| Author | Message | ||
     Uselyssxb12x |
...the bike started blowing headlight bulbs, I have changed out 2 sets so far. Only thing I have added to the bike is a Battery Tender connection on the battery, all connections tight, I am thinking there has to be something going to ground. I guess we will see how the service dept. is here. | ||
| Lowflyer |
Sounds like some kind of a voltage regulator problem to me. | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
Voltage regulator not grounded, not shunting extra power? Someone forgot to scrape off the paint on the mounting holes perhaps? | ||
| Uselyssxb12x |
Called service dept., said they can find what it is, waiting for Buell to open back up at factory. (closed for the holidays) Just my luck, it has been warm, sunny, great riding weather. | ||
| Uselyssxb12x |
Have'nt heard from service dept., so I went and checked the progress on the Uly...they said it was the stator, had to order one in...another 7 to 10 days wait.  | ||
| Bienhoabob |
The last four Harleys I owned,the stators have failed. All bikes had below 20,000 miles when they quit working. Never had a problem afterwords though. 55-60 thousand miles is usually when the new bike bug bites me. I was hoping Buells would be different. | ||
| Lowflyer |
Anybody know what typically happens to a stator to make it fail? | ||
| Pbransonii |
Something usually breaks in the stator, I think.  | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
Basically, it's a coil of wire wrapped around a steel form. Things that can go wrong: Insulation failure in the coil could short it to ground. (It's supposed to float with respect to the frame) Once something shorts like that, it will heat up fast. The heat will mess up the insulation which will further make heat....Until something lets go. From what I read here, it's common for the stator to crap out and then the regulator goes. It's as if the stator damages the regulator on the way out; leaving it partially ok with a failure pending. | ||
| Daves |
They don't all fail. I have 60,000 miles on my FLH Wife has 45000 miles on her FXR2 Mother in law has 60,000 on her FLSTC No stators gone out in any of these. | ||
| Uselyssxb12x |
Hopefully it is just a "bad one" from the supplier, I only have ~450 miles on the bike.  | ||
| Crusty |
My M2 has 55,000 miles on it and the original stator is still working fine. My '98 S3-T had 60,000 miles on the original stator when I traded it in, and it was O.K. My '88 FLHS had 98,000 miles on it when I changed the stator (and regulator) for a higher output upgrade; but it was working O.K. as well. I wouldn't worry about it a lot. | ||
| 1313 |
I have the original stator on my S2 with just under 106,000 miles (so far...) 1313 | ||
| Reepicheep |
Electronics failures (even transformer devices like Stators) that fail quickly are manufacturing defects. It is likely the insulation on the wiring had a defect, and it just took 450 miles of heat cycles before it became catastrophic. It happens, it's a mechanical device built by a mechanical system. The "chronic stator problems" seen are hardly chronic, but are rather very typical for bikes I am familiar with. Toast a stator every 20k miles. My Cyclone did it, my 9sx might do it, my buddies Suzuki did it, etc. That being said, the stators are beefed up recently, so it looks like Buell is again not willing to settle for "average". Yours was probably just very bad luck... glad they are making it right, and hope they can resolve the situation quickly. | ||
| Fusa21 |
My '03 XB had 3 race seasons on her until this summer when I noticed some electrical gremlins. Sure enough the last resort was to replace the stator. It's very clear that this part is put to the test when at race pace for as long as we run them. But even looking at the old part, it's quite easy to see how the insulation could have been thin on any of the windings and cause a short. Good luck with your Uly} | ||
| Marks3tbillet |
It seems that HD changed the stators around 2002. Big Twins '02 and up have been failing stators early. (Check out Harley Tech Talk, lots of guys are having trouble) I sold my wife's '02 FXD with 10,000 miles on it. Stator failed 2000 miles later. My '99 FLHT has 34 K on it with no problem. My bet is a cost reduction on the stator. HD seems to be going the way of GM in reducing costs. | ||
| Biker_bob |
