Good day fellow beebs! I have recently started having an issue with my street machine. The bike with a battery fresh off the tender will run just fine and idle without problems. After a day of riding on and off the bike will just shut off. (seems out of fuel) When attempting to restart the bike, it will just spin over and battery will die out shortly.(like 30 secs after trying to restart) After charging the battery back up the bike will start and run fine once again. So my first thought is Rectifier (cause of the known issues) but according to the ohm meter everything is fine. Battery is sitting at 12.98 volts and when started it will show 12.2 volts at idle and anywhere from 13.3-13.5 volts when the RPM's are raised to 4500-5000. Im at a complete loss with this and out of all ideas. Please help oh great beebs!!!
I don't remember the specifics but I remember going through a troubleshooting guide for my f2 once. It acted like the rectifier was fine but I coildnt find anything else wrong so I just replaced it and all my troubles went away. Good luck.
Did you test the stator Ac output? Is the battery any good? 12.2v at idle is too low and 13.3-13.5v @ 4000 rpms plus is also too low
I did check the stator and all is well there. After doing some more checking and restarting the bike the meter would not register and higher then a 12.5 and was 11.9 at idle. To me its pointing to a short in the rectifier. But how much will that affect the running of the bike? On start up and idle if the battery is straight off the tender?
1. how old is the battery? if in doubt, plunk down the 80 bucks for a new one and re-test. - jim p.s. - reg/rec is tested in diode mode, not in ohms. just makin' sure you're testing it correctly.
Well retested the rectifier and its very inconsistent at best. Looks like I will ordering a replacement and see what happens.
with the correct test specifications, you can be 100% certain that a reg/rec is either good or bad (well, the rectification side, at least). if you need clarification, please pm me and i'll go through proper charging system diagnostic in detail. - jim
If the stator's loaded output tests good and there isn't any problem on the + or - side of the wires, your going to replace the reg/rec. Do people really still test diodes?? In a non serviceable unit? Why? While this doesn't apply in this case, many modern units use either FET's, MOSFET or SCR's in the rectification circuit and the traditional Beep / No Beep test will not work anymore. Time to move on.
To test your charging system use this. http://www.electrosport.com/technical-resources/diagnosis-center/fault-finding-guide Use the PDF link at the bottom of the page for the troubleshooting chart.
"While this doesn't apply in this case" Ergo, my suggestion. And because it appeared he was incorrectly attempting to do this test. Just trying to help a guy.
Thanks your the info! I'm about to head out to the shop to test some more. I will load test the battery but I don't see the battery being the issue. I could be wrong. If I was a betting man I would say its the rectifier Today will be the tell all. I will post all findings after testing. Thanks to everyone for all your help! :up:
Sorry, I can get a little feisty after a rough week, normally I just keep my mouth shut. I understand your advice and I know others appreciate it. I just wanted to point out that those methods are rather a poor use of diagnostic efforts and that a better testing procedures can be used on all models irrespective of year or make. Even the link to the "electrosport" testing fails to identify a failed charging systems on many models, particularly newer ones. People who will search this forum at a later date for an answer may get the wrong info. Like that hasn't a forum problem for years..... and years.... Here is some casual reading. In the case of the OP I would skip to step 5 on the second page. Charging System Testing
Well after testing and playing some today all signs are pointing to the rectifier. Battery passed load test and stator tested fine as well. Readings were inconsistent at best when bike was running and the rectifier was suppose to be charging. Going to replace the rectifier and that should do the trick. Thanks again for all the help!
The F3's , and a few other Honda's that used the same rectifier, were notorious for short life and burning wires. The main problem was the R/R has a connector for the wiring rather than hard wiring like most have. Keep both the stator connector and the connector at the R/R clean by pulling the connectors apart and spraying some contact cleaner every 6 months or so and you can extend it's life a bit. Don't use any dielectric grease on the contacts since the heat from the R/R just turns it to goo and will make the poor contact problem even worse. Maybe there are aftermarket versions that are better than OEM now but I'm not up to date on this. Emry, thanks for the link to the Yamaha testing. Looks better for the more current models.
I guess I owe you a dollar. I'll give it to JU for the airfence fund. Glad you tracked down the problem.
