Member Contributer Duc2V4 Posted February 1, 2016 Member Contributer Share Posted February 1, 2016 So a little story to start the week off. Last Friday I was on my 6 Gen meeting up with some local OCMoto forum folks and on my way back from meeting them for lunch I stopped to join a conference call that was scheduled last minute. So I pull off the road, turn off the ignition and make make my call. Being that I just pulled into a shopping center parking lot, I didn't really grab a parking stall, as I was really only going to be a few minutes (or so I thought). As I realized I needed to park somewhere more out of the way, I turn the key and NOTHING! At first I thought I might have hit the kill switch but nope. I tried toggling it back and forth a few times just for giggles and trying again, still nothing. Oh I must have blown a fuse, right? Well, again, so I thought. I pulled the panel and checked all the fuses but none of them were blown, OK, check the main fuse under the seat and nope, all was well. ??? OK, something else must be the culprit, so I checked all of the usual suspects; grounds, connectors, wiring harness, etc., but all was looking fine. OK time to call for a tow, but nope, of course my AAA didn't cover motorcycle towing! (something I'm going to rectify real soon!). I figured I'd call on one of our fellow forum members (You might remember her, Recalcitrance), although she has since left the forum, we still keep in touch and often get to see one another for dinner or drinks on ocasion. I knew she had a good relationship with the folks over at OC Honda, which was actually only a few miles away from where I was stranded and figuring they might have a towing service, so I reached out to her. By sheer coincidence she was just around the corner and said she would come by and offer any assistance she could or to just keep me company while I figured things out. She gave me the number to OC Honda and the person she deals with over there and I called. Low behold they gave me a number of the tow service they use and I thought great, my luck is changing! Unfortunately, he was unavailable and the guy he referred me to was also! Really, no one available on a Friday afternoon huh? So Recalcitrance shows up and we chat and try to figure out another avenue and do some more trouble shooting. So on the phone again with the tech at OC Honda and explain all that happened and he thought the battery got shorted out. OK, sounds logical as I did have a USB cable get loose from what it was plugged into and thought that might have been it. So of course the next step is getting a new battery! Next question from me was, "Do you have a replacement battery? and if so, is it already charged and how much?" Yes, yes and $139 (YUASAYTZ12S) but for you, since you know Christine, $118 plus tax. "OK, we'll be right down!" So we get in her car, drive the few miles to OC Honda to pick up the battery and we're in and out without skipping a beat. We get back to to the bike, install the battery and viola! it starts right up. So not to just make an assumption about how the previous battery (Shorai) got "shorted out", I now need to do "the drill" and make sure the stator and R/R are up to snuff. I do have 46k miles on the ODO, so I might be in the fried stator category. We'll see later today when I'm done with work. Although what looked like it was going to be a terrible start to the weekend, with the help of good forum members, your weekend can get a better restart! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Switchblade Posted February 1, 2016 Member Contributer Share Posted February 1, 2016 Were hard to beat in a pinch ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer gmtech94 Posted February 1, 2016 Member Contributer Share Posted February 1, 2016 I have had a lot of cars do this in my business ,people will get to a place turn the car off and not have any energy to restart . It happens here now in winter which is expected but also now on very warm days . For those with GM cars it seems that when this happens it also takes out the alternator either then or within a very short time ,I have no explanation for this but it seems to be the norm . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allyance Posted February 1, 2016 Share Posted February 1, 2016 I work at a Honda Auto Dealer part time, and have to move cars around and lock them up at night. Dealership used to be GM/Chevrolet, so the boss takes in the occasional GM car/truck for service. Got into a GM SUV to get keys the other night and rap music was playing on the radio, but the ignition was off, kind of. If you keep turning key past off, you get the Accessory position, and that probably kills the GM batteries! Glad you got your problem sorted out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Polarbear Posted February 2, 2016 Member Contributer Share Posted February 2, 2016 Pfew!! Glad you weren't in a worst position that that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer MBrane Posted February 2, 2016 Member Contributer Share Posted February 2, 2016 Had this happen to me twice: once in my neighbor's driveway. R/R connector went up in smoke, and a cooked battery. Likely due to a bad R/R. Second time was the stator connector on a nearly new R/R stator battery combo. Twist-wired it on the side of the road to get to a friend's place nearby where I fixed it proper, and finished the trip. Fortunately it didn't take the battery out this time as I believe it was just the crap Hitachi connector that was the culprit. Won't be using those anymore. It's good to have friends close by. Especially ones with soldering irons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer The mailman Posted February 2, 2016 Member Contributer Share Posted February 2, 2016 That's how my last battery went out (prior to a voltage meter). All was great and then after meeting up with a gaggle of Harley buds, we went to fire 'em up and hit the road and of course I had to deal with a good ribbing from the HD crew. They offered to push start me at all of our stops if I wanted to continue but the last thing I wanted was for it to go totally dead miles from home. Just before