| Author | Message | ||
     Whodom |
Despite having ridden my 2000 S3 for ~350 miles this past Sunday without any problems, the battery died on me this morning when I tried to crank the bike. I came home this afternoon, charged the battery for ~2 hours, reconnect the cables and the bike fired right up. Put my volt meter across the battery terminals with the bike idling and read ~12 volts. Rev it to 3000 RPM: STILL 12 volts. Looks like I've got a charging system problem. I disconnected the connector under the engine and checked the stator for grounds; infinite resistance on both legs: good! Checked the resistance between both legs; reads about 0.2 ohms which should be OK. Fire up bike, check AC output on alternator leads: ZERO. Rev engine to ~2000 RPM, recheck meter leads, still 0. Should be 38-52 volts AC. NOT good! Sounds like a bad stator to me. My question is how can the resistance readings check OK but I still have NO output? My continuity reading across the stator may be a little questionable (based on the scale it could be ~0.1 ohm instead of ~0.2) but it still seems like I'd get a little voltage output. Any thoughts would be appreciated. BTW, I am running Mobil-1 75W-90 in the primary. If this turns out to be a bad stator, you can mark another possible confirmation for "don't use gear oil in the primary". | ||
| Oldog |
Short in the wires that is not grounding, hence no output. IIRC most "gear" oils have either sulfur, Molly-disulfide, or other "EP" additives some of which are hard on "red metals", other solvents in the lubricant may effect the varnish, [ thats why I wont run any thing else but sport trans in the chain case, ] the "detergents" in oil are Supposed to remove "Varnish" and "Deposits". IMO these may effect the clutch,[ bond ] on the fiber plates, crank seal [rubber in the seal] , and the stator [copper, varnish, wire jackets, grommet seal] I would check the VR too. (Message edited by ol-dog on August 17, 2006) | ||
| Whodom |
Oldog, You must be right. I haven't had a chance to do the "smell" test yet but that'll probably confirm it. When the meter readings looked OK, I thought the stator was going to be OK but the AC output test axed that idea. I'm using a ~$20 Radio Shack analog meter that I'm sure isn't the most accurate thing in the world, so the resistance reading through the stator is probably plus/minus 20% and could easily be out of spec (low). Speaking of tranny lube, what are you running? | ||
| Oldog |
The meter reading is almost a dead short spec is .2~.4 [ almost a dead short ] you can count on .1 varience depending on how you hold the probes, spec on the output is 38 ~ 50 v AC at 2000 rpm just for grins,ASK ME HOW I KNOW repeat the out put test with the meter on AC ranges Gear oil, what ever HD is pushing for Buells, I miss the 1-2 shift and once in a while, the 2-3 shift when hotrodding I notice that it seems to become more frequent when service interval is near. I don't qualify ineptitude on my part as a defect on the factorys' part  I have not had to replace the stator [yet] and the battery is original new to me in '02 so its due. ( having now mentioned that I've had no problems guess what )  | ||
| Whodom |
Well, bad stator diagnosis has been confirmed. I picked up the parts I needed last week (ALL of which were in stock at the dealer, Lowcountry HD/Buell in Charleston) and did the work over the weekend. One of the leads fell off the stator when I was pulling the stator out so it was definitely bad. It looks like the potting (epoxy? RTV?) that covers the leads where they connect to the windings was completely deteriorated. And man, the previous descriptions I've read here of how bad burned Mobil-1 gear oil smells don't do it justice. Peeeyeeewww! Hardest part of the job was torquing the crankshaft nut back to ~200 ft-lbs. My torque wrench only went to 150 so I had to go borrow a loaner from Autozone. After I got everything back together I refilled with Formula +, cranked the bike and verified it was charging (~12+ volts at idle, ~14 volts at 3000 RPM which sounds about right). I intend to do another change with Formula + in a week or so to hopefully get all gear oil remnants flushed out. So far, it seems to shift at least as well (maybe better) with the Formula +. | ||
| Sloppy |
Yep, that's the characteristic failure mode that happens with M1 Gear Lube -- the bare leads under the "rubber?" insulation that attach directly to the stator crumble / dissolve away. I've been running M1 Engine Oil in the tranny with excellent results. | ||
| Dave |
Whodom - That's another Mobile 1 failure. Gotta hate it but it appears to be a common denominator. Mine included after the sludge of the Red Line. DAve (Message edited by dave on August 28, 2006) | ||
| Oldog |
Sloppy: I have never had an HD stator in hand but the coating over the leads is a form of Varnish, [plastic], I bet the gear oil attacks the wire insul too. this is providing support and protection of the solder connections to the stator windings, once compromised vibes and hot/cold break the connection, or cause a short to ground Sorry to hear this Hugh, | ||
| Sloppy |
Could be but I haven't seen any information on gear oil that attacks plastic, especially since the oil container is plastic. But who knows, you might be right -- plastics come in many varieties. Another failure mode could be that as the wire thins due to corrosion the resistance through that portion increases and you get an increase in heat and thus temperature. The localized heat in conjunction with the corrosive environment and thinning metal only increases the rate of time till failure, be it a cold work fracture or corrosion. Those wires are extremely thin. |
