Bought my bike (2000 F4) in April and the guy said it had a new battery in it. Battery seemed dead 2 weeks ago and I got it tested and the battery was bad, so I put a new one in. Rode it about 4 or 5 times since then and went to get it on it today and it started funny, like the battery was getting low. It barely had enough to crank it over and start, but it did start.

So I take her for a good ride (about 50 miles) and on the way to my destination, it's having trouble staying alive while getting going after being stopped at lights and stop signs and such. Like I had to keep it revved to around 2 or 3 k rpms to keep it running while getting moving. Even once it gets moving, it rides weird and kind of hesitates a bit at WOT.

Once I arrived at my destination, it stalled on me upon pulling into a parking spot. Then it wouldn't even turn over. Had to push start it to get it going again and had the same problem as before keeping it running on the way home, except worse. Pretty much if I came to a stop, it would have stalled trying to get moving again if I didn't turn the choke on to about 3 grand.

It definitely seems that the problem is electrical/battery since it ran fine with a brand new battery but only for a couple weeks. I've read stuff about some battery troubles on here before but I couldnt find my specific problem doing a search. Anyone have the same problems or know something about it? Help please! Thanks.

Edit: I guess I should add that I did ride the bike for about a few days with the dead battery, just push starting it. I know that probably wasn't good for it, but that doesn't change the fact that it went through a new battery (that the previous owner put it) in less than 3 months.

Edit 2: Ok, so I've done some searching on Google and stuff and discovered that apparently there's a lot of trouble with the regulator on these bikes overheating? This may explain the extreme heat that I always feel on my left upper thigh/buttcheek while riding? I'm not near my bike right now, but is the regulator on the left side of the tail, at about seat level, right where I feel the heat near my thigh/butt? Would a bad regulator cause the problems I'm having? Thanks again fellas.

 

try charging the battery and see how it runs, check the voltage regulator when its running it should read between 13-14.8v I believe below that I would replace.

I was thinking the regulator was on the left side. I dunno if it would get hot or not, but I would check the voltage on it before replacing.

 

i had the same problem, when i bought my bike (99 cbr600f4) it ran fine and the owner told me it had a new battery. I took a trip to the mountains and i stoped to get gas, when i went to crank it back up it barely had enough to crank but i got it to run and it was about 2 miles down the road a car stopped in front of me and when my rpms fell down the bike cut off, i took the seat off on the side of the road and my regulator/rectifier was smoking a little and was very hot. I could not get the bike to crank back up so i had my dad come pick me up and i took the bike to the honda shop and they told me the rectifier and my stator was bad, and it also killed my battery so i had to replace the battery and the rectifier and the stator. I let the honda shop do it for me and it ran around $600. The rectifier is easy only twobolts and plugs right in. The rectifier is on the right side of the bike if you are sitting on it. if that is all that is wrong with yours it is easy toreplace just take off thetail piece and unbolt it and plug in the new one...hope thishelps.

 

how would i test the voltage on the regulator?

do i test wires going into it or what? i'm a little dumb with electrical stuff...

oh, and if the regulator is bad, where would i find a new one? preferably one that will not heat up like the sun on my rear end and kill my bike daily. and not too hard on the wallet would be nice also.

how do i check if my stator is ok?

thanks for the help so far fellas.

 

i am not sure how to check the regulator, i do know when i took it to the honda place they checked the reading off my battery to find out that it was the regulator but i am not sure how that works, it has something to do with how the voltage reads... go to www.deniskirk.com and they have one around $90-$100

 

From what I am reading, It sounds like your stator is most likely bad. A battery should NOT be dead after only a few months. The only ways that could happen would be if they bike was in storage in harsh conditions (aka cold), the battery was defective or theres a problem in your charging system. The stator recharges the battery while the bike is running and thankfully is a pretty easy replacement. Only downside is that it is a little expensive (Hondapartsdirect.com wants almost $200, but theyre a legit site and supply you with actual parts from Honda) A simple test would be to hook a voltmeter up to your terminals on your battery. Give the bike some throttle and if you see the volts increasing, then the stator is charging the batt. I believe the stator should be charging at around 14 v, (someone else correct me if i am wrong). As far as the regulator, there is a test you can do with the wiring but I dont have my service book right in front of me so i couldnt tell you what wires to hook your voltmeter up to. I'll post it later after work if no one else has.

I had a simular experience to you as well. I had just bought my bike last summer and was riding it for a few months when one morning i found it would die on idle. It got so bad that even if i jumped it, it would die the second i got off the throttle. My battery was so old that it couldnt hold a charge anymore. I replaced the battery and have had no problems since.

 

NS, you are right, on 12v system, stator should be outputing around 14v, depending on RPM and load. Had a more detailed explanation of the charging system wrote up but my damn internet F'D up on me and didn't post so here's the quick version. In a series, this is the charging system, Stator creates the voltage necessary to charge the battery. Regulator senses battery voltage and approprietly adjusts the current that the stator recieves, thus changing the charging voltage. Battery, well you all know what that does. So, it could be either one, in my experience I would lean toward stator, as the regulators seem more reliable but you never know! And yeah they are both kind of spendy! Another tip, don't run the a bike with a weak battery or even a good battery that has a low charge, the stator really takes a whoopin that way because it's working full tilt to try and keep that battery voltage up. Enjoy and good luck!

 

ok, so i got a neighbor's multimeter and did some testing per what a service guy from the local honda shop said. he said to check the 3 yellow wires from the stator to the reg/rect for current and then check that the terminals on the battery read 13v.

the stator seems to be working fine (checked the 3 yellow wires going into the reg/rect and they all registered that there is current)

checked the battery terminals and it was right at 13v.

also checked the red/white wire and the green wire coming out of the reg/rect and only the red/white on (which goes to the battery) read that there was current. the green one is just a ground though, so i'm pretty sure that shouldn't read that there's current, right?

i tested all of this by touching the positive end of the multimeter to the terminals at the reg/rect and touching the negative end of the multimeter to the ground terminal on the battery (-).

again, i'm not good with electrical stuff (which could be why i blew out my neighbors self described "antique" multimeter... oooops, not good...) so let me know if any of this sounds wrong.

 

got a new digital multimeter today. have yet to test anything else with it.

before i go any further, to make sure i'm clear on this:

1)

 

test1