sartoriusrock
XS650 Member
Hi all,
I was recently having charging system problems with my 1982 Special. After consulting Curly's charging system guide, I found out that the rotor was shorted (low resistance) and thus replaced it. When I put the new rotor in, I did a bad job putting the stator back on, which was pretty obvious when the starting motor wouldn't turn it over. I inspected the stator, made sure it wasn't damaged, and re-installed it, making sure it was square.
Obviously, I didn't do a good job; after about 15 minutes of running time (with, finally, a good voltage to the battery), I noticed the engine was not running well at all; from idle, I had a hard time getting the engine above 2000rpm, and when it did, it would surge for 10-15 seconds before it would run smoothly. Now, even after a carb clean, the bike won't run well at all.
So began the work. We opened the left engine cover and discovered a worn through stator (it was about 1/3 of the circumference, and each coil had a strip about 1/8" worn through). While this may seem like a smoking gun, we did electrical tests and found that the stator was putting out decent AC voltage and resistance. Also, when we ran the bike, with the throttle wide-open, it would eventually gurgle its way up to 4000rpm, but was killed when we pulled the brake; this seems to indicate a charging system problem.
My question: what is wrong with my bike, and what do I need to do to fix it????
I was recently having charging system problems with my 1982 Special. After consulting Curly's charging system guide, I found out that the rotor was shorted (low resistance) and thus replaced it. When I put the new rotor in, I did a bad job putting the stator back on, which was pretty obvious when the starting motor wouldn't turn it over. I inspected the stator, made sure it wasn't damaged, and re-installed it, making sure it was square.
Obviously, I didn't do a good job; after about 15 minutes of running time (with, finally, a good voltage to the battery), I noticed the engine was not running well at all; from idle, I had a hard time getting the engine above 2000rpm, and when it did, it would surge for 10-15 seconds before it would run smoothly. Now, even after a carb clean, the bike won't run well at all.
So began the work. We opened the left engine cover and discovered a worn through stator (it was about 1/3 of the circumference, and each coil had a strip about 1/8" worn through). While this may seem like a smoking gun, we did electrical tests and found that the stator was putting out decent AC voltage and resistance. Also, when we ran the bike, with the throttle wide-open, it would eventually gurgle its way up to 4000rpm, but was killed when we pulled the brake; this seems to indicate a charging system problem.
My question: what is wrong with my bike, and what do I need to do to fix it????