Well, I'm not very happy with my bike right now. I happened to forget my cell phone on friday, and my bike decided to die on the way home from work. I was left stranded on a side rode for a hour and a half until someone stopped and let me borrow a cell phone and I was able to get a hold of a friend that helped me get my bike home. Sorry, I just had to vent a bit. My problem is in the Rectifier/Regualtor (I think?). I tested the entire charging system and found the rectifier/regulator wasn't working correctly. I bought a new aftermarket R/R (my uncle works on motorcycles and recommended this brand as he's used them and never had a problem before) and replaced the faulty unit. I also replaced the battery and checked the resistence and voltage on the stator. The stator appeared to have work correctly, but the new R/R still wouldn't charge correctly (17.5V at 5,500 RPM's). I went through the charging system and found a connection that looked to be faulty and replaced it. The R/R appeared to be working correctly with about 13.2 V at idle and 13.8 V at 6,000 RPM's. I rode it two days (the bike died after the second) and found the R/R was only producing a bout 10 V after the bike died. My question for you is if anyone has had similiar problems with aftermarke R/R's. Do you think a Honda R/R would fix my problem, or does it look like a problem with the Stator or an other component within the chargin system? Sorry for the long post I just wanted to ensure that I had enough detail for the experts to get a full idea of what I'm dealing with. If it matters this is on a 98. Thanks for any help.
I recall reading a thread about this where it seemed like most people agreed the honda replacement R/R was the best way to go. Someone or maybe more than one person said they had had negative results with an aftermarket R/R. This is one case where I'd probably go with the OEM part.
Personal experience - when mine went out, I bought an off-brand because it was significantly cheaper. It lasted less than a week, and left me stranded a second time. I ended up just paying the shop to install a Honda one. There's a great article about R/R problems in general on Texas VFR Garage (which is now part of VFRworld): http://www.yft.org/tex_vfr/tech/rr-maintenance.htm Good luck!
17.5V @ 5,500 RPM? Did you check the stator again? Did you make sure the battery had a full charge when you tested the R/R? You may have done these things, I am just asking. I wonder if that 17.5v condition killed the stator and/or the battery.
I did check them before I saw the 17.5 V. I need to check all of them again. It may be a few days as I've been working alot, but I'll look.
