -got it to jump again, it idled a bit, then died again -the battery was 8 yrs old so I got another Sears Die Hard 12BS battery, followed the directions to a T, and fully charged it -bike then sat on the trickle charger for a day, then it started up perfect as I left for work -about 25 minutes into my ride I noticed both no speedo or odometer working...uh oh -still had the tach going, and as I approached a stoplight and started downshifting and it died out in the middle of some farmland -made some calls, arranged a flatbed, then about 10 minutes later tried again and started right up! -canceled the flatbed, put my helmet on, and it died again -called the flatbed again and had it taken back to my house ($129 bucks, ouch) So from looking at forums could this be the dreaded R/R problem? Is there anyway to know for sure since my dealer wants $180 to order the R/R? Any advice what to do since I'm fairly novice as a mechanic, and clueless when it comes to electrical. Thanks in advance (and if you made it this far), John jpod66@gmail.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer elizilla Posted May 3, 2009 Member Contributer Share Posted May 3, 2009 Sounds like R/R is a possibility. I'd do some testing before I ordered any parts, though. R/Rs are expensive. Electrosport has some nice troubleshooting docs on their site. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 3, 2009 Share Posted May 3, 2009 Pull the tail plastic off and check the connector going to the R/R. I had decided to replace my R/R and install the VFRness just to be safe, and when I went to install it all today, I'm glad I did because I found this: Also, look into joining the American Motorcycle Association - the basic membership now includes a full towing plan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tightwad Posted May 3, 2009 Share Posted May 3, 2009 You can buy a stator connector repair kit, or you can just hard wire those wires together....you should be golden after that. Good call on the new battery anyway, you probably needed it. Check out the "Beef up Dem wires thread as well"...or order a VFRness Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tightwad Posted May 3, 2009 Share Posted May 3, 2009 p.s. you have a 5th gen (early 5th). 4th gens have an R/R with one connector built into the R/R (terrible idea IMO) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 3, 2009 Share Posted May 3, 2009 From the symptoms of your speedo it sounds like your R/R. The fact that it died on the side of the road then restarted makes it seem that there may be something more to it than an R/R. As far as replacing the R/R if you can remove the plastic and operate a ratchet you can replace an R/R. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 3, 2009 Share Posted May 3, 2009 p.s. you have a 5th gen (early 5th). 4th gens have an R/R with one connector built into the R/R (terrible idea IMO) I was just trying to give the O.P. an idea of what to look for. Didn't mean to hijack the thread with a 5th-Gen discussion. (Oh, and I did splice the burnt wires to the new R/R for now - later, I'll hit the Radio Shack and see if I can find a replacement 3-pin connector.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tightwad Posted May 3, 2009 Share Posted May 3, 2009 p.s. you have a 5th gen (early 5th). 4th gens have an R/R with one connector built into the R/R (terrible idea IMO) I was just trying to give the O.P. an idea of what to look for. Didn't mean to hijack the thread with a 5th-Gen discussion. (Oh, and I did splice the burnt wires to the new R/R for now - later, I'll hit the Radio Shack and see if I can find a replacement 3-pin connector.) :laugh: I mistook you for the original poster...way to late at night! I have the OEM connector if you need it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer The mailman Posted May 4, 2009 Member Contributer Share Posted May 4, 2009 Same story as mine about four years ago. Crazy speedo and tach. . Intermittent ability to run after jumping and it was the R/R. My replacement came from one of the local NON dealer cycle shops around here. I paid $119 for the new one and have been great ever since. That is the only real issue I have ever had with my '97 and it was apparently (jinx) a one time deal. I would suggest a new battery with the new R/R. I thought my original problem was an old battery. After installing a new one, I continued to have the same problem which cooked my new battery. Fortunately, my local Batteries Plus store realized what had happened and GAVE me a new battery and just wrote the old (new) one off as a bad product. THANK YOU BATTERIES PLUS!!! Otherwise I would be buying a second new battery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 4, 2009 Share Posted May 4, 2009 60 Amps is too much for any motorcycle... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tightwad Posted May 4, 2009 Share Posted May 4, 2009 60 Amps is too much for any motorcycle... Not really...Amps have to be drawn, thus unless you have a short the bike will never draw that much, it will just use what is needed up to 60 amps, which if used with the battery as a buffer shouldn't cause any problems....your battery offers some 230 amps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forum CEO HispanicSlammer Posted May 4, 2009 Forum CEO Share Posted May 4, 2009 Ten years on a battery is a good run, the fact that motorcycle batteries are so small and are packed with very tight cells to get the 12 volts needed to power a modern motorcycle makes them a bit less reliable than a car for example. There are improvements in design with some newer technology - unfortunatly a 10 year old Sears Battery is not one of them. Even if you take care of it as well as you did it will eventually break down with normal use - its just taxed too much. You can invest in a newer sealed deeper cycle gel cell type battery that will last a good bit longer. Once you run a motorcycle battery down so that it cant start the bike chances are you can charge it up and start the bike again however some damage to the cell structure has happned and it wont hold that charge, cells get shorted, lead has bridged over the cells or sulfer dioxide is release in gas form and excapes the battery - In any case I am pretty sure you need a new battery. Somthing has caused the battery to discharge and its most likely the Regulator Rectifier however you must also test the stator since that is also a problem on motorcycles. Battery - wire harness - Regulator/Recifier - and Stator test each one for fitness and replace them as nessisary. They are all interrelated and damage to one can cause damage to the other. It is important to check them all out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer robwalmsley Posted May 4, 2009 Member Contributer Share Posted May 4, 2009 hi there ,i had the same kind of breakdown as you on a ride out,had a 4 hour wait for recovery! the repairs i carried out were new battery new rr with heatsink and pc fan mod and tight wads repair wiring.and ive also fitted a volt meter.the stator /rr/connector was heat damaged.done 16000 miles on the repairs .hope this info helps.rob :dry: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 8, 2009 Share Posted May 8, 2009 Hi, D'oh, sorry for the 4th gen / 5th gen mix up! Here's the latest - I took my week old battery back to Sears and they ran two tests and it checked out fine (which is what I guessed since I followed the instructions exactly after buying it). It's also an AGM model. Now that the battery is out of the equation how would I go about testing the; wire harness - Regulator/Recifier - and Stator as recommended? I do general mechanical stuff like oil changes, etc., but electrical work is uncharted waters for me. Thanks in advance, John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 8, 2009 Share Posted May 8, 2009 John again, Here's a ballbuster about the AMA suggestion - I'm a now an 11 yr member of the AMA and was on the fence about the whole "give us your credit card number and you'll get free towing for a year" offer and ended up making the wrong call. I mailed the check, it was cashed and 3 days later is when the bike died. I even called AMA to see if as a long-time member I could charge my membership to make it retroactive for the $129 towing, no dice. Kicking myself about that one... John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Veefer800Canuck Posted May 8, 2009 Share Posted May 8, 2009 Now that the battery is out of the equation how would I go about testing the; wire harness - Regulator/Recifier - and Stator as recommended? I do general mechanical stuff like oil changes, etc., but electrical work is uncharted waters for me. Thanks in advance, John Start by downloading this .pdf from Electrosport's site: http://www.electrosport.com/technical-reso...ing-diagram.pdf The factory service manual also has a troubleshooting tree. It can be downloaded here: http://www.vfrdiscussion.com/forum/index.p...&showfile=2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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