| Author | Message | ||
     Sbaugz |
As some of you know from my postings, I just obtained a 99 S3 It has 3200 miles on it. I purchased it and put about 15 miles on it. All is good. I didn't drive much more because the tires were rotten. In the interim I got new tires, switched to a stock exhaust, and install the twin shock. I put about 60 miles on it yesterday and it went well. There is a little bit of hesitation around 3000 RPMs although this was present before I made changes. This morning I attempted to drive it to work. About 5 miles into my trip the engine light went on. I pulled over, turned it off, restarted. Drove another 5 miles before the engine light came on again. Pulled over to check it out. This time, when I went to start the bike, all I got was clicking on the starter, suggesting that the battery is nearly dead. Supposedly the previous owner installed a new battery although by the looks of it there is some dirt on it and scuffing, suggesting it's may be older than implied. Question at this point is how do I proceed? Do I assume it's a bad battery that's dead? Is the voltage regulator bad? Does the engine light come on in electrical situations such as low voltage on the battery or non-functioning regulator? | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
I would check the battery terminals and grounding wire first. And yes the computer throws a code when the voltage drops or fluctuates weirdly. | ||
| Upthemaiden |
A lot of these problems end up being the battery. It's definitely work checking that out first. If you don't have the ability to check it yourself, I'm pretty sure most places that sell batteries will check it and tell you if it's good or not. Even if he did replace the battery recently, if the bike sits too long, it'll start to drain. Do you have a battery tender? You could try hooking the bike up for a day or two and see if it helps. As far as the hesitation, the 99 S3 is fuel injected, right? I was just dealing with a 3k rpm hiccup/hesitation on my bike, but it has a carb so it was a whole different situation. | ||
| Williamscottrobertson |
Make sure the battery cables are tight. Then check the ground where it bolts into the frame up behind the battery. You will have to lift up or maybe remove the tail section to get to it. I bought an 00 S3 with 2700 miles on it in the fall and had issues with the clicking starts. I pulled the ground (it was a little cruddy with that white powdery corrosion) and brushed it down and coated it down with battery terminal protector. Didnt help. I put in a new duracell battery from batteries plus and havent looked back. Im almost to 5k miles on it now. My bike also hesitates or stumbles at 3k ish rpm with a fast roll on the throttle. Its not enough to bother me too much yet but, if it gets worse, Ill change out the O2 and ETS. | ||
| Sbaugz |
sounds good. Thanks for the help. I just picked up a uhaul trailer and will be getting bike in a few minutes. Will check out terminals, connections, ground and battery. My assumption is its a battery problem. If I need to check out regulator/ rectifier, is there a protocol for this? I am very familiar with vintage regulators that have the three yellow charge wires coming from stator, along with the positive and negative wires that go to battery. I haven't looked in to Buell regulators yet, but are they on the same principal? If so, I can check the continuity between wires using the same techniques as my old honda mosfet regulator to check that out. I also stumbled across a post that shows you how to check fault codes using a jumper between leads 1 and 2 seen here: http://www.bcrider.com/DDFI.html | ||
| Sbaugz |
an update of sorts. Got home and checked voltage on battery- 10.6V put the battery on charger and its taking a charge so far. I just remembered that I also swapped out for the updated voltage regulator/ muffler front mount too. I wonder if I screwed something up when I re-mounted the regulator? I checked all the connections and they seem good. probably will search up how to check the buell specific voltage regulator and stator while I am at it. | ||
| H0gwash |
Maybe put a load tester on that battery after it is charged to see if it is any good. | ||
| Mhlunsford |
I would take the connections off to the battery and clean them well. Clean the grounds and check continuity between them. If you charge it and runs for a while then battery voltage is low I would get a regulator for a sportster and change it out. My son regulator was bad at 3k miles on his sporty. Some people try and sell parts as buell and charge more when the part can be hard from a sportster. | ||
| Imadog |
Every vehicle I have owned (except 2)I have had to put a battery in soon after the purchase. It gives me peace of mind. Load testing never helped me. The only true load test is if it starts your bike. If the bike was not properly stored over winter then you may have a dead cell. As others have said clean your cable connections, but for me I would put a fresh battery in it so that you know for sure the condition. Running a vehicle with a bad battery is hard on the charging system as well as the electronics. | ||
| Sbaugz |
After work today I will take my battery in to have a load test. Unfortunately I think it's more a regulator problem. After charging the battery last night, my battery shows 13.1 V. I started the bike up, and the voltage drop down to 12.5 V with idling and at 2000 RPM's so clearly something is going on with the regulator or stator. As mentioned, I mounted a new upgraded voltage regulator bracket so I wonder if I messed up something with the ground while doing that install | ||
| Ratbuell |
Sounds like you need a shop manual so you can perform the proper voltage regulator / stator diagnostic test. That will tell you without a doubt where your problem lies. (Message edited by Ratbuell on July 26, 2017) | ||
| Mhlunsford |
The regulator should also ground from the bolts holding it to the frame. The ground wire on my m2 actually severed to the regulator and it still works. 12.5 running to me is not bad. U should be able to check voltage in and out of the regulator. Could be loose wires. I would get a new bat and regulator same time if u want to be sure. Opening the stator is more involved. My old engine ate the stator: so got one for a sporty and changed. You should be able test the stator for resistance from the wires going to the stator before opening up the case. Basically if the windings on the stator short you get less resistance and less voltage output. Manual would be good or even the manual from a sporty if nothing else the basic engine is the same. | ||
