Stator failure, barely made it home

[Sasquatch]

After 63,000 trouble free miles, my Tigger almost left me stranded.  On a nice long ride Saturday just south of New Meadows, ID I noticed my tach at zero.     Not good.  I was cruising at 70 so I pulled the clutch, killed the motor and hit the starter, nothing....  Crap.  Popped the clutch, spun around and headed back to McCall, the only town close enough with any chance of getting parts for a repair.

Ended up at McCall Motorcycle, a small independent shop (who I highly recommend).  We did some quick electrical tests and found my battery dead as well as the stator.  The battery was 6 years old this month, so I replaced it with another Deka and David hooked me up with a core automotive battery that we shoved down into one of my aluminum panniers and wired it into the system.  This would give me enough spark to make it the 100 miles back to Eagle and to my own shop.  Made it without a hitch.

Tigger is now up on the rack and the stator apart on the bench.  New parts are on the way from Ricks.  I had already upgraded the RR a few years ago to the new digital one, so hopefully it is still good.  Will know when the new stator gets here.

Not upset about this, it happens.  It would be nice if nothing ever broke, but that is unrealistic.  Still a good day of riding and shot a bunch of ride video with my new clone GoPro knockoff.  Met a new friend in David who owns McCall Motorcycle.

[Sin_Tiger]

Always good to hear about the indies that take the proactive approach 

[Sasquatch]

Got the new Rick's stator installed and updated my own Sasquatch electrical fix.  The original blade fuse holder between the RR and the battery showed signs of getting pretty hot in the connector.  I decided to go to a 10 awg maxi fuse waterproof holder sourced from fleabay.  30 amp maxi fuse used in the holder.  Should have much more capacity than the smaller inline fuse holder.

Rode 300 miles on Monday and all is good.

[wah64apache]

  I changed the R/R for a MOSFET and a new Bat on my '05 Girly with 35k miles about a month ago. She was charging great.
  This morning I headed out with a charged Bat (via Battery Tender) to view the lake and some of the mountains in the NE Phoenix valley. On the way home, running at 65 mph, the tach died, followed shortly by the speedo. I downshifted, kept the revs up and worked my way home without going below about 3K RPM. It died as I pulled into my shop and let the RPM's drop. Battery dead. Suspect the Stator is toast. Will check once the bat is charged.
  At some point, once the tach and speedo had signed off, I looked at the gauges left and watched in horror as the temp gauge went high and right. At least I had a fuel gauge.
  I looked down to see if there was any evidence of coolant expulsion right after I put all 4 fingers covering the clutch. No coolant either side nor up top. Kept rolling while listening for the horrible sounds of bearing seizure, piston grinding and gears meshing without lubricant. Looked for oil on the rear tire. Nothing. Kept rolling. I had just put in 4 quarts of Synthetic 15w50 and a new filter. It was still inside the motor.
  Once home I pulled off the helmet and listened, normal. Checked the coolant, normal. Checked the oil, full.
  What did I suspect, that the coolant gauge is affected by the loss of electrics at some point in the process. And the gauge goes high and right off the chart with no other indications. The fuel gauge never moved but we're talking about 25 miles at high speed and higher RPM'. It could have been frozen in time, but at least it didn't go way below empty.!
  And I didn't have to pull the clutch in a panic! 
  Now where is that new stator! 
Cheers, Frank

[Sin_Tiger]

I rather suspect that's not a test the factory did  interesting observations  and glad you made it home without anything more dramatic.

[Bixxer Bob]

Just because the battery was on a tender doesn't mean it's ok.  Just sayin'   

Go to the Girly Wisdom sticky and find the link to testing your charging circuit before splashing the cash.

[Chris Canning]

I some times wonder if the advent of the battery tender isn't a liabilty,I've told my story with my K1200 many times on here and all the tender does is lull you into a false sense of security just because your. battery has been on one doesn't  mean Jack in fact they mask the truth,hence why I'll have my bikes on one till fully charged and leave it off for several weeks and at this time of year don't bother at all and then you really find the real health of your battery.

[HockleyBoy]

Who needs a tender, just ride the bike everyday 

[Bixxer Bob]

I was in the same mind as Chris ( )   wondering if tenders are actually doing more harm than good.