Stator plug melt

[wiretwister]

I read a good many post here on stator issue's.
Let me make sure I got this straight......Here is my story :

I just bought a 85 vmax in super condition.....except on the test drive,
A wire smoked and proceeded to melt the plug on the stator/rectifier.
Seller promptly snatched the hot wire from plug......
Dude I bought it from said it needed a rectifier which I bought and installed, Yea I used the half melted plug (not smart) and it proceeded to melt again,so......with that said,
From what I have read here....The sole problem is a bad connection from the plug, Stator and rectifier are more then likely fine.
So if I solder the connections.....Im good ..Right ??
Would anything else cook the plug.....Wires heat up ??

Thanks for any and all help

Wire

 

[maleko89]

This is normal and is due to dirty connection. Resistance equals heat. Remove connector, solder connections and use heat shrink to insulate connection....end of problem and you'll save a burnt stator and/or R/R.

 

[wiretwister]

Cool, I will get that taken care of, thanks for the quick response.

Wire

 

[Bill Seward]

It happened to my '85 a bout 10 years after I bought it. Mark's post tells you exactly what to do. Just be sure you solder and insulate the wires well. The wires can be connected any way (3-phase AC output) but be sure the new connections are as low resistance as possible.

 

[RaWarrior]

While you're at it, might as well eliminate the other two plastic connectors to the r/r. There's the 3 wire stator, then there should be two single wire connectors for + output and ground. I ditched the connectors, and wired these straight to the + and - posts of the battery. This will also bypass the notorious "crimp" in the harness (as referred to as the "crimp fix" on vmaxoutlaw).

Check your voltage across the battery with the bike idling, and with it revved up slightly, say 3000 RPM. I have a mosfet style r/r, new stator, and all new wiring w/o connectors. I get about 13v at idle, and 14.4 from 1500RPM on up.

Check it with a cold engine, then check again once it's fully warmed up. If the voltage is noticeably lower when it's hot, your stator isn't so healthy and is probably on it's way out.

 

[wiretwister]

I will check that voltage, hopefully its all good......And no ground wire.
Just the three wire stator and one hot wire.

wire

 

[naughtyG]

In my experience, the melting connector resulted in a burnt stator. I know it's a bit of a pain, but I would (and wish I had) check the stator and make sure it's ok before soldering the wires. By the time I did mine (not soldered, but much better connections without the plastic block) it was too late and my charging went down the pan. Replaced the R/R to no avail, and only when I pulled the stator cover it became obvious that 3 of the windings were burnt out.
A replacement stator is about $120 on fleaBay, and not that hard to replace (bar the 3 bitching philips screws holding it inside the cover..)

 

[wiretwister]

I will tie the stator wires and check the voltage, or should I check the AC output of each leg before moving foward ?

 

[naughtyG]

I checked the (AC) voltage between all 3 wires coming out of the stator, in pairs. All were good, in fact I was almost getting too much (?) voltage as revs went up. But it was still burnt out, if you ask Captain Kyle he may still have my old one and take a picture of it for you.