| Kmbuell |
I've had the exact same issue, following changing over to the "Y" style mount. I did't get the ground wire tight enough. There should be a star washer under the ground too. Good luck, should be an easy fix! Kevin | ||
| Hootowl |
You said you replaced the regulator. Were you having charging issues before? If you're still having charging issues, it may not have been the regulator. Have you checked your stator output? Ohming out the stator will tell you whether it's open, but shorts are tough, since to the DC current the meter uses to measure resistance, the stator is a short anyway. A good stator will read 2-3 Ohms, and one shorted to ground will also measure 2-3 Ohms, depending on where the short is, and whether your tongue was touching the roof of your mouth when you plugged the not-so-new leads into the meter. In other words, measuring such a small resistance is difficult, and the signal can be overcome by resistance introduced by the leads, tarnish on the connectors, etc. Measuring the AC output of the stator is probably your best bet. | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
Oh yeah that little ground wire on the regulator needs a good connection. I think they paint the new ones and you have to scrape off the surface a bit. | ||
| Mhlunsford |
Can check the ground from battery to frame, then to the regulator housing which should be maybe an ohm. Clean the terminals, ohm the stator as best possible. Some meters (fluke) have a very low range setting and can zero out the terminal resistance. Then, I would swap out the battery and regulator. More than likely it will fix your issue. Lastly I would change the stator - for me would be at least a 3-4 beers. There is probably more knowledge on this board about these bikes than in any shop. You will solve it! | ||
| Sbaugz |
Thanks for all the advice. I have a shop manual and plan on doing some checking tonight hootowl- I only replaced the regulator mounting bracket, not the regulator | ||
| Hootowl |
To quote Emily Liletta...never mind.  | ||
| Mhlunsford |
I think good point, changing bracket may have changed the ground ? | ||
| Hootowl |
The instructions for the new Y mount and regulator bracket say to remove some of the paint from the bracket in order to achieve proper ground. Was that done? | ||
| Two_seasons |
Definitely need good ground at the VR bracket. | ||
| Sbaugz |
well, sometimes when it rains, it also pours. My brand new (to me) buell S3 is giving me all sorts of fits. I am starting to think that the 'really good deal' that I got on this bike wasn't so great after all. $2500 for a 3200 mile bike seemed great until I spent money on the exhaust mount upgrade, a new twin motorcycles shock (because the one on it was shot), $400 on tires because they were rotten, and $75 for new grips (cracked) and handlebars (bent). anyway So I did some testing. Battery load test wasn't done yet, but I don't think its the battery. I tested the stator. the test for continuity to ground with each lead was normal. However when I check resistance between the two sockets on the stator output, I get .1 ohms (according to manual it should be .2-.4 ohms). Finally when I start bike and put a multi-meter lead on each of the two outputs, I get zero volts, when I should be getting 38-52 volts. Then I tested the regulator/ rectifier. I tested between positive output lead and each of the two leads that come from stator. They should be the same but I get 500 ohms on one and 152 ohms on the other. Also, when I check against ground, I get infinite with one of the regulator inputs and I get 160 ohms with the other. So that implies my regulator is bad too. My question is: what are the chances that both the stator and regulator are bad? Am I testing them properly? If I need to replace both, what brand should I get? I have made the mistake of buying a cheap chinese made ebay regulator before and it ruined a $200 shorai battery because the output was 16 volts right out of the box. Thanks guys for assistance. | ||
| Sbaugz |
"The instructions for the new Y mount and regulator bracket say to remove some of the paint from the bracket in order to achieve proper ground. Was that done?" short answer- yes. | ||
| Hootowl |
Dealing with a broken motorcycle can be disheartening, but don't give up. Both the stator and regulator are standard HD parts, and are quite commonly available. You got a really great bike for not a lot of money. You're almost there : ) The shit eating grin it gives you will be worth it. | ||
| Sbaugz |
thanks hootowl! I know everything will be fine with a little work and effort. | ||
| Harleyelf |
Do you get 28 to 56 volts AC when the engine is running? The resting resistance is within limits, but the real test is output. | ||
| Sbaugz |
Harleyelf- I got absolutely zero volts output with bike running from the stator output wires. ....wait a minute- I just realized I had my meter on DC Volts and it needs to be AC volts....I will check stator output tomorrow with meter on AC and report back. Maybe I dodged a bullet. (Message edited by sbaugz on July 26, 2017) (Message edited by sbaugz on July 26, 2017) | ||
| Williamscottrobertson |
When I put on my new regulator racket and y mount, I had to unplug the regulator from under the cam cover and reroute things, i put some terminal grease on it, then made sure it was reseated well, then ziptied back tightly. If the ground is good at the bracket and the connection under the cam is is good, then it sounds like you are on the right track testing the stator and regulator. | ||
| Mhlunsford |
I would go ahead and replace both stator and regulator and maybe a new battery. Then your covered. Cheap insurance to have to spend another day in the garage. I think when I purchased my stator it was from drag specialties. Take your time when taking the cover off to get to the stator, go nice a slow to pull the shifter off, probably first time since it was built. You can also check the resistance of the new stator before installing so you know what your base line is. I normally pull the wheel with the magnets off by hitting it with a mallet. | ||
| Two_seasons |
ABC, anything but china, would be my recommendation for good VR. So far, my drag specialties experience for all items bought hasn't been positive. YMMV. |
