Stator no good

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vmf1200

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I started a thread about purchasing an AGM battery because my battery was not holding a charge which I received and put in the bike and it starts nice and easy now. But,,,,, I measured the voltage output to the battery and I was only getting 12.0-13.0 volts when before I was getting 14.5 so now I measured the 3 stator wires and am getting 1.22-1.27ohms which is no good according to the manual which says should be .038-.045ohms. So which stator brand do I buy and where can i find one for my 30 year old bike? I know there's a lot of chinese knock off crap so i would just like to know which brands are good and which ones are bad? Thanks
 
I would bet that your most likely issue is the voltage regulator and not the stator. Easier and cheaper to replace anyway. I've got new aftermarket and used stock of them (and the newer 96-up versions with the adapter you'll need to fit it). I also have used stators if needed. Best to email me at [email protected]
 
Sean I sent you an email and ordered the newer R/R through PayPal for Morley's Muscle. Let me know if you have received it.
 
Thanks Sean for the nice R/R upgrade I got it a few days ago and just had time to put it in today. Unfortunately it didn't correct my voltage problem I am still getting low readings for voltage output 11.0-12.5 v So I am on to getting a stator for it now and hope that does the trick.
 
I received my new stator from RMStator and I am in the middle of the install and I have a few questions. First, can you tell by the pic if the stator looks bad or burnt? It does look a little burnt or darker on the bottom right side (4 o'clock position)of the stator. Second, does the gear (the one I point to) just sit on top of the hole right next to the idler gear? It came out when I opened the generator cover and was on the the shaft on the inside of the cover. Third, I want to replace the 5mm bolts for the cover because I had a hard time with a few of them which rounded them out a little bit. Can I replace them with stainless steel ones or should they be aluminum so not to have dis-similiar metals? I am not sure what material the original ones are made of. Any helpful pointers about re-install would be greatly appreciated.



Thanks
 

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I received my new stator from RMStator and I am in the middle of the install and I have a few questions. First, can you tell by the pic if the stator looks bad or burnt? It does look a little burnt or darker on the bottom right side (4 o'clock position)of the stator. Second, does the gear (the one I point to) just sit on top of the hole right next to the idler gear? It came out when I opened the generator cover and was on the the shaft on the inside of the cover. Third, I want to replace the 5mm bolts for the cover because I had a hard time with a few of them which rounded them out a little bit. Can I replace them with stainless steel ones or should they be aluminum so not to have dis-similiar metals? I am not sure what material the original ones are made of. Any helpful pointers about re-install would be greatly appreciated.

The shaft & gear should be assembled on the engine side. If I understand your question correctly, the shaft goes in the hole and the gear meshes with the ones on each side of it. Then install the cover & new gasket. Stainless screws are fine IMO. Do put sealer on the rubber grommet surfaces. As for the stator? Make sure the 3 wire stator plug isn't burnt up. Sometimes its best to just ditch the plug and connect the wires together. Soldering them isn't a bad idea. Or crimp connector etc. The stator wires can connect in any order.
 
While a crimp connector will work, soldering is going to be a longer-lasting fix, less-susceptible to corrosion, vibration, and deterioration over time. Don't forget to place shrink wrap before you solder the wires! Securing the wires with tie wraps also will help to keep them intact.
 
Did the new stator have really long, like 3 feet long wires coming out of it? This would allow you to fit a mosfet or series regulator by soldering the 3 wires right to the connector and plug it in directly to the regulator. This completely eliminates the 3 failure prone connectors. My regulator lives under the seat, and this setup works quite well. The wires from the stator were plenty long enough. I also ran the output of the regulator directly to battery, through a good quality fuse holder and a 30A fuse.
 
