Battery Drain and Dead on the Highway

Hi
First post here but I've got lots of help from this forum in the past.

So, my '92 VFR battery died last week but I just thought it was due to the fact that I left it in the bike all winter and t was cold up here last winter.

I put a new battery in, old one was junk because would not fully charge, maybe a bad cell(?)...Drove into work about 15 miles, no trouble. It started right up after work but I though it didn't sound as 'strong' as it sounded when I first put the new battery in, but still no problem. Drove about 5 minutes in street traffic, got up on route 128 north heading home and after about 1/2 mile the bike just quits, everything goes dead, no power ,light ,motor - nothing. As this happens there are 2 loud bangs like backfire (I had not pulled the clutch lever yet so it could have been backfire or...?)

Stuck on side of road, almost no power. I could just barely see the lights, no crank at all. No smells under the seat by battery, no noticeable burnt wires. Got towed home, pulled off the R/R and checked the diodes (Youtube is great). I seem to get consistent readings on the multimeter set to diode.

So what is it. Can the R/R be junk still even though it tests OK when cold (I'm going to test today after I let it heat up, if bike starts with newly charged battery).
The R/R looks like an old style one, no cooling fins, just a black box looking thing. Also, on the face side of the R/R, facing outward toward the panel, over by the connector side, it looks gummy like tar or putty. Is this thing junk or is that how they are made?

I'm going to start checking and cleaning the ground connections. I don't think it is a stand switch or the kill switch.
Thanks for any help!
Scott

 

Screw youtube. Read this. Specifically post #9.

http://vfrworld.com/forums/showthread.php/39277-How-to-fix-common-regulator-Stator-failures

 

Thanks-I'll post my findings after some viewing and testing tonight after work.

 

It makes no sense to simply drop in a new battery without verifying that the charging system output is good. Otherwise you could get stranded.............just like you did !

 

Thanks, like I said, I was sure it was the battery because I left it out all winter and I had bought the bike 1 year prior and knew the battery was getting on in age. If you lived in New England this last winter you know that not only did we have mega amounts of snow but also super cold temp.s all winter. I'm not a 'throw parts at it until it works' kind of guy. Please, I've owned VW's my whole life, if I threw parts at them I'd have been broke years ago...thanks though!

 

You are just the current one to have charging failure of the 10 million VFR owners before you. Seems many people first join here because they have ended up stranded out on the highway, same story comes up at least once a week. Bit late to bring it up now but when you get it sorted for christ sake cut the connector out that joins the stator to the rec/reg, this is the cause of most charging problems. Then solder and heatshrink the wires

 

UPDATE
New R/R worked at first. I could see the old one was not charging and actually draining the battery (or charging less than battery was at), an new one showed charging. when I revved up engine it increased charge to battery.
But...after just 10 minutes buzzing around it started acting like the old one and not charging. Is this the stator? The new R/R got real hot too but no burnt smell or fried wires. Any ideas?

 

You need to measure the AC output from the stator.

 

Been there done that, 91 is on its second stator. Its easy to test AC voltage on the three phases (yellow wires.)

http://roadstercycle.com/index.htm

This is a good one to get after you test and possibly replace your stator with an OEM one. Like they sed aboove, eliminate the plugs with solder/shrink tubing.

Pictures are good btw I am biased towards gen3 bikes, so looking at anything regarding them is almost like porn to me :loco: Cheers

 

Unless you have done the "Drill" as posted in Pilskins number 2 post you are wasting your time and ours

 

Ok, I'm back on the road. FIXED!
I used 'the drill' plus a lot of other good tips and advice from both here and elsewhere.
Someone wanted to see a picture too: well-"she may not look like much, but she's got it where it counts."

 

you were dead on-that connector was hot as hell, and one of the stator wires had a crack on the 'back' side just as it went into the harness. Thanks for the advice, cut that connector right out, no problems now!

 

Granit blue is the new black, thanks for the picture, got the same slip on btw. Cheers