Stator Paper Caper: Shunted & Stumped!

[Sandy]

4. Connections cleaning (basscliff) - there are so many connectors on this thing I just wanna cry. So far I have only cleaned up all connections around battery box and RR. Will be working my way toward front of bike.

5. Lastly - perhaps unrelated but maybe and certainly significant: Volts at Coil Test (from Wired George link off BassCliff's site):

1-4 coil: 9.7v (should be 12)
2-3 coil: 9.8v (sb 12)

So looks like, in addition to the connectors cleaning "project", the coil relay rewiring is in line as well. More reading/homework for me!

Things sound like they're working out for you now. When you get to the front and get inside the headlight bucket if you remove the 2 bolts holding it to the mounts you can move it out of the way and easily remove the ignition switch and clean the contacts on it. Not that there's anything wrong with doing the relay mod but that'll probably fix your problem with the voltage to the coils.

[Speedo]

ps Doug Chandler

Sandy, good advice. I will actually do that first before attempting coil relay mod esp since I forgot to buy the dang pigtail for the relay today.

PS ALSO Today: I met Doug Chandler (AMA hall of fame rider - go ahead and google it you youngsters out there) who has just opened up a cycle performance shop in Salinas, CA right next to the Honda dealer I took the battery to for test. SUPER nice guy AND he works on any bikes including our old ones (so now I have "punt" move if I simply can't figure something out or fix it). How cool is that?? Been a pretty good day (for a change)!

[psyguy]

Lights ON: 12.6 idle / 13.3 @ 5k rpm

what's the reading at 2000rpm?
if it is 13.3V, while not perfect it should not lead to your battery going flat.
so, you also need to test the charging system while riding with the lights ON as if there is a charging problem that 13.3V that you get on a short test can deteriorate over time due to the lights taking power from the battery rather than the alternator.

watch my thread for the updates when i get the new stator as now your readings and situation very much resembles what i have...

[Speedo]

psyguy - ooo, I see where you are going with this and I like it! Did test, at 2K, I'm at 13.2v. Very good. I might just be "done enough" with this ordeal. I will however diligently continue my contact cleaning.

Sandy/Lucabond - I took light bucket off and tried to clean ignition. Looks like all connections are permanent. Am I missing something? I did spray w/ contact cleaner as well as spray down into keyhole per Lucabond. If this works, here is what I am seeing [I am VERY frustrated with this site as far as posting/linking to pics BTW....argghhh]

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/SjmSwn3HvAiUdrMfkW0BSQ?authkey=Gv1sRgCM7tnemctYCymAE&feat=directlink

Reading at coils did not change: 9.7 and 9.8v. I think the whole coil thing should be a totally new post so I will be doing that to solicit opinions on coil mod yes or no.

[Speedo]

psyguy - forgot to add - a)how the heck to test while riding? My meter only has probe pointy thingys on it. what, do you strap the thing to your tank or what? any tips on this?

b) why important again?? no mention of this in Stator Papers at all so I'm just curious. I'm not sure I understand your previous expanation sorry

[Sandy]

psyguy - ooo, I see where you are going with this and I like it! Did test, at 2K, I'm at 13.2v. Very good. I might just be "done enough" with this ordeal. I will however diligently continue my contact cleaning.

Sandy/Lucabond - I took light bucket off and tried to clean ignition. Looks like all connections are permanent. Am I missing something? I did spray w/ contact cleaner as well as spray down into keyhole per Lucabond. If this works, here is what I am seeing [I am VERY frustrated with this site as far as posting/linking to pics BTW....argghhh]

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/SjmSwn3HvAiUdrMfkW0BSQ?authkey=Gv1sRgCM7tnemctYCymAE&feat=directlink

Reading at coils did not change: 9.7 and 9.8v. I think the whole coil thing should be a totally new post so I will be doing that to solicit opinions on coil mod yes or no.