they were going to push start me and send me back home, I tried it again and she fired up. I still headed straight home and then off to Batteries+ for a replacement. Two hours later I was back in business with no further issues. However, I didn't get the Christine discount. BOOOO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Switchblade Posted February 2, 2016 Member Contributer Share Posted February 2, 2016 My last Shorai did the same thing a couple of years back in the winter time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer St. Stephen Posted February 2, 2016 Member Contributer Share Posted February 2, 2016 Duc: Four years ago I added the AAA motorcycle "towing" to my membership for some piece of mind, and in the fall of 2013 I had a chance to use it when my battery died (what a coincidence!) on the 1200. The day before, I had symptoms, brought it to the dealer, they tested the battery and said it was fine, so I was suspecting a replay of the stator/alternator issues experienced on my 6th gen a few years prior. But it was just the battery. The truck arrived, and although the driver knew what he was doing, he just strapped the bike to a flatbed, no wheel chucks! They depend on the downward pressure of the straps and the traction of the tires on the metal bed to keep the bike upright. As you might suspect, I was freaking out all the way to the dealer. I haven't cancelled this coverage since I don't know of a better alternative (since Christine doesn't live nearby ;-), but thought I'd share what you get when you sign up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer MadScientist Posted February 2, 2016 Member Contributer Share Posted February 2, 2016 The truck arrived, and although the driver knew what he was doing, he just strapped the bike to a flatbed, no wheel chucks! They depend on the downward pressure of the straps and the traction of the tires on the metal bed to keep the bike upright. As you might suspect, I was freaking out all the way to the dealer. I carted a ducati monster all around the country without wheel chocks, just two straps on a canyon dancer tie down and one ratcheting strap over the back tire. I just preload the front suspension a bit when tightening the front straps. Only problem I had was some of the other stuff in the moving truck shifted during a particularly bumpy section of road and rubbed on the tank. The bike still stayed up even with stuff leaning on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer mk2davis Posted February 2, 2016 Member Contributer Share Posted February 2, 2016 I think AAA motorcycle/RV towing is an extra $54 a year? Something like that. Well worth some piece of mind, IMO. I'm glad to hear things got sorted (ish) in the end, D. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweeper Posted February 3, 2016 Share Posted February 3, 2016 AMA membership includes roadside assistance and towing for your bike and cars/truck. I dropped AAA when I found that out. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer RC1237V Posted February 3, 2016 Member Contributer Share Posted February 3, 2016 AMA membership includes roadside assistance and towing for your bike and cars/truck. I dropped AAA when I found that out. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk +1 AMA, yes - free roadside assistance/towing with membership..........also if you join Russ Brown ( RUSSBROWN.COM and it's FREE), you get free roadside assistance from other bikers......kind of like you did with your VFRD member, but it is nationwide! Glad you were able to solve it! I always have my ramp in my truck just in case I come across a stranded biker (and no more room in the garage...N+1), I have helped quite a few get on their way, and used the ramp twice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Duc2V4 Posted February 3, 2016 Author Member Contributer Share Posted February 3, 2016 AMA membership includes roadside assistance and towing for your bike and cars/truck. I dropped AAA when I found that out. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk +1 AMA, yes - free roadside assistance/towing with membership..........also if you join Russ Brown ( RUSSBROWN.COM and it's FREE), you get free roadside assistance from other bikers......kind of like you did with your VFRD member, but it is nationwide! Glad you were able to solve it! I always have my ramp in my truck just in case I come across a stranded biker (and no more room in the garage...N+1), I have helped quite a few get on their way, and used the ramp twice! Yeah, I never pulled the trigger on the AMA thing so that is one of my options. I am part of the Russ Brown members but have yet to help anyone or call them for help either. I keep forgetting about that, but I do have quite a few friends that I barter favors with every now and then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer jeffyjeff Posted February 3, 2016 Member Contributer Share Posted February 3, 2016 My last Shorai did the same thing a couple of years back in the winter time. +1. I agree with Switchblade. I, too, had an unpleasant experience with a Shorai battery. While the Shorai may save weight and start your bike fine after months in the garage, it lacks "reserve capacity", the ability to drive the electrics when the charging system has failed or is overtaxed for any length of time. I suspect you will do "the drill" only to find that all is working normally. Your situation could have been caused by something as benign as a running cooling fan, or heated grips left on at idle. IMO, the Shorai is that bad. After less than a week my Shorai let me down on the opposite side of town. I took it back to the shop where I bought it, if for no other reason than to voice my frustration. The manager said to me, "I sold it to you, I own it." and took the battery back with full credit. Needless to say, we have been buds ever since, and that shop is the only one that I have had the faith in to work on my bikes, other than my own loving hands. Jeff J. PS, the shop stopped selling Shorai shortly thereafter, as have several other vendors in the SF Bay Area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Duc2V4 