I had a Stator fail in a 2000 Road Glide. I had 20000 miles on my 03 Ultra, 28000 on an 04, my riding buddies have 45000 on an 04 Ultra, another friend has 30000 on his 03 Ultra and another friend has 22000 on his Road Glide. Only stator failure (knocking on wood) on the 2000. So our experience certainly hasn't been bad after 2002. | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
The sad thing here is that H-D gets away with it most of the time since most H-D riders bearly ride 3000 miles a year so the problems manifest themselves too late for the warantee. This is like the twincam bearing failures. I don't know if they even fixed that because the factory doesn't admit there was ever a problem. BTW, I am lucky. My X1 stator i oriinal at 63500 miles. | ||
| Bienhoabob |
I think they fixed the roller cam bearing failures in the 2000 models. I had a '99 Road Glide that had a failure on a Sunday, at 3:30 am in Minnesota. I was on a Iron Butt Bun Burner Gold attempt. (1,500 miles in 24 hrs). I made it 1,410 miles in 22 hrs, when the bearing failed. Harley did send out a notice to all '99 owners that in the rare event of a bearing failure, Harley would fix the problem at no cost to the owner. And they gave the owners 5 yrs or 50,000 miles of warranty on the bearing failure. Harley covered all costs to me. They made the best out of a bad situation. Hindsight, Harley should of had a recall. Albert Lee, MN. Harley shop did the work and had me on the road by Tuesday morning. I have nothing but good things to say about their shop. | ||
| Uselyssxb12x |
...still in the shop...stator came in, they installed, checked out everything and now say the voltage regulator is bad too. None in stock, have to order. I asked if they could remove one from Buell XB (if they are the same), service writer said he did'nt think they were the same, would ask service manager...supposed to call me back...(they have'nt called me on any of this, I have had to call them to find out anything)  | ||
| Lowflyer |
I hope you made them feel stupid for not ordering your VR when they ordered the stator since the symptom was burning up headlights. If the complaint had been dim headlights, I could see overlooking the VR. | ||
| Opto |
service writer said he didn't think they were the same, would ask service manager that's when you have to go to the parts desk and ask a spare parts salesman.... | ||
| Buellgrrrl |
The dealer has now had your bike for over a week and has yet to fix a simple electrical problem. Despite the fact that most of the parts are shared with other Harley products, they don't have them in stock,,, Time to find a better dealer! | ||
| Lowflyer |
I'll vote for that. I believe I could have had you back on the road already assuming the VR and stator would have arrived at the same time. I have never even really turned a wrench on a motorcycle. | ||
| Uselyssxb12x |
Next Buell dealer is ~2 hours away...being a warranty issue I am kind of at their mercy. Still have'nt heard from them... | ||
| Cataract2 |
Geeze, I coulda told them the VR was toast. Had lot's of experence with them on my FZR. It liked VR's. | ||
| Buellgrrrl |
To be honest, electrical stuff is usually pretty easy to diagnose and fix... if this dealer can't figure it out and fix in a week Harley should swoop in with a few trailers and load up their Buell and Harley signs and their entire inventory- they don't even deserve to be a Harley dealer. I had the diode board smoke on one of my BMW airheads in Dubuque, Iowa a few years back. It being noon and having a car battery in the sidecar, I just unplugged the headlight and kept the starts to a minimum on the 300 mile trip back to Minnesota. Back home, I whipped out the manual, did the usual diagnostic tests, verified it was the diode board, and had it fixed before dark. BTW, BMW "airhead" riders having no shame, when we have the charging system puke far from home with no parts available, we just buy a battery and charger at the local Wallyworld, Fleet Farm, etc., mount it on the back seat or rack, and unplug the headlight. An overnight charge will generally put enough juice into the car battery to run the bike all day. | ||
| Lowflyer |
I thought airheads carried small gas-powered generators somewhere in all the trunkage bolted all over the bike.  | ||
| Uselyssxb12x |
 AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGG!!!!! Sorry...........I just want to go  | ||
| Newfie_buell |
Stator Failure 101 This is the most common problem with the Buell/Harley Stator Failures.   |
