First time poster here, I hate to start off with a problem but am not having much luck figuring out what is wrong, hopefully someone else here has some ideas.

My bike is a 1990 CBR 600 with 37,000 miles on it. About 18 months ago the regulator / rectifier went out. Atleast that is what the Honda place told me. They replaced it (for $260, ouch) and all was fine for about 5 months.... then the bike started acting up. Like I would drive to work and all was fine, it sat for the day and when I went to go home, battery would be dead (not enough to turn over)....

I got away with push starting it and it would get me home fine (about 12 miles). I would put the charger on and it was fine for a few days. Then the same thing... dead and had to push start.... this went on for a few months.

Then it got to the point where it wouldn't turn over even with a good push..... so I jumped it off a car battery. It would start and get about 8 of the 12 miles to the house and just completely die on the road. Got it jumped again on the road and made it home. This happened twice.

I gave up and let it sit for about 12 months.

It sounds like a bad stator (or some other part of the charging system) to me. So I got a used stator off of eBay for $9.... yeah I know USED is UNKNOWN.... but for $9.... worth a shot.

All seemed to be good for the first few days with the different stator. Charged up the battery, and drove it around the neighborhood for about 30 miles in about 3 trips... No problems. Every time after a ride (of abut 10 miles) I would put the charger on it and it was still fully charged.

Yesterday I took it to get inspected. Drove 5 miles to Mr. Sticker and turned it off. Went to start it to pull into the bay, the battery was completely dead..... geeze.....

Got it jumped and it sat and idled for 15 minutes while waiting for them to do the inspection. Drive it home (another 5 miles). Put the charger on it, it did pull 2 amps for about 30 seconds then was fully charged again.... Normally would take 20 to 30 minutes to charge up when completely dead

Started it about 10 times in a row with no problems......

I really hate intermittent problems

Any ideas? I can only think of three things it could be. Stator (assuming the one from eBay was bad as was my original one), the $260 Reg/Rec went bad pretty damn quick, or maybe the battery.....

I am lost.....

Sorry for the long post and look forward to any thoughts you might have.

 

sounds like the regulator rectifier, there are nototrious for failures, but it is probally the stator starting you chain of events..think of the regulator rectifier as a big fuse...if the stator is faulty, it will take out the regulator rectifier, and if you just replaced that..it is not gonna be long before the reg/rec fails again....get a shop manual and check the values on the stator..the regulator rectifier is either working or it is not working...no fix other than replacement

 

Thanks for the thoughts Sir....

I was worried it was probablly the reg/rec again.... What is the deal with those things, there is so much talk about them just constantly failing?????

I do have a shop manual and actually did the test for the Stator and Reg/Rec a while back when these problems started.... I don't remember the results of the tests, other than the results where strange...

I will run though the tests again and see what happens.

Do you perhaps know much about the Reg/Rec on the 1987 - 1990 600 CBR's? I have seen information that indicates all 4 years had a different one? Is that correct? Would it hurt anything if I used another year's? Or how about one for a later CBR? It is alot easier (i.e. cheaper) to find the F2 reg/rec on eBay.

Again, thanks for the thoughts.

 

The HONDA ones are spendy, but any store that uses PARTS UNLIMITED can get a NEW AFTERMARKET one for a reasonable deal...I will look into it tommorrow at work and update you ( I'm at home and it is late as I type this)

 

The aftermarket REG/REC is only $154.99, but if you want one I will sell it for only $130 + shipping...let me know (916) 797-APEX (2739)

 

these are brand new parts, manufactured by Electrex USA and it usually takes me a day or so to recieve it