Stator replacement...now bike runs poorly

[JRWrenchmore]

Hey everyone,

 

I'm new to this forum, so please excuse me if I am not following standard protocols. I consider myself fairly mechanically inclined,but this bike is stumping me and I would appreciate any help this forum can give. 

 

The bike is a 1987 XL600r with 9k miles I purchased a few months back...I know it's not an XR, but I assumed it was close enough for this forum. Carburetors, exhaust, spark plug and air box are all stock.  I went through pretty much all the maintenance checkpoints, per the Clymer manual when I purchased and she was running great. The bike would start pretty easy and seemed to make really good power…the only issue was that the charging system was not working, so the battery would die and I would lose power to my lights after a while.

 

Long story long – I purchased a new stator from Ricky Stator, an aftermarket reg/rec from ebay and a new AGM battery. After I installed the new stator the bike would bog down when trying to accelerate...assuming it was a bad stator from Ricky I had them send me another (after I confirmed that my old stator did not produce that problem by installing again). Imagine my surprise when the same issue occurred with the New New stator…I’m at my wits end. No one at Ricky stator has heard of this issue before. To recap, the bike ran fine with the old stator and old reg/rec and it ran fine with the old stator and new reg/rec after I took the first new stator off. With the new stator on it will idle and once the second carburetor kicks in it will rev high. The problem is around ¼ throttle - right before the secondary kicks in it will bog down and stall. I am basically unable to get it out of gear from a stop. Is it possible that I would need to adjust the carbs or spark gap or basically re-tune the bike now that I’ve gotten a new stator??? It’s really weird. If I didn’t know better I would think it was a carb issue or some sort of lack of fuel. Thanks again for any help.

 

[Mayt13]

Start at the top and don't make any assumptions. It could be somthing as simple as a faulty ground. Check to for spark, then check for fuel. If your getting both, check for a vacuum leak. No leaks, fuel and spark generally means either tune or timing.

It could be you simply jiggled somthing lose while working on the bike, such as connection to the stator.

[JRWrenchmore]

Thanks for your response Mayt. I apologize for the delay, but I sort of gave up on this posting and hadn't checked in.

 

I have resolved the issue. I went through testing just about all areas of the electrical searching for something that wouldn't point to the stator, but found nothing. I ended up sending the Ricky back and purchasing a stator from Rick's. I bolted it up and the bike runs just fine now. The only conclusion I could come to is that the Rick's electric stator has stock style specs. For instance the Ricky stator igniter coil ohm reading is around 90, whereas Rick's Electric is about 320 oms (stock specs 230-320ohms). I'm assuming this difference may have been wreaking havoc on my CDI? It is puzzling though since so many people on this forum seem to swear by the Ricky stator??? I will say that the folks at Ricky were very nice and refunded me the price of the stator, but I wish I wouldn't have even had to waste so much time troubleshooting when it was obviously the part I had just replaced. Oh well I guess. Now I'm a pro at removing and installing stators and testing electrics. 

[they call me thumper]

Oh well I guess. Now I'm a pro at removing and installing stators and testing electrics.

That's the spirit!

[bork]

Thanks for your response Mayt. I apologize for the delay, but I sort of gave up on this posting and hadn't checked in.

 

I have resolved the issue. I went through testing just about all areas of the electrical searching for something that wouldn't point to the stator, but found nothing. I ended up sending the Ricky back and purchasing a stator from Rick's. I bolted it up and the bike runs just fine now. The only conclusion I could come to is that the Rick's electric stator has stock style specs. For instance the Ricky stator igniter coil ohm reading is around 90, whereas Rick's Electric is about 320 oms (stock specs 230-320ohms). I'm assuming this difference may have been wreaking havoc on my CDI? It is puzzling though since so many people on this forum seem to swear by the Ricky stator??? I will say that the folks at Ricky were very nice and refunded me the price of the stator, but I wish I wouldn't have even had to waste so much time troubleshooting when it was obviously the part I had just replaced. Oh well I guess. Now I'm a pro at removing and installing stators and testing electrics. 

Did you state to Ricky's that the ohms were 90 vs 230-320?

[JRWrenchmore]

Did you state to Ricky's that the ohms were 90 vs 230-320?

 

Yes I asked Ricky's if their stator was meant to spec that low and they said that they have been making them to 90ohm specs for years and that it actually makes the bikes run better...Needless to say I'm skeptical of that. Perhaps my motorcycle is in an anomaly.