Stator Test from Honda Manual

[SIR tricky]

Although this is from the 84-85 Standard, Interstate & Aspencade Models the tests should apply to the SE models also.

Alternator Stator Inspection
Remove the left side cover.
Disconnect the alternator and regulator/rectifier coupler.
Check for continuity between the leads, and between the leads and ground.
Replace the stator if there is no continuity between the leads, or if there is continuity between the leads and
ground.

[Satch]

Well I have one wire burned of at the splice, lookes as if the connection is burnt. What do ya figure I need to do? Or should I remove the conection and souder the wires together

[SIR tricky]

I would do the stator test while they are apart.

Remove the plug, remove any burnt wiring so that there is nothing to impede a good soldering job. Replace any wire if it is to short to connect and with the correct gauge (14 I think) it's been a while.
Then add heat shrink tubing to the wires then solder them. You may tape the wires up afterward to make the job look good.

[catman]

take Trickys advice-- and pay close attnetion to the good solder job- If you have a cold joint(bad solder) it is just as bad as a faulty or loose terminal connection

[Dave-85-LTD]

If you replace the wires I would use 12 gauge, or even larger, I put a clamp on AC amp meter on my bike while it was running, ( one yellow wire inside the clamp at a time) and each wire was carrying 22-25 amps,
A larger wire is only stiffer to install, but too small a wire can get hot enough to unsolder the connection.

I replaced my wires with 12 ga, and ran them inside a small flex tube for protection, every thing is great now with my charge system

[Satch]

I used a meter and the wire that was burned of I connected to one lead and the other to the ground, no reading. Or do I need the engine running.

[SIR tricky]

Cut all the yellow wires at the plug and using the ohm meter you should NOT have continuity to ground on ANY of the yellow wires coming from the alternator but you MUST have continuity to any of the yellow wires to any of the other yellow wires.

If you have continuity to ground it means the stator is shorted to ground.
If you have NO reading between the wires it means at least one of the coils is open.

Replace alternator or add the external solution.

No you dont need the engine running to do those tests.

Once you have verified that the stator is OK then you may run the engine and test between the leads for voltage.

[Guest]

Tricky, I now have low charging V. I have no connectors between rect/reg and the stator... good solid soldered joints. None of my stator wires are shorted to ground, and all are continuous to each other L1- L2- L3. So this got me thinking stator is OK. Replaced rect/reg = same symptom. Then I checked stator output V... while bike is running with rect/reg plug not connected, V across L1 to L2 is ~50, L1-L3 is ~50, L2 - L3 is 1.3V. I believe this spells dead stator. Agree? If the failure mode of the stator is failed insulation, why wouldn't I have one phase that's connected to either ground or another phase? Maybe the wire just melted? Are there any soldered joints within a stator winding that may have melted?
By coincidence (yeah right) this happenned not 4 weeks after I added two 35W PIAA lights for safety's sake.
If dead, I plan to replace stator with one from RMStator. Is this the right solution? (don't want an external).
Thank you.

[SIR tricky]

One of the problems with Honda Stator is the wires are crimp connected rather than solder which would have been a better solution.
Sounds like it is dead.

Never dealt with RMstator so I cant give an opinion there.

Myself I had changed the stator twice over 140,000k I am approaching 210,000 so I installed the external even though the alternator was OK. I don't want to be a couple of thousand K away from home and the 3rd stator go

My second stator would charge for a while then quit, then charge again after I removed it you could see one of the coils had broken and it was making and breaking due to vibration.

[Guest]

ok, I'm dealing with an 85 LTD that is giving me charging problems, and last night it left me stranded on the highway. i was riding home and everythign seemed fine but after a few minutes i realized that the Volt meter wasn't going above 10.5 (when it usually hits 13.5+ while on the highway). After a few more minutes of driving it began dipping, 1/2 a volt or so at a time until finally it was tapping 7 and i pulled off an exit just in time for it stall out. I had it towed home, and i threw it on the charger for a few hours. I could start it up, but again after a few minutes it would dip to below 8 and stall.

I charged it again, and tonight it fires up fine but while idling or reving, the Volt meter on the bike wont go over 10.5. (I've also tested the battery, it's fine)

Tonight I'm checking the stator connectors w/ a volt meter, but I'm an idiot and not sure what I'm seeing on the meter.

The plug HAS been removed and soldered straight through by the previous owner. Beyond that, i dont know what else has or hasnt' been done to the charging system.

So when i check the continuity w/ the VM and i go from wire to wire the VM swings all the way right to zero on the 1K/OHM setting, and the reading is the same for all three wire checks.

when i check continuity to ground, all three give the same reading of 3/4 of a swing to the right to 3 on the meter.

I'm afraid of the answer, but I just dont know what reading I'm looking for! is zero bad or good, and is 3 bad or good??

tnx for any help, i'm learning as i go here! :-)

[SIR tricky]

One thing you can check is to have a look at the plug at the regulator that one also has a tendency to over heat too.

Look at this one.

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You need to cut the soldered wires in order to check.

Put the meter on the lowest setting and touch the leads together, that is the reading you want to see if your testing for continuity...... from any one of the yellow leads to any one of the other two if you have continuity this means the coils in the stator are not open, this is good
Now test from each of the yellow wires to ground, ideally you dont want to see the meter move at all, this means that the coils in the stator are not shorted to ground.
If any of the tests prove negative your stator needs changing.
If they test OK then change the meter to AC volts,
Put the probes on each of the yellow wires, to make it easy label them A,B and C. connect the meter to each pair of wires. A+B, B+C and C+A. run the engine to 3000RPM you want to see 50Volts AC. If it is less then your looking for a new stator or an external alternator.
If all check out good then look to the regulator.

Have your battery load tested.

[Guest]

What Tricky said.
One other thing you need to make sure of is to cut your leads back until you get "clean" wire. Many a good stator has been thrown away due to bad readings from burned wires. Especially since the LTD/SEI have so few failures. The regulator is my suspect.

[Guest]

 
 
Ok, so I’m getting good continuity checks across all 3 wires and zero against grounds, and I’m getting 50V across all three wires while running although it doesn’t move the needle off of 50V at ALL regardless of RPM’s.  Not sure if that is an issue or not? 
 
On to the regulator connection.  I’m assuming I at least have to pull the tank shroud?  Do I have to pull the tank, too?  I have a shop manual, but I seem to have misplaced it at the moment and will dig it up when I get home from work today.
 
Thanks guys!
 
 

[SIR tricky]

Sounds like the stator is OK

You will need to remove the false tank.

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[Guest]

yeah, so i'm going to go w/ this being the problem. ha ha!

i guess the best solution is to hard solder all of the leads w/ NO quick connects at all, right?

Edit. Fixed and running great so far! Thnx again!