Urgent advice needed for '02 VFR not holding a charge

Hey Guys/Gals,

I posted this a few days back: http://vfrworld.com/forums/6th-gene...2-far-home-looking-bit-mechanical-advice.html

Here's my whole story. I'm up here in Anchorage, AK and I need to catch a ferry back to Washington which leaves on Monday night. My VFR wouldn't start and had all the symptoms of a dead battery, until I took the fairings off and found this burnt connection between my regulator/rectifier and (what I'm assuming leads to the stator?). I replaced the R/R and bought a connector kit for the other end of the burnt connection. I put in a new battery and it started right up. It's not holding a charge, however.

I measured the resistance of all three yellow wires leading to the coils. They all measured a steady 1.3 ohms. I went through every electrical connection I could find and blew out any gunk I saw. Also, the new R/R which I bought does not have a ground wire. This is the old R/R which had the fifth (black) wire not included with the new R/R.

I suppose these are my few questions:

1) Is the stator toast? Even if the three yellow wires leading to the coils are measuring all the same resistance? The only way to find out is to open it up?
2) Could the fact that there is no ground wire on my new R/R be an issue serious enough for the bike to not hold a charge?
3) Am I overlooking some stupid fuse or something?
4) Could it be some loose connection somewhere else?

I'm at a loss here and a bit under the gun.

Thanks much for your help in advance guys.

 

I know this isn't helping, but what kind of R/R did you put in there?

 

This is what I bought off regulatorrectifier.com

Regulator Rectifier VFR800 VFR 800 Honda

It sounds like it's most likely the stator. The R/R might not have even gone bad in the first place! (Just the connection).
Guess it's time to open the bike and see what the condition of the stator is.

 

Its looks like a decent enough replacement R/R.

Listen to Tink. He's got a great knowledge of the wiring on these bikes.

What's the possibility of the new R/R being bad/faulty?

 

The relay connections look great. Fuses intact.


I charged the battery and it read 12.2 V. I put it back in the bike and it turned over just fine. At idle, the reading dropped to a steady 11.95 V and at speed (between 4,000/5,000) it read 12.30 V (should have been in the mid 13's right?) I took it around the block, stopped at a stop light and got it up past 50 MPH. I came back into the garage and the readings were the same as above. I killed it, let it sit for 30 minutes or so and it won't turnover completely. It tries, but just doesn't have enough to fire completely.

Could it be that the stator is working only minimally? Or is a stator something that only "works or doesn't work?"

Thanks for your help.

 

I bump started the bike and checked the readings on this setting (ACA 20)

I'm completely retarded when it comes to electrical stuff. Is this the right setting? I tested all three leads multiple times with the bike running. I got readings of 6.5, 6 and 2.5 in the third lead. Do these numbers mean anything?

 

I apologize. This is how retarded I am. When I pulled those readings, the meter was actually on "ACV 200"

 

Stolen from another post by Rubo:

"To check the output of stator
1.disconnect the plug going to regulator
2.Set voltmeter to AC
3.Attach probes to yellow wires (make sure they don't touch each-other otherwise you will short the stator.I suggest wrapping with electrical tape)
4.Start the bike
5. Reading should be 20v or higher depending on RPM. I suggest keep same RPM and test all 3 wires to see if their output is the same.If any wires put out significantly less output then others then you have failed unit."


If you are only getting 6.5 volts or less then it sounds like you have a bad stator.

 

Thanks for your help guys. Looks like I found the culprit:


Quite obviously the issue, I just hope that everything else is still in proper working order.

Thanks again to all for the quick responses and advice.

 

Travis - looks like your on your way to sorting this out. Good deal.

Let me clarify something, though. Your post above says

. If you charged it, and it was only at 12.2, its weak. A 12V battery actually has 6 cells, and in reality, most of these cells hold 2.1 to 2.2V, thereby making a fully charge battery read somewhere around 12.8 to 13.2V.

Maybe the bad stator cooked it a little bit. You might want to consider either returning the battery for another new one, or at least bringing that one in and having it load tested.

 

That's a great point. I'll take it back to the shop today and see what they say. Thanks for looking out.