I've been having issue with the bike starting and as of last night the headlight going dim.

I put a new battery last weekend and it seemed good for the last couple of rides. Last night it fired up just fine when I left the house and 40 miles of highway riding later at a gas stop it didn't want to fire. had to push start it. by the time I got home the headlight was really dim. I checked the battery voltage and it read 10.5v or so.

so enough of the back story, heres where my confusion comes in.

after charging all night I checked the battery like the sticky up above says and noticed the with high idle/rev up, I only get .25-.5v increase over idle. I then checked the stator at the base plug. when ohming out the plug to ground I get a reading so the stators grounded out but when I check the AC volts I get a healthy reading. so I check the regulator and I don't get the test light to come on but if the AC volts are where they are suppose to be shouldn't the charging output be higher then the .5v i'm seeing?

I know I'm going to buy a new stator, since the manual says to because of the grounding but do I need a new regulator also? is there another way to test it besides going to the plug and ground with a volt meter?

 

Healthy AC volts and grounded stator reading means stator is dead, this is why you have to do both tests as AC output can be good on test but stator still grounded.

Replace stator first, the idea that dead stator kills your regulator is hooey, if the stator has no output it can't fry your regulator.

Some will chime in and say all your pets will die and your Johnson will shrivel if you don't change both but that is rubbish.

Your rego may indeed be fried but don't waste money because 9 times out of 10 it won't be.

 

Thanks spanner I'll just order the stator tomorrow when my buddies shop opens back up. Even though I don't post much and do a lot of lurking. Your opinion a long with a few other knowledgable people in here are the ones id trust.

 

As spanners39 has stated, replace the grounded stator first. Then check the output of the voltage regulator. If the VR is out of spec you will have to replace it too, if not, then you're good to go.

 

FWIW, had this problem last year. Had to replace both, hopefully your luck is better than mine.

 

Check your rotor magnets while you're in there, I had a loose one.
If I hadn't checked, I imagine it would have chewed the new stator pretty quickly.

 

Don't replace stuff without verifying that it is duff! Before buying anything, read and make use of Dr Hess's Sticky at the top of this Evo section. That will enable you to test and identify the precise fault(s) in your charging system.

 

He knows his stator is stuffed, it failed the test, regulators are very hard to test without the bike running.....he isn't wasting any money at this point...unless he goes out and buys a case of Sea Foam....

 

I know this is a old thread but.

I bought a Harley 32 AMP Stator for my 1991 FXLR installed it right before I took off on Vacation to Seattle Washington. I left Miami and got to Rapid City by way of Birmingham, Nashville, Memphis, Little Rock, Wichita and up to Nebraska, about 2300 miles in less than 4 days taking it easy.

In Rapid City I went to clean the bike and noticed that New Harley Stator was Leaking. I thought Crap, man that Plug is no good.

Long story short, I cut the trip short, at home searched the Net on this issue because the Plug was so loose you could move it all over the place and there was less than 6oz of oil in the Primary when the manual calls for 42 oz.

What I found out, this Loose Plug is a common issue. The Material gets hot and shrinks....!!!! People have gone as far as using Black Permatex trying to seal that Plug and that does not work. So I bought another New Stator but I'm not dumb enough to buy Harley Anything anymore.

Harley Parts are Chinese Made with no Quality Control from Harley. They are so stupid to think the Chinese will do exactly what they ask for. Oh the Chinese make the Parts to Spec but the material say for this Stator Plug is totally inferior. Mater fact the Part number ends with a D. That means Harley has ask for 4 Updates on the Part and the Chinese did it, they just changed the ending Part Numbers and laugh all the way to the Chinese Bank. This time I went with Cycle Electric, they used to make the Harley Stators and they are American Made, not like the Chinese Junk Harley sell's.

Next time your in a Harley Store and Need even a Spark Plug or to buy a bolt.... Think again this is Chinese Junk and it will not last.....

Buyer Beware.....!!!

 

Not all of it is Chinese. Some comes from North Korea.