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06-08-2009, 07:54am
(This post was last modified: 06-08-2009, 01:52pm by Gnarbunkle99.)
You can also look back into the stator, set your multimeter to low ohms and measure across any two of the three stator wires, thats B1 to B2, B2 to B3 and B1 to B3 but on the stator side of the plug with the plug opened! You should measure 0.2 to 0.4 ohms in each case. Then finally look for shorts to earth by putting one multimeter lead on clean metal on the engine block and the other to B1 then B2 and B3, it should read open circuit ie lots of ohms, increase the ohms range on your multimeter and try again.
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Hi there
Ohms range on the meter wont matter, open circuit is open circuit. You would be more likely to find that you had dropped a coil rather than the alternator going to ground, if it went to ground you'd know it.
Kathy
Rear half of 2000 Red/Grey Busa
Rear half of 2010 Red BMW K1300 GT
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Ohms does matter, were looking for possible breakdown in insulation resistance not always obvious when checked in low ohms scale. Consider a spark plug, open circuit at low voltage, when the voltage is cranked up it arcs and current flows, not open circuit anymore! On a finer level, the enamel insulation on the coil windings may have a weak point in it and causing the induced voltage to arc over. Whilst a multimeter is not a megga tester, it may just pick up a loss to earth if set to the max ohms scale and needs to be set to low ohms scale to check dc coil resistance of the windings.
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Justinkelly, how have you got on, has anything popped up as a fault yet.
Kathy
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I had a charging problem on my 2000 for 5 years. Every mechanic I spoke to had no idea what the problem was, and the best I got was guesses. Eventually some turbo bike guys said there was no way to tell if the stator was buggering up the rectifier or vice versa and they gave me a BIG 4 figure quote to fit a new stator, recitifier AND wiring loom. I bought recitifer and stator from a breaker, but noticed I could survive on a trickle charger at home and work (hence the 5 years), and left them on my shelf.
6 months ago it packed up completely and I fitted the stator and rectifier myself in about 2 hours being careful (could now do it in half the time) and it's now charging perfectly. The only problem I had originally is when I tried to just fit the recitifier to the old stator on the bike - positive and negative were reversed from the other bike and I blew several main fuses before working it out (no mechanic could guess why the fuses were blowing either. My old stator is probably okay and I've kept that because they cost a bit.
I've saved a sh*t load of money stripping the bike down at home with a manual and learning first hand, and have realised that remote diagnostics or workshops that can't say 'we don't know' aren't really the way to go. Haggle the parts from a wrecker, fit them to the bike, keep the good parts off the bike as spares and get motoring.
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Its impractical to suggest every possible contingency, reversed connectors dont happen unless there is a change from one model to the next or more likely someone had it apart and put it back together incorrectly. Certainly an auto electrician would have it sussed in a jippy given a chance to "look" rather than guess what was wrong.
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I took to it to several shops and auto-electricians - that's how I got the 4-figure quote to fix it.
"...reversed connectors dont happen..."
Maybe they're not supposed to happen, but in this instance they did. All parts from 2000 and 2003 looked straight off the bike to me, so if you're right the only other explanation would be a change from 2000model to 2003 model?
The best solution I could get from the professionals was to replace the lot, and for the cost of that you can do it yourself.
On another unrelated matter, Action, Parramatta (about 4 years ago now after I took it in for front wheel bearings) quoted me $2,200+ to fix the front forks and other stuff in the front end after describing it as "an extremely dangerous bike".
I rode it home 100km without drama and 120,000km later it's still fine. Sorry if you're a mechanic, but I've got 25 years of these experiences before working out it was cheaper to do it myself - and that includes all the parts I un-necessarily destroyed. Also, the best benefit is when it goes wrong again you have a better idea than anyone else as to why and can correct it.
That said, I don't do without mechanics completely - they're about to replace my CCT tensioner and chain at a fair price.
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Buyer beware, I too have heard of an incident where a non functioning car alternator was offered to be replaced with a new one for $600 bucks by the Toyota dealer. Another mechanic down the road offered to change the brush pack for about $50 & you guessed it, it worked for years with the new brushes in it. There's more than one way to skin a cat, just gotta find someone you trust.
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