what happened to my stator?

[Bill Kratzenberg]

Recently my bike has been stalling out at idle when it was hot, then my new pc680 battery would not turn over to restart the motor. so i checked the volts on the battery and it was under 12. charged the battery, started the bike and checked the volts again while running and i was still high 11's low 12's. looked through my clear lense at the stator and this is what i saw. anyways ended up buying a new stator, and bought a new regulater just to be safe. Everything is back together and running good with no stalling and my voltage is back where it should be. So my question is: what caused my stator to go bad? and has anyone else had this problem?

sorry for the bad pics

 

[06VMAXIMUS]

Looks like it got really hot for some reason.

 

[Bill Kratzenberg]

Looks like it got really hot for some reason.

Ya Bob, definately looks like it was burnt.
i'm just concerned that something else is wrong and it will happen again to my new one, or do they eventually go bad after 25 years:confused2:

 

[06VMAXIMUS]

Don't know why it would get hot in only one area like that, but after 25 years of faithful service, I guess it was time to expire. If the bike is charging normally now, I wouldn't be too worried about it happening again.

 

[maleko89]

It's the connection (3 white wires) to the R/R. That gets dirty really easy and dirt = high resistance = heat. When you get a new stator I would remove the connectors, solder on terminals and use heat shrink.

 

[Thevmaxrider]

Well, you just helped me with my problem as well! My stator is a twin of yours so I am sure it is the reason my voltage was acting just like yours.

 

[[email protected]]

Bill, didn't you have to replace you pick up coils recently too?

 

[lightninggrant]

It's the connection (3 white wires) to the R/R. That gets dirty really easy and dirt = high resistance = heat. When you get a new stator I would remove the connectors, solder on terminals and use heat shrink.

I believe that as just 2 days ago i went to do a rad flush and started the bike to let warm up a bit. Noticed some smoke coming from the left side and found the connection you are talking about melting. Turned off the bike. let the wires and connectors cool and hat to cut it out. Put on new terminals and everything seems fine. I going to now check and clean all connections.

Grant

 

[Bill Kratzenberg]

Bill, didn't you have to replace you pick up coils recently too?

Ya replaced those too Mike. i did notice the stator was a little discolored, but it wasn't even close to what it looks like now.

 

[tugla]

glad you got her fixed Bill, thats a good one to check i guess, the wire connections and cleanliness of it all.

 

[Bon-86]

Wouldn't a bad (shorted) diode in the rectifier explain this? The current from the other 2/3's of the stator and/or the battery itself could back flow into the stator phase that burned up.

 

[naughtyG]

I've been having the same kind of problems, and got a new stator too. Only I didn't get round to replacing it and now I'm traveling again..

 

[Mad-Max89]

WOW....Think I may get my Max running as well I just replaced my stator also, found the bike was still not charging. So I assumed it was the regulator just ordered one online just waiting for it to arrive just hope that it fixes the problem.

 

[Firerider]

Thanks again guys (and Gals)
I believe this is the answer to my problem as well.
Did you get your new stators from RICKS STATORS ? Sounds like a pretty good deal. New replacement for around $140.
I wander if getting one made up with a bit more output than stock would help ?

Later

 

[Redbone]

My brothers '03 FZ1 is having some major electrical problems atm as well. At first he found that his Stator was bad by the dealers mechanic (a quasi friend) and through the dealership was going to charge his $325 for a new one! I told him about Rick's Electrics and my brother was all over it for $140! Lol! He installed it but it still didn't fix his problem, so the mechanic had him do some more tests and this time said it was his battery!! so my brother went to Advanced and to his credit he picked up a AGM for $88. We installed the new battery and no joy! so we do some more testing and this time the mechanic says the R/R!!! He orders the R/R for $120, installs it and the bike runs a little better. He finally starts taking some of my advice and starts checking & cleaning his connections although he doesn't want to cut into the splices in the wiring harness thinking that "they still must be good". We find one questionable wire that may cause some issues and he fixes that and the bike is finally charging, albeit slowly. But we take a ride and all seems fine for about 3 hrs of riding with several stops/ starts but just when were a couple miles from parking it (and possibly not knowing there is a problem until tomorrow) his bike quits. We are near my work so we get out the jumper cables and charge the battery back up and he rides home. He is tearing into this morning and I again suggested checking all connections so he is doing that now.
I let you know what we find but it has to be a bad wire/ connection we have to chase down.

 

[CaptainKyle]

For any one else needing a stator I can get you A Ricks for $ 125 plus shipping & I have the new style Electrosport RR's for $ 68 bucks.

 

[Firerider]

For any one else needing a stator I can get you A Ricks for $ 125 plus shipping & I have the new style Electrosport RR's for $ 68 bucks.

I would take you up on that offer Captain/Kyle but I already ordered one. I am somewhat enlightened, or should that be discouraged, (?) to see that there are several others with a similar issue. It's great to see that there are a lot of aftermarket solutions as well. It's even greater that there is a site like this that brings it all together. Big thanks to all involved......
I will continue to check the wiring connections and even the conditon of some of the connecting wiring as I have found some to be pretty old and brittle.
I did replace the stator a couple of years ago with a used one from a Venture Royal that I got for $100 (as opposed to $400, new at the time) but I believe I will change it again with the new one just to sure.
Thanks again,

Later.

 

[Rusty McNeil]

Wouldn't a bad (shorted) diode in the rectifier explain this? The current from the other 2/3's of the stator and/or the battery itself could back flow into the stator phase that burned up.

Good point,


That stator and flywheel together form a 3 PHASE AC GENERATOR, the r/r is just a bunch of diodes used to turn the ac to dc......If you lose one leg of the three phase input to the r/r , or just particular diodes that cause the r/r to be unable to use one of the legs coming from the generator, ..you will still get dc out of the r/r but it will be at less amp/current capability, and when loaded will drop the voltage as well.

The generator at this point is trying to carry full load on just two phases and will get hotter than hell and eventually short or ground a winding due to thermal failure of the insualtion in the windings.....The picture to me looks like it was definetely subjected to an unbalanced load condition

Any poor connection between the stator windings and the r/r, or r/r diode failure itself could cause this....

Then again it could just be simple age related winding failure too....

 

[RaWarrior]

My original '97 stator worked great when cold, but crapped out as the motor warmed up. The bench tests all said it was OK...each leg had like 1 ohm, no shorts to ground, and the AC voltage on each leg was OK (even when hot). But under load it just fell on it's face and running voltage would drop from 14.4 to about 12.5...barely breaking even.

I got a Rick's stator, which solved the problem (in addition to using a mosfet style R/R off a ZX14) and has been working fine for over a year now. Only quibble was the wire grommet for the cover doesn't fit super great, I added a bit of sealant around it to be sure.

 

[Bill Seward]

Absolutely do the solder job on the 3 wires from stator to R/R!
Mine got so hot it smoked the connector. Fortunately, it didn't kill the stator.
A friend also had this happen on a 4 cylinder Gold Wing.
At the very least - occasionally check the connection for signs of corrosion or heat.

Remember, this is 3-phase AC coming out of the stator... There is no wrong way to hook up the 3 wires. Any combination works, as long as each stator wire goes to a R/R wire.