I need help with my sons P.O.S. 98 F3. I am at my wits end with this bike. We bought the bike about 2 months ago & the battery would periodically go dead. I checked the charging system & it was not charging. I replaced the regulator 3 weeks. It would then charge about 13v at idle & around 13.5 at 5k rpm. He drives the bike to school 15 miles each way. The bike has been running great since then. Yesterday we went on a ride & about 25 miles away, the bike just quit running. Dead as a doornail. We could smell something fried. Trailered the bike home & checked it out. The regulator fried. Charged the battery & nothing. Fuses are ok. I put the old regulator on & installed a new battery thinking the old battery was dead. I still have nothing at all. All connections seem tight. Anybody have any ideas?
I was thinking stator! Would that keep the bike from doing anything at all? No lights, no nothing.

 

No, the stator would not prevent the bike from having any lights, unless it was completely shorted. Even so, that would blow the main 30A fuse. That being said, I would check the 30A fuse, located near the battery. Take a look at StephyeeGee's site. She's a super member here and has copies of the shop manual for the bike. It has a wiring diagram that will help you determine where you might be loosing power at. For a completely dead bike, there are not many things that would do that. When you say that fuses are OK, did you check the 30A one ? Power goes from the battery over to the hot side of the starter relay. Feeding back from that connection power goes through the 30A fuse and then out to the rest of the bike. This is where the power comes from that feeds the fuse block under the right upper cowl fuse cover. It also sends power to the ICU.

This should get you started anyway. Let us know how you do...

BTW, I don't think F3's are P.O.S.'s, maybe poorly taken care of.

 

Thanks for the help. I checked the 30amp fuse & it was blown. Replaced the fuse & it fired right up. I believe i have an intermittent stator problem. When i checked the charging system 3 weeks ago, it showed a battery charge of 12 volts & thats it. After replacing the regulator, it would go as high as 13.7 range. It completely smoked the new regulator yesterday. I dug the old one out of the garbage & installed it with the old battery & it shows 12.5 at idle, 13.0 at 3k & 13.7 at 6k. Does that sound right or 2 high?
B.T.W. i am not saying all F3's are P.O.S, just mine. I guess thats why the previous owner got rid of it. He didnt seem to be able to check oil, let alone change it.

 

I'm glad you found the fuse and it's running again. Apparently, these bikes are notorious for having stator and r/r problems. I think most of them stem from poor connections. When you replace them, make sure the connections are tight and well seated. As for the V you're getting, download the manual. It has all the procedures for testing those devices and what you should read at various rpm's. Good luck and good riding...