There should be a small screw holding the white switch part into the housing. Drop the switch out and just flood it with cleaner and rotaste the switch, be careful to check the orientation of the switch when you remove so you don't get it back in 180 degrees out. Some people disassemble the switch to clean the contacts but I alreay have enough springs and clips lost in my garage, I don't need more.

[psyguy]

you can buy aligator clips or eye-connectors for your voltmeter, then put the voltmeter in a tank bag or just tape it to the tank or handlebars.

or, a bit easier way to do it, go for an hour ride with the headlights ON and then test the charging at 2000rpm - don't stop the engine as if the battery is drained you may not be able to restart the engine

[lucabond]

Just had a thought. Since you seem to be having a voltage drop at the coils if you were to do the coil mod that would take some load off the old harness which could lead to less of a voltage drop thru it. You may also want to connect your headlight to the battery via a relay too which would give you a brighter headlight and take more load off the old harness. Thats the way I run my bike. Good luck

[psyguy]

just to clarify, those mods may be good for getting better voltage at the coils and the headlight but as far as the charging problems go they won't help any

[Speedo]

Shirazdrum has been here last 2 nights thankfully, he's a bit of an electrical genius, and thankfully also, even though we were supposed to be wrenching on HIS bike, he was happy to spend 80% of our wrenching time on MY bike -all while subjecting him to country music while wrenching.
What a great guy and great cause!

Anyway, turns out at least one definite problem all along has been the RR going bad and not working but INTERMITTANTLY (think light bulb going bad and flickering until dead). Extreme voltage spikes was causing the mysterious bike running good one day, bad the next, "healing itself" and running good again for no apparent reason, along with coils not getting proper voltage, along with plugs getting fouled in the process even though they had less than 200mi on them.

... last post...including BassCliff told me read the Stator Papers and test my charging system. Prev thread below where bike drained battery and ran like crap and apparently "healed" itself.

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum...ight=runs+crap

However, noone really has answered the question: can a drained battery alone cause the bike to run terrible (w/ Dyna S, etc)??

ANSWER: NOPE. BUT TOASTED RR SURE CAN! MORE...

... all over 60, but it the readings were not "rock solid" and fluctuated occasionally - don't know if that matters; if so, how else to test?)

ANSWER: OH YEAH IT MATTERS Fluctuation is a BAD sign...readings should be virtually rock solid. If your readings are jumping around, suspect the RR. Shiraz showed my on his GS850 how the reading should look a bike with everything working properly which was "worth a 1000 words".

What finally solved it (thank you Shirazdrum - you ARE "the man"), was
1. Disconnect RR which take both RR and Stator out of spark loop.
2. Fully charge battery (make sure it's good)
3. Do coil mod to make sure coils getting full 12v and spark is good
4. Fresh plug (just to make SURE plugs are not contributing to problem).

[psyguy]

i'm glad you solved your problem!

i have a question though:

Fluctuation is a BAD sign...readings should be virtually rock solid. If your readings are jumping around, suspect the RR.

what kind of fluctuation are you referring to here?

[Speedo]

I'm talking about the overall charging sys test which is "Step 1" in Stator Papers.

Instead of the meter being steady in its readings, it looks like it is "going crazy" with readings you can't read because they are fluctuating so much. I will say that after the RR was totally toast, the reading did not jump around any more, readings were just too high - the voltage simply get going up proportionally to rpm, past 17v. In other words: voltage was NOT being "regulated" since the RR died.

Shiraz's bike, when we tested it, showed virtually no movement on the RR voltage readings when we reved it to whatever. It was rock solid at 14.5v or so as we reved to various rpm. I mean rock solid....no up, down, wild searching for a reading....just right on with 14.5 no matter what we did with throttle.

But other tests in Stator Papers apply and were "funky" as well as some tests Shiraz knew to do but NOT in Stator Papers; specifically, with everything hooked up correctly (rr, stator, etc), on my bike there is some kind of "rogue" voltage that shows up on both of our meters just by attaching either lead to any ground on the engine or frame. Crazy stuff, should be 0/Zed/nada/nothing. I'll test again after new RR arrives.

[psyguy]

.........thanks