Hi folks,

Over the weekend, I took the bike out for a run, everything went well for about 10 minutes. Then I stared to experience some sputtering, like the bike was running out of fuel. After a second, the engine just died.


The bike, with a charged battery, wouldn't even turn over. I noticed the ground wire by the RR had popped off, and thought that I could have ungrounded something essential. After re-attaching it, still nothing.

I eventually had a friend give me a boost to get the bike going... which meant the battery didn't have enough amps to do the job.


These are the symptoms of my problem:

• The bike would boost, but after taking the jumpers off, if i did not hold the throttle, the bike would die.
• I would get sputtering when I did get it going
• The RR was insanely hot
• The Stator Cover was insanely hot, and stayed that way for hours. Engine overheat? the radiator fan was working.
• The next day, the battery had no juice in it period.

My suspicion is that the RR is probably gone to its next life. I know there are non-OEM replacements... is there one specific, I will ask google.

But the stator cover being so damn hot, i know it gets hot, but this was nuts... what would be an indicator that the stator is damaged?

Any help with diagnosing the stator would be good -> can it be tested from the RR (where it plugs into the rr?)

since the battery is not being charged, im concerned that this is a problem.

Thanks in advance!
Nick.


-> the end of the story goes, after 8 jumps, little riding distance was made, i called for a flat bed to get me.

after bringing the bike home, the tower unlatched one side of the bike, telling me to just "hold the bike" but the force of the other side that was holding the bike to the flatbed literally pulled the bike down on its side !!!

Thankfully my leg caught the bike and I was able to give it a soft landing, but the bike suffered some paint scratches on the side fairing, and the rear brake pedal got bent in. ugh.. could have been worse i guess.

 

UPDATE:

I found a number of reviews for testing the charging system. I just need to get a handle on the RR and what a good replacement/upgrade would be.

From my understanding, anything from a 600cc+ bike would work, but gsxr and suzuki bikes from 2000+ are better candidates.

Something with heat fins.

As for the stator, I will test that with the battery charged fresh and see if i get some dropoffs.

This is the damage to the fairing. Nothing major, but messes up my custom paint color.



Update, here is a shot without the vinyl, the damage is hardly worthy of a drop, more like a soft landing on something hard.

 

when my regulator / rectifier was dying, it had similar symptoms, felt like i was running out of gas when i was cruising, and died once at a stop light and wouldn't turn over at all when i pushed the starter after a regular stop. Needed two push starts to get home. Charged the battery with trickle charger and next ride it died 5 minutes from my house at a stop light, battery ran down powering the blinkers in a matter of seconds.

 

Well, as a follow up, i just went home for a second, thought I would do a quick multimeter test, the battery was at 13.5, on its own, nothing plugged in.

Plugged in, i do have a couple accessory items, battery registered 12.8.
Plugged in, started, batter stayed at 12.8, revved to 3000, nothing.

My prognosis is that the R/R is toast. not bad for a 1998 part.

* Thanks for the info Krazyderek, that's exactly what happened to me.

 

So, i did a first level test on the charging system. Looks like there is no visual issues with the R/R. The plugs are all in good condition, and there doesn't seem to be any corrosion on the connectors.

Did a continuity, ground and ohm test on the harness, checks out so far. Next is to check the AC coming from the stator.

Since this issue happened once before, and i had to walk the bike back home, i know this is an old issue that has been waiting to cusp.

I hope the stator is still in good working order and outputting some juice.

 

when i got home after having to do two push starts, i turned off the bike, just like when i pulled over for a break (and had to push start), and started it up 3 times, perfectly fine. Right now, I have a mysterious problem with cylinder 4, the bike sounds fine when i first turn it over, but once the bike warms up (3-5 minutes) it'll start running rough and that one cylinder is 50 deg cooler then the others.

Your gremlin may be hidding, so check it several times, or if you live on a flat street, ride it up and down a couple times waiting for the issue to appear.

 

That's for sure. I have a good stretch of road in and around my house, lots of places to test the output of the bike. my R/R is accessible as well, so once i get the new one in, i'll have to break it in.

battery charged to full last night, going to pop it in and test the stator tonight, so i can rule that out... for now anyway.

 

Quick update!

Just finished doing an AC check on the stator wiring harness. First, did a ground, continuity and ohm test just to be sure. My battery was fully charged, registering 13.8vdc.

I left the batter connected to the bike all day, and when i came back from work, the voltage did not move, so i have no current leaks.

So, nervous as anything, i fired up the bike, and at idle, got 25vAC, revved to 4000k got something like 50vAC.

Tested all three yellow wires (1-3, 1-2, 3-1, 3-2) just to be sure I was double checking, and i got the same readings on all three. Phew!

I managed to find a guy on kijiji who was selling a gsxr r/r, talked him down to 80, going to get it tomorrow.

As a funny "what if" test, i shut the bike down, and re-connected the old R/R to the bike, fired the bike up and immediately it started to smoke. That's a good sign it's done!

Of course, the stator still could be the end culprit, only time will tell. I will get the new r/r hooked up and rip the bike around the block a couple times. doing tests along the way.

 

Member RichBransby got a nice photo of the Stator. Check out his problem here. As you can see it's just a bunch of wires wrapped around in coils/loops. No moving parts for it (the term Stator comes from the fact that it's "stationary"). It's really rare for them to be bad. I know that many people replace them, but I suspect many didn't need it. Unless something impacts the wires, or the insulation breaks down and shorts it, they're pretty reliable.



Now, the R/R has diodes in it that generate a lot of heat. Unfortunately Honda's poor selection for a manufacturer of that particular part lends itself to overheating and failure. Poor connections to the R/R are also contributing factors to extra heat.

 

Update:
I just installed the new R/R off an 04 GSXR, the thing is massive.



I had to custom mount it under my seat.


and make a new set of connectors, loaded with dielectric grease.



But, the reading are all good now. I need to field test it more, rip it around the block a couple times. But hopefully this will be it for issues.