Best of luck sorting it out. For what it is worth I bought my 1990 bike new and the alternator packed up after about a year. It was a common problem apparently. At that time I just replaced the stator.

 

I just got back from a long trip with my son and we had charging problems. I'm pretty sure it is the stator as I bought one last year and installed it. It was a cheap one off ebay and the plug has actually seemed to melt after lots of continuous running in hot weather. Last fall I pulled the regulator plug and the prongs had rubber on them from the melting. This weekend I had the same thing, but cleaning it out did no good. I suspect the plug has melted sufficiently into the wires that the stator is no longer able to push past the "insulation".

I was going to go with an Accel stator because I have always had great success with them in my cagers and they are listed as a lifetime warranty. Might stay loyal, might not after reading the above posts.

 

My opinion is to stick with OEM on the stator/regulator. Your recent eBay stator is exactly why I have that opinion.

 

+1

I've learned over the years that especially with electrical, rubber and drive train parts, you can get "as good as" but will certainly pay a LOT more than HD prices and even then, it's not better and obviously things discounted deeply are just pretend parts. If you shop around for any degree of quality, OEM is very competitive, if not less money. OEM stuff just plain works and holds up...

 

One of the easiest ways to check a stator is to open the primary and smell it. You will know if it's fried, of course if it doesn't smell then be sure to check it with a multi meter. There are two types of stators, molded and unmolded. I prefer molded when I can get them.