think I found the knock .... at death's door

crowesnest3 · Jul 18, 2011

Think I found my "knock" ..... been having some issues with, starter stall, low battery, won't restart after running, but will after some cool down time etc .... was hoping old battery was simple fix, couldn't remember how old/new. Tested voltage at battery when running @3000rpm, only could get @ 11.5v. One of the connectors on the infamous 3 yellow wire harness was looking kinda funky. corroded/whiteish at entry, so I replaced all the male side connectors with new, discarding the plastic shroud. Still the same results, well, I'm a little new to my voltmeter, probably would have saved myself a lot of f*****g around, but I went to test for continuity on the yellow harness. Wire to wire shows a short and wire to frame/ground shows a short, all three wires. Looks like my stator is in a state of denial and thats the end of this riding season, guess I'm going to get to now learn how to pull the motor, repair the stator, maybe tweak things while I'm there. The "KNOCK" ... thinking now the knock is something inside the stator, was isolating the knock using stethoscope to rear of block/stator area, I be thinking now something in the stator came loose ...... PLEASE, if anybody could tell me my prognosis is wrong or I'm reading my meter wrong, please let me know, please, but in the meantime, the scooter is going into mothballs. Have to move my entire home and shop over the next couple of months ..... " another one bites the dust"! No scooter will give me more time to pack n move, but there goes "clearing one's head" :head bang: .. :crying: :fiddle: :sensored: :Awe:

dan filipi · Jul 18, 2011

Your prognosis could be right about something loose on the stator rotor causing a knock but that wouldn't cause the stator winding to short to ground unless whatever came loose damaged it.

Time to open her up and see.

joedrum · Jul 18, 2011

yes ive been saying fr awhile that the knocks youhere about a lot of them seem to be that cylinder in front of the stator ....making me think stator .....hi heat from bad connections can cause the short and the epoxy in the stator to melt and cas knock maybe

Jcol · Jul 18, 2011

You probably do have a stator issue since it appears you are not getting enough charge current but I just wanted to mention that trouble shooting the stator with a dvm can be a little tricky. First the stator is 3 coils all conected at one end to a comman point, so you should read continuity between any two of the yellow stator wires. The trick is to figure out if the reading you see is normal or a short. If you have good dvm put it on the lowest resistance scale and touch the leads together. Note the reading. It should be zero or very close. Now measure two wires of the stator and note the readings between all combinatios of two wires. It should be low, but not zero, note the reading, I forget what i got but to should be more then 0 but less then 1 ohm. If you get the same reading between all combinations of two wires your stator is probably ok because it is unlikely that all 3 coils would short at the same point. A bad stator will have two low reading and one higher if there is a short in 1 coil, I also take these readings with the yellow stator wires disconnected from the rest of the wiring. The diodes in the bridge rectifier and the regulator can short to ground and mess up the stator readings. Shorts in the reg and bridge can also mess up your stator to ground reading. Good luck.

crowesnest3 · Jul 18, 2011

.... to be clear. I did totally isolate the 3 yellow leads coming out of the stator, actually clipped them off of the plastic oem connector just to be sure there was nothing in the connector itself. Coded the wires for future reference, not being sure they must be connected same to same. Anyway, my Radio Shack digital volt meter has in its continuity metering an "open" window and a beeping "short" window, in probing all yellow to yellow combination's, including yellow to ground/bolt that holds the battery bracket as ground, all come up as "short", so I guess I'm f****d, she's gonna have to go into mothballs till I establish a new location and shop. Boy, Ive learned a lot of wrenching techniques over the past month or so, thanks much to CGW and NGW. I'll continue to moniter the goings on, but it will have to be from a passive observer until I resettle. Look forward to opening her up, sharing what I learn and sharing your knowledge ....... :thanks: