1982 GS850L w/Smokin' hot RR

[Guest]

I found out that after my bike has been sitting for a couple of years the charging system has gone bad. I found the section on troubleshooting the charging system, and this is what I found out:

-with the key turned off, battery voltage is 12.6 V (new battery)

-at idle, it drops to 12.3-12.4 volts.

-at 4000 RPM, it stays at 12.4 volts.

I also noticed the RR housing got hot while I was doing this.

I haven't torn into the wiring yet. Does this sound like the RR is bad or do I need to remove the stator and inspect it also?

[Brendan W]

At idle you should be getting mid to high thirteens and by 4000rpm that should be over 14 Volts. RR is supposed to get warm. Smokin' sounds bad depending on what you smoke I suppose. It's tempting to say the RR has an internal short which is probably the case but all the wiring would need a going over just in case the output from the RR is shorting to ground somewhere.

[tom203]

Lots of links to this very typical problem, which you have likely seen.
your R/R is frying iteself, but your stator might be no good. do this stuff from Basscliff

http://members.dslextreme.com/users/storagecliff/images/stator_check.pdf

during last part of that running voltage test, also check for voltage from any stator lead to a good bike ground. You should see 0 , or a very small number. DO NOT skip this last bit.

all these critters need wiring attention- best to plan on it rather than just buying new stuff and praying!

[posplayr]

you should provide voltages at 2500 and 5000 rpm. But since the R/R is so hot you probably have very dirty connections.

[Houndawg76]

Thanks for the link. My next question are there connectors from the RR and the stator leads like in the procedure or do I need to cut the wiring and add connectors like in the procedure? The wiring on this bike has never been messed with, best as I can tell.

[tom203]

The stock stator has connectors like in pic - these come out of starter motor cover and surface in battery area. If you follow these thru the connectors/plug, you find that two stator leads connect to r/r ,while the third disappears into harness. This third lead needs to go direct to r/r too, so for now just cut it so you can test per that link- later you'll be using new connectors to connect stator leads to the new r/r

[Houndawg76]

Update: I found the connections between the stator and the RR, and one of them (on my bike it's white wire w/red stripe) had gotten really hot. I in the process of changing out the connectors. I also did the first steps of troubleshooting the stator, and at first I thought it was bad because all three leads showed approx. 2.2 ohms. I then touched both probes together on the multimeter, and shorted together it showed 1.3 ohms. (Guess that's what I get for paying $6.99 for one brand new.) So it looks like all three legs look ok in that respect. I'll keep y'all updated........

[Houndawg76]

Well, I got around to checking the stator voltage tonite, and I found out with the engine at 3500 RPM (choke on, couldn't work the throttle and two leads and probes at the same time) the yellow and the white/blue wires had 50VAC on them but the white/green wire had 12.5VAC on it. I also am seeing a slight resistance on the leads when checking the resistance between the stator wires and ground. Looks like the stator's smoked. My question is it better to buy another stator or rewire this one. I saw some videos on this on Youtube and wondered if anybody has had any success doing this.

[Houndawg76]

I've also got a question- why does the white/green wire come out of the stator up into the wiring then come back as a white/red to the RR? I looked for this in the schematic in my Clymer book and it shows the white/green wire going up to some kind of black bar then returns to the RR as a white/red wire. The other two wires go straight to the RR.

[Grimly]

I've also got a question- why does the white/green wire come out of the stator up into the wiring then come back as a white/red to the RR? I looked for this in the schematic in my Clymer book and it shows the white/green wire going up to some kind of black bar then returns to the RR as a white/red wire. The other two wires go straight to the RR.

That odd wire goes up to the right handlebar switch and it switched in in parallel at the same time you put the headlamp on, bringing the third phase into use (two phases are enough to run the ignition and brake/indicator lights normally), but as far as I know, for the US market, where the light was required to be on all the time, Suzuki left it in place, and just permanently connected it. UK and European bikes still had an individual choice of lights on or off for a while afterwards.

[Houndawg76]

Thanks for the info- When I get a good stator I'll wire that direct to the RR like the others.