What % of Gen 6.5 VFRs have had no RR or Stator fail?

[VFR80025th]

Hi, would find it interesting data to find out how many Gen 6.5 (2006 -2009) have not had any electrical woes.

Also, to find out why?

I remember one member posting that having a healthy battery leads to no electrical issues.

Running your VFR with a weak battery taxes the electrical system. Not sure but sounds like it could hold some credibility.

Because of this I check the V on my battery, under startup and at 3-4000 rpm under load ever 2-3 weeks.

It takes a few minutes and I do it along with checking my tire pressures.

 

2007 VFR -28,000kms or 17,500 miles. No electrical issues.

 

Feel free to chime in your mileage with or without electrical woes (issues at what mileage?).

Thxs

Ride safe

 

[Havagan]

Install a volt meter for peace of mind -- watching your voltage while riding can help identify problems you wouldn't see just sitting in your garage like a loose/dodgy connection.

[Duc2V4]

I have a 2009 and I suffered from the Stator/RR issue at ~45k miles. I was almost stranded in a canyon but was lucky enough to naot stop until I came out of the canyon, that is when I went to start the bike and found my battery DEAD! I was able to reach out to a friend and we were able to get a battery from a Honda dealer only a few miles away. Once I got home, i found the Stator/RR connector was melted and when I took the Stator out, found it to be a bit crispy!

 

Although I was very diligent in inspecting and cleaning/applying a corrosion preventative on the connectors, I did ignore a few signs that happened between my typical inspection and that ended up biting me in the behind. Along with my standard practice above, I also added a volt meter and will constantly check it when I travel. So far I have had trouble free mileage since the replacement of Stator/RR and battery. (knock on wood). That being said, I am rounding up to another 40k miles since the replacement so I have been really monitoring the volt meter and paying more attention to any little sign that I might have ignored the last time.

 

What were the signs you may ask? Little things like harder starts, drops in light brightness when starting, changes in MPG. A mile or two is probably nothing to be alarmed about but when it became 4-5 miles on the average and even more on a coupe of occasions, I think I should have stopped and looked into things more. The price of being "too busy" with work and not paying attention to things that I should have.

[Marvelicious]

I'm pretty sure my bike's PO sold it because he was frustrated with electrical issues. 20K and it had a brand new R/R, and a non-original stator that already had a crispy connector - plugged into the new R/R. I discovered the state of the connector right at the point of failure, right before I was going to leave on a long trip. No symptoms I had noticed... 

 

Personally, I think it is absolutely worth it to start fresh and do it right: Get a new series R/R, and a new stator and run continuous lines (no connectors in line - solder longer leads if you need to) from the connector on the R/R to the stator, a continuous line to the battery and a line to a solid ground on your frame. Oxgard all the connections and seal connectors with dielectric grease. The peace of mind is worth the <$300 I spent. Next time I'm in there, I'll probably add on a gauge at some point, but I feel like the system is robust enough now that it isn't top priority.

[Auspanglish]

Honda did not effectively fix the issue with the Stator frying with the V2.0 release in 2006.

They did improve certain aspects of the bike but not that one. Nor did they identify the issue with the problematically inefficient ground bus connector, which incidentally is handed down from the 5th gen, albeit on the latter model it is located in the rear of the harness which is possibly why only the R/R tends to fail on 5th gens and the stator &/or R/R fail on the 6th gen.

[Dash]

2008 with ~12,700 miles. No electrical problems (so far).

 

Only non-stock electrical items are a Shorai lithium battery and an SAE lead from the battery for charging USB devices. When I'm not riding, the battery is usually connected to a Shorai tender.

[Lorne]

Like Duc2V4 my stator failed out on the backroads, in my case atop Grand Mesa in Colorado. Actually, it was only mostly dead, unable to keep the battery charged. Managed to bump start and ride the remaining 75 km to Delta, Colo.

 

Troubleshooting was indeterminate, but a local shop had a new battery so I took it as a spare after recharging both. After pulling the headlight fuse and disconnecting the e'vest hookup I managed to finish the trip and get home. Swapped the batteries a couple times along the way, and recharged both every night.

 

I was able to complete our tour of Colorado and made it 3500km/2200 mi home safe & sound. Not the wisest course, but I figured the spare battery would get me to a town where I'd rent a truck.

 

What it looked like after extraction:

 

[Auspanglish]

We have a survey on our Spanish VFR forum asking which models have had their R/Rs fry.

 

Shame the author of the survey did not include V1.0 and V2.0 of the 6th gen as survey options in order to easily distinguish between the two.

 

Thankfully some people leave a message on the thread and their year/model can be seen in their profile.

 

After perusing half of the 19 pages of messages working backwards from most recent until reaching boredom, I had counted 6x 6.5 gens with declared kaput R/Rs. One of them had had this happen twice in just under 100,000 Km.

 

That's at least 6 of the 59 6th gens with R/Rs declared dead that are from the 2006-2010 "remake" batch.

 

It's an interesting survey. 221 people have responded as having had at least one R/R fry, and 6th gens make up 30% of cases. The 7th and 8th gens are at 0%. 4th gens do very well at only 6% of cases.

 

It (the R/R failing) used to be the 5th gen's claim to fame. 3rd gens are well up there but have also been around much longer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[VFR80025th]

Excellent work!

Thxs Auspanglish

 

[vanion2]

Funny that I just saw this thread. I just finished replacing my R/R. Stator checked out just fine.

2002 VFR with just under 64k miles. The connectors from the stator were burnt. Badly. I was lucky nothing caught on fire. Replaced with an SH847 R/R and new wiring kit. I pray the stator never goes because funding one for an 02 would be a nightmare.

Sent from my P027 using Tapatalk

[Auspanglish]

I've personally replaced fried stators on 2 high mileage 5th gens in Spain. I know of at least 50x 6th gens having required stator replacement here in Spain, several of them on the same bike up to three times in approximately 100,000 Km.

 

Not statistically probable on 5th gens but not impossible.

 

Surely there must be quality rewinds in the USA. If I can get a possibly better than OEM quality rewind done here for 80€, which is 1/3 the price at a Honda stealers (based on 6th gen prices), and knowing the US to be very industrially competent and very DIY oriented, plus having a population several times larger, there must be excellent quality stator rewinding services available there.