I am still waiting for the gasket to come but I did get new bolts today, not stainless, but I still may go that route. As far as the stator goes, yes it does have 3ft of wires with it and the connectors and crimps but I will take you guys advice and solder them and shrink wrap them instead of using the connector. For the regulator, I already upgraded it with a newer model one from Sean Morley, the one with the fins on it and mounted it in the same location as the stock one. I thought the R/R was the problem so I changed that first. One other question, I noticed that one of the cover bolts is a little shorter than the rest. Does anybody know which hole this shorter bolt goes in? I didn't notice the smaller bolt until I took them all out so now I'm not sure but it was definitely on the bottom side. Thank you for all your helpful pointers.
 
Update - I finished putting in the new stator and gasket, boy what a nightmare! All 3 of the stator bolts were basically stuck in the threads so all the philips heads got stripped so I had to use my trusty impact driver with a philips bit. I got them out but they were tough! So I ordered all new cover bolts (11) and (3) stator bolts all from Yamaha which cost me $55 bucks for 14 bolts! So I go to screw the new stator bolts in and they started getting harder to turn as I got to the bottom. So i used a big screw driver and got a good bite and I managed to break the head right of the bolt! WTF? brand new bolt too. I had to unscrew the other 2 bolts and lift the new stator up and using vise grips, slowly turned the stud until it backed out slowly. I got the stator screws all on then put the gasket on and put the starter gears back in the correct locations and closed the cover with the new bolts. The manual says to torque them to 89ft lbs. When I put my torque wrench on them 89ft lbs. seemed a little much and I was afraid to snap one of those bolts off so I backed off around 80 or so lbs. no leaks though! So my question is - I am getting only 12.5-13.0 volts at around 2,000 RPM is this normal?? My other bike I would get around 14.5 volts at light throttle. My battery is brand new so maybe it doesn't need much charging?? The bike seems to run a lot better but I am getting a misfire and backfiring going on so I think I may have a bad coil?? I am going to test it tomorrow according to the manual and see if it may be bad. Any suggestions would be great! Thanks
 
Did you replace the voltage regulator? And you surely meant inch lbs and not foot lbs?
 
Hi Sean, I got the voltage regulator from you, it was an upgrade to a newer one with the fins. And i'm pretty sure the manual said ft. lbs.

I'm just not sure why i'm still only getting 12.5-13.0 volts to the battery from the stator. Can it be something else? I checked (measured)the ground cable from the battery to the motor and it seems fine. The next thing is to measure the resistance of the rear coils, the ones near the battery. When i was moving the wires around (the ones on top of the battery)the bike would start running rough and sputter (backfire). :bang head:
 
Sean you are correct, it was 89 inch lbs. not ft. lbs. I checked the Clymer manual again I'm used to working on cars. So should I back them off a little now? I took the bike for a short ride but it was sputtering and backfiring at low rpm and would almost stall, I had to rev it up first before i let out 1st gear. I just measured the rear coils and I am getting 13.8 - 19.3 ohms the manual says they should be 10.56-15.84 ohms @ 68 f but it was hot today at 93 degrees so I am not sure if the readings are good for the coils. I am in need of advice for my next step.....
 
Update - I took Sean's advice and today I cut about 1/2 inch off the rear spark plug wires and put them back in the coils. I changed the spark plugs and backed the air fuel mixture screws out about 1 turn for each carburetor, ........and Viola! I could instantly feel the difference in the throttle response with no sputtering or back firing going on! The bike is the smoothest and most responsive since I've owned the bike now. I love my Vmax again! I am also getting 13.2V to the battery at idle now. So Thank you to Sean and everyone else for your advice and instructions. This is a great site for an equally great bike! Now it's time to ride.
 
Glad to hear it's running good for you once again. This is a good troubleshooting blueprint for anybody with similar issues. Involving Sean Morley is a wise move!
 
This was a great thread until it got to the end. No reason why the system started charging again? Was it the stator or the R/R that solved it? Surely it wasn't the 1/2 inch off the plug wires to the coils or turning the air fuel mixture screws out. I know this was almost a year ago, but I'm having similar problems and would like the ending to this story.
 

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