Does anyone know the true cause of stator failure? It's a very common (and expensive) failure and it seems they don't last much longer than 20K miles. I've done quite a bit of searching, but haven't found a definitive answer..

 

Is it just one of those things that goes out with time and so there really isn't a REASON/S? I think of it like the alternator on any car I've had. Eventually they have to be replaced and it's usually simply because they've reached the end of their life.

Wish I had an answer to a question like. Even my experience is not relative to yours. I just changed out my stator which lasted over 63K miles. I did the work myself so I didn't pay for labor. I can understand that if you take it to a shop it'll cost ya big time. If I did have someone do it I'd go with Harley. When I called around about this job (before I just decided to do it myself) they said they could diagnose it and only replace what was faulty. The local indy said that if they did the work they would only do it by replacing the stator, rotor and regulator all at once. So even though their rates were lower, they were more expensive than Harley because they they were going to insist that I spend almost 300 on parts that I didn't need to replace.

Another thing I did is not listen to all the opinions about after market stators and stuck with stock Harley. The first one lasted me 6 years so I didn't see any need to be experimenting with unfamiliar brands.

 

The biggest enemy of stators is heat. It breaks down the insulation between windings. Failure of other electrical components like rectifiers and regulators can cause a sudden high load and take out a stator. An old weak battery that is constantly charging at a high rate is not good either. Also, don't bypass any fuses.

Dan

 

My stator lasted 98,000 miles and 13 1/2 years before I replaced it. Insulation on the wiring burned due to high voltage. I replaced it myself and replaced the voltage regulator at the same time.

 

Well I replaced mine at 23K miles. A buddy that I was riding with had his go out at the same time. Since we largely ride together our mileage since then has been about the same. Well his stator went out again. My bike has 50k miles on it so thats 27k since I replaced it and about the same for him. Since his went out, I'm now wondering if mine is due.