Hello,

This is one of the first times I am writing in this forum even though I was reading it for a while.
In the last two weeks I have been experiencing some problems with my 06' F4I 600cc with 7.5K miles on it.

First time when I got it to the shop:

I had some issues with starting the bike in the morning but since I was sure it was a weak battery that I need to replace I decided to kick it in and ride to my destination.
Before this bike I've had bikes with carburetors and I never considered that the bike is taking the power from the battery even when the engine is running. I learned that later...

50 miles away from home while riding on the freeway my bike started to stutter and when I slowed down it just shut down and I couldn't ignite again.
I called my mechanic (Desmoto Sport, SF) and he explained to me that I am not going any where with this bike and most likely my charging system is gone.
Since I was 40 miles from home my solution was to risk it and go get a battery and ride back.
I got the bike to the shop and when they tested it the decision was to replace the stator.
Two days later I was riding out of the shop with a new stator.
20 miles later I parked the bike on the side of the road for a sec. just to answer a phone call.
When I wanted to start it back, nothing, dead again.
Called the shop and the day after they came in especially for me (Sat.) to try and see what the problem is.

Second time in the shop:

after a short diagnostic they told me that the regulator is gone.
I asked them if maybe that was the problem from the beggining but they insisted that the stator was bad too.
To be sure and also to show me, they tested the stator again next to me.
so I left the bike for a couple of days till they got the regulator and replaced the old one with a new one.
I got the bike back at the end of the week and I was ready to ride again.
This time I was on the bike for around 40 miles, with 2 stops.
In the third stop I couldnt start again ! !
called the shop and the bike was back in the same day.

Third time in the shop:

They checked the bike again and the conclusion was that the regulator is bad again.
since it was new the only thing that we could think is that the regulator sent was bad or something made it go bad.
they called the supplier in the morning and they said that it is most likely to be a bad part since the stator is new.
they ordered a new regulator and I was with no bike again for a couple days...
Friday I picked up the bike with the new regulator, this time they rode it for a 30~ miles to make sure that it is not going bad again.
I took it for a ride in sat.,first 30 miles were good.
I parked for a few hours and took it for a short ride again, all good.
The next time I started was good but then I saw that my "high beam indicator" on the instruments was not steady again.
Stoped the bike and couldnt start it again....
So I kicked it in and rode home.
Now I am wondering what the **ck is gong on with this bike ?!!!?!?!?


The stator replaced to a new one
The Regulator is new
The Battery is new

I dont know what the hell it can be.
Please any ideas before I get it back to the shop tomorrow.


Thanks,

David

 

first tip, stop going to that shop, clearly they are not fixing the problem. get a manual and some tools. it'll be 100000% cheaper. a multimeter will aim you in the appropriate direction for certain. it sounds to me like you have a short somewhere else in your system that is causing this, not your charging system.

 

In addition to what HR said,

was the battery new before you started having issues? If the battery is the same one that saw the bad rectifier and stator, its a good chance that battery is fried. the rectifier will fry the internals of a battery fast if it fails. It can become shortered internally. Then, you will have a bad battery even though it is new. I would have them load test the battery to make sure it didnt get harmed during the diagnostic process.

 

If you change the regulator again....stay away from hondas....http://cbrworld.net/forums/permalink...howThread.aspx

 

The battery is new but it was in when I had the problems with the Stator so you might be right.
That sounds like the right idea to do... I will ask them to load test the battery.
Is this something I can do at home ?

 

every thing you need to replace/troubleshoot you can do at home with a decent multimeter and some basic tools. tell the shops to fugg themselves, seriously. unless you're incapable of working on your own stuff, work on it yourself. trust me, its much easier than you might think.

 

I would like to work on my own stuff but I do have some problems with this.
1.I live in apt house and there is not really a nice place I can pull in to work on the bike.
2.Since I just moved to the US I don't have all the tools that I need
3.My experience with electronics is really compared to none... if this is some mechanical issue I will fell "more comfortable" but with electronics I really clueless
I don't even know how to use a multimeter...

soon I am moving to a house with a garage and then hopefully I will be more free to mess with the bike myself

 

You can load test it yourself, but it requires a multi-meter... so if you dont have access to one, then take it tosomeplace like autozone, they will load test it for free. It doesnt have to be the dealership. Im not sure if advanced auto does it too. But usually any of the larger chain autoparts stores will load test it. Just give em a call and ask before you bring it in.

Its at least free and you wont have to bring your bike in.

 

Hello,

So today I took the bike back to "Desmoto Sport" and explained them all the conversations that we had about the issue here and in the CBR forum.
They checked the battery (load) and the battery is fine, since the piece that was bad again is the regulator we decided to go for in a different route.
I read this article in CBRWorld and what we did was very similar to the description on this article.
They took a regulator from a Ducati , I higher duty that will hopefully do the job and built a full custom harness.
also we disconnected the alarm and some under ferring lighting that was on the bike.
For now this solution is working and in a few days when we are sure that its all good I will go back and connect the alarm and the lights again.

by the way the shop was awesome, there was no extra charge for labor even that they worked almost 4 full hours on the bike, again...

BTW I am sorry for the crooked English but I am still working on that....

 

Update :

Fourth time in the shop...

Unfortunately the solution with the Ducati Regulator didn't work out as we expected.
Again I could put about 50 miles on the bike before it died on me.
the weird thing is that the problem is not appearing consistently.
I did a few short rides, all of them around 10-20 miles.
in the last ride just before I stoped and bike I noticed and the high beam indicator is flikering again, I could feel that there is nothing in the battery.
After I shut down the engine I couldn't fire it back again.

So, no it has nothing to do with the alarm or the lighting, since all that was disconnected.

I left the bike in the shop for the weekend.
After consulting with the Honda dealership they tried to look for lose ground wires all over the bike but there was nothing.
The only thing that they found that was suspicious are the head light bulbs that the original owner put (100W) so they changed these to stock.
Now as wierd as it sound the charging system is still working...
So the are going to put back the original battery that was tested to be fine and one of the head mechanics there is going to ride it home and see if it
goes dead again

So this is for now.... update on Monday.