Posted February 4, 2016 Author Member Contributer Share Posted February 4, 2016 FOUND IT! I was finally able to get a look at the issue with my bike today. As I expected/anticipated, it is the dreaded stator/RR connectors. I knew I should have made a better effort to find a volt meter. I have been looking for a "matching" volt meter like the one I put on my '01 but have not found one, at least not for the same price I paid for the first one. Anyway, I figured I'd just grab something close but had not gotten around to it. Oh well, at least I wasn't up in the middle of the Sierras when this happened! I don't remember the last time I did an inspection of the wiring but I think it was about 9k miles ago, which reminds me, time for an oil change! I knew I was getting close. After looking into it, the Shorai lasted me 17.7k miles and less than 18 months. (9/24/14 - 1/29/2016). Can't say I blame the battery for it's failure but still not a very long time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Polarbear Posted February 4, 2016 Member Contributer Share Posted February 4, 2016 Always nice to find the problem. Now you can fix it and sleep better. Good luck! C Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Duc2V4 Posted February 6, 2016 Author Member Contributer Share Posted February 6, 2016 Woo Hoo! Although it cost a little more than twice the price I paid for the one I got for my '01 ($30 vs. $12), I did find a "matching" Faze 12v Meter! This one appears to be NOS, as it's in the original packaging. New stator and RR coming. I'll most likely be sending the original stator to get rewound, nothing wrong with having a back up right?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer RobF Posted February 7, 2016 Member Contributer Share Posted February 7, 2016 I knew I should have made a better effort to find a volt meter. I've only been following this site for about a year, so that puts me about ten or fifteen years behind the median VFRD member. I get that VFRs are somewhat notorious for stator/RR failures. Even still, it's not obvious to this greenhorn how the volt meter would have given you advance warning of this impending failure. Would you have seen your operating voltage dropping off from something in the 14ish range to something less than that? Would the shorting have been evident on the meter days in advance of this failure? Hours? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Duc2V4 Posted February 7, 2016 Author Member Contributer Share Posted February 7, 2016 I knew I should have made a better effort to find a volt meter. I've only been following this site for about a year, so that puts me about ten or fifteen years behind the median VFRD member. I get that VFRs are somewhat notorious for stator/RR failures. Even still, it's not obvious to this greenhorn how the volt meter would have given you advance warning of this impending failure. Would you have seen your operating voltage dropping off from something in the 14ish range to something less than that? Would the shorting have been evident on the meter days in advance of this failure? Hours? The ambiguous answer is, Yes. If your voltage drops rapidly then for sure you know somethings wrong, which by that time might be too late anyway.However, if your voltage starts dropping gradually over time, you at least know something will be going wrong soon. This is partly my fault as I did notice that the gas mileage was starting to suffer over the last few fill ups prior. Unfortunately I was working odd hours and just got lazy and didn't investigate it. I figured I would be doing a oil change soon, as it was getting near that time and every time I do an oil change I inspect the wiring and more specifically the stator/RR connections. I say partly my fault because there is nothing you can do about a "cooked" stator, which these seem to start to get "overcooked" around the 45-50k miles, at least from the few reports I've read. If I had seen the voltage level dropping I could have at least prepped for this and either cleaned the stator/RR connectors to help stop/slow the connector melt down or at least purchased the stator/RR prior to prep for the inevitable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Duc2V4 Posted February 11, 2016 Author Member Contributer Share Posted February 11, 2016 Well parts came in yesterday so I decided to install them last night. It took me about 4 hours start to finish, with the oil change to. I also had a tough time getting all of the old gasket off the stator cover, this took the most time, as I was being real careful not to get too carried away and rush through it eirther damaging the surface or leaving it too dirty. The other time suck was trying to get the fairings back on, a couple of well nuts decided to slip through their holes and I had to replace them. Of course these we're the last two to fasten and were on opposite sides of the bike! Although I shouldn't wait too long to do it, I still need to install the volt meter. I need a little more time for that and I just wanted to get my bike back up and running yesterday. Although I don't mind riding my 5 Gen to work, but riding with my heavy back pack for more than 200 mile round trips can be painful if not very tiring! I'll post pics of the stator, not that they'll be anything new just figured I'd share. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Duc2V4 Posted February 12, 2016 Author Member Contributer Share Posted February 12, 2016 Yeah, these stators seem to always be half baked! or over cooked! Wow these came out a lot blurrier than I thought! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Switchblade Posted February 12, 2016 Member Contributer Share Posted February 12, 2016 Crispy !!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Cogswell Posted February 13, 2016 Member Contributer Share Posted February 13, 2016 How many miles on this one? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Duc2V4 Posted February 13, 2016 Author Member Contributer Share Posted February 13, 2016 How many miles on this one? 46, 019 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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