What kills stator.

1576 Views 5 Replies 6 Participants Last post by exavid, Sep 25, 2009

newbiker

Discussion Starter · Sep 24, 2009

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I think there are 2 reasons for stator to go bad.
1. Rotor bolt gets lose and rotor begins to hit stator.
2. Connector melts until 2 wires touch each other, so stator burns.

Third reason I can think of if stator holding bolts get lose, which is unlikely.

what did you see when you replaced stator?

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sandiegobrass

· #2 · Sep 24, 2009

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newbiker wrote:

I think there are 2 reasons for stator to go bad.
...........
what did you see when you replaced stator?

If I understand it correctly (and correct me if I am wrong), the cause is pretty well established.. The GL1200 stator is flooded with oil more than previous models. The wire insulation eventually goes bad due to the old oil exposure... the 1100 stators were essentially the same design, but didn't have the same oil flooding.. replacement stators are said to be more resistant to the oil issue, but the jury is out on that one... they still fail more than they should..

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dan filipi

· #3 · Sep 25, 2009

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Well I have one out of an 1100 thats charred badly. It's looks as if the engine had caught on fire it's charred that bad.

My opinion is the stator quits because it gets too hot, insulation fails then shorts out.
I believe the 1200's run hotter than the earlier models which is why they fail more.

I'm not a believer of the oil causing them to fail because the clutch and rear cover/stator area is almost identical to the 1100 and gets the same amount of oil.

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Gofastandfalldown

· #4 · Sep 25, 2009

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Heat and vibration. The insulation on the windings on all alternators and electric motors breaks down over time. Once it starts to break down, then a short circuit develops between the individual wires in the windings, and then it is all over.
The insulation has to be very thin in order to work, so they choose the insulation materials carefully. Still, it is just a type of varnish and is quite thin.
With electric motors (which are just the reverse of alternators/generators) the life of the motor is related to how hard the motor has to work. If it works hard, it gets hot, and the heat causes the windings to breakdown much earlier.

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djsimon

· #5 · Sep 25, 2009

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The stator in immersed in engine oil, the oil over time eats at the varnish on the winding, this coupled w/and engine that likes to run hot, coupled w/electrical load eventually takes its toll on the stator.

I fixed the 3 yellow wires behind the left side cover, then ran a 10A fused wire to the common terminal on an installed relay (by me), NO side of relay to BOTH ignition coils, the found a switched point in the ignition system that worked w/the key and ran relay coil from there

My bike would only run 3 bars on the hottest day in stop and go traffic. The engine runs hot due to poor spark. I have measured this problem w/some test equipment to reiterate what a guy named David Campbell did.

Good luck w/your bike, I sold mine recently to trade up to a 94 1500

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exavid

· #6 · Sep 25, 2009

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All of the four cylinder 'Wings have a very similar stator. The 1200s are the ones by far more prone to stator failure. It doesn't appear to be due to electrical load and it shouldn't be due to the fact the stator equipped 'Wings use a shunt regulator. The stator continuously puts out maximum current developed according to the rpm of rotor. There is some difference that causes more oil flowing in or past the stator on these engines engendering the supposition that it's acids in the motor oil that's attacking the enamel on the coil wire causing short circuits between windings. Heat and vibration are also factors but there's no evidence that heat and vibration is appreciably different between the 1000, 1100 and 1200 models. Take your pick.
One thing that I believe it safe to say is that added electrical loading on the bike's electrical system isn't a factor, in fact it may reduce the temperature of the regulator/rectifier. It would be worthwhile for someone with an IR temp gauge to check the temperature of the regulator with minimal lights on the bike and then turn on everything to load the system and see if the regulator temp goes up or down.

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