| Author | Message | ||
     Vactor |
yup. was hoping it would not happen to me, but while riding on a nice chilly evening tonight in chicago, got to a stop light, battery light came on, after a bit more riding, the check engine light came on with an error of some kind "low voltage" i think. got home, and bike died within 4 minutes of idling and now won't start. ah well. at least i have the extended service plan and will get it towed 60 miles to my dealership. at least i got home. this is no something i am looking forward to happening every year or twice a year. 5300 miles on it. | ||
| Freight_dog |
I am wondering about your setup. Do you have the harness "fix"? My VR died before 800 miles and they installed the harness fix then. The stator hung on until closer to 5000 miles. Several hundred miles later, it is working as planned (no charging at idle, high 13.x to 14.0V at cruise). Yes, that is unacceptable and I will go to the aftermarket fixes available when my warranty runs out. In the mean time, I will be happy to let HD replace VR's and stators until my extended warranty is up. Hopefully it ends up costing them a lot more than they saved on the shortcut cheap VR's they spec'ed for original production. It usually pays to do stuff right the first time, dumbasses. While I am tempted to just do the fix and get it over with. I can certainly afford a couple hundred bucks to solve this problem. I would much rather be a pain in the ass to the shortsighted buffoons at The MoCo. | ||
| Mrcjoy8 |
Well...My battery died, and i used a battery tender....Then i cut on then died again. ...Now its in the shop and i been there for 4weeks now... call them yesterday to see what was wrong and guess what ,,,,,,They said they are still trouble shooting....... WOW | ||
| Vactor |
mine has the harness upgrade. calling dealer this morning to get it towed ... ugh. i wonder what the failure rate on the stator assembly or electrical system is ... seems like it could be at 100% ?? | ||
| Froggy |
Only if you assume that everyone on the board has an electrical problem, which isn't the case. I know close to a dozen 1125 owners in my area, so far I am the only one that has had a stator failure. The failure rate is obviously higher than it should be, but only HD has the actual numbers. | ||
| Jdugger |
> ugh. i wonder what the failure rate on the stator assembly or electrical system is ... > seems like it could be at 100% ?? It's not even close to 100%. I've owned 3 of these bikes, and still own two of them. Two are 08s, one is an '09, and one of my 08s has an 09 motor. NONE of mine have had an issue, and I have many thousands more street miles on the 09s (before I tracked them) than a lot of the stator failures posted here. And, if you follow the threads about the regulator, you would know that for guys like me with no lights or other eletrical bits on the bike at all, I'm dumping MOST of that current back into the stator. So, I should be *worse* off. But, I'm not. From what I can tell, it's mostly rider utilization/rider behavior making the difference. Guys backroad blasting and keeping the revs up (mostly) aren't having issues. Guys lugging the motor around town between long stoplights are. | ||
| Duphuckincati |
FWIW, yes, I'm all backroads 4000+rpm and 5400 miles no issue. Also no harness. | ||
| Rkc00 |
Froggy, Both my 09 CR and my 09 R have had stator failures. My R is in the shop now for the last 5 weeks. Got my CR back after they had it for 3 months over the winter for the clutch weep and the stator. | ||
| Rogue_biker |
So what is the definitive fix for all this Stator failures on '09's? Can it be done by the home mechanic? If not then who can do it? | ||
| Freight_dog |
I can say my VR didn't die due to lugging the engine or sitting at lights. It died on the highway at the tail end of my break in which was all backroads and highways, all either accelerating or decelerating in the 4-6000 rpm range. OTOH, I am still expecting my first clutch leak any day now. | ||
| Syonyk |
Rogue_biker: The definitive fix is to get the stator rewound by a rewind shop. I believe "Custom Rewind" is the shop most people use. They put a higher temperature wire/epoxy on it that holds up better and doesn't short out. Alternately, you can swap the stator/rotor to the '08 parts. You lose some charging capacity, but 08 stator failures are few, far between, and well within the "random expected failure" range. I have an 08, so I just manage my electrical loads (turn off the brights at stoplights, mostly). If I had an 09, I'd go with a custom rewind solution and not look back. I don't think anyone has come up with a bulletproof solution for keeping a stock 09 charging system intact short of changing the stator out. Keeping the revs up certainly helps keep it cool, but that's not always possible on a "daily driver" type bike. | ||
| Tbowdre |
my 2009R is not a track bike but she doesnt do around town cruizing or commuting duty. (thats the DRZ400SM job) All she does is twisty back roads in the mountains and canyons and always at a "brisk" pace in the sweet spot >5000rpm  I am on my 3rd stator, second R/R and second battery WTF?? oh well YMMV | ||
| Rogue_biker |
I guess the solution is: don't wait until it fails you on a ride. Just do the rewind and be done with it. | ||
| Yugi |
Let Harley pay for this! I have extended warranty for additional 5 years. I'm going to replace the second stator in 8000 miles, and I'll do it every time, because Harley pays! I'd like them to pay more! | ||
| Syonyk |
Yugi: There's also a matter of convenience. If you don't mind having a random failure item go out on you, cool. If I had an 09, I'd replace the stator on my own $$ so it wouldn't fail in the middle of nowhere. | ||
| Rogue_biker |
Yup. That's what I would do. Make the bike reliable as hell. Plus, do I want a dealership to keep my bike for months waiting for parts? Or, do I let a H-D try to figure out a problem I already know how to fix? I would rather do it myself and do it right. | ||
| Froggy |
Except they wont. The warranty is provided by a 3rd party. You laid out something like $1800 for the extra 5 years, will spend $50 to get it repaired, and the one pays for it is the warranty provider. Go ahead, enjoy your everlasting stator issue.  Mike, both your 09's had the stator go? I remember you mentioning the dealer suspected a VR issue on one. | ||
| Yugi |
They are going to replace it under factory warranty for the second time now. Then, under extended warranty, and I paid only $1250 for it. | ||
| Catalan42 |
Are there any special tools required to remove/replace the stator so it can be rewound? I am thinking of just doing some preventative changes with the Custom Rewind and Compufire setup. | ||
| Rogue_biker |
Good question. Inquiry minds would like to know. | ||
| Tbowdre |
I didnt use any special tools. 8mm wrench to pull the ignition cover. Pulled the air box with a 27T torx driver, phillips screwdriver for plate holding stator wires, open end wrench and needle nose pliers for oil lines. For the install I purchased and then cut the heads off 6 bolts to be used for gasket alignment and helping to place the cover | ||
| 1125rcya |
Jdugger }From what I can tell, it's mostly rider utilization/rider behavior making the difference. Guys backroad blasting and keeping the revs up (mostly) aren't having issues. Guys lugging the motor around town between long stoplights are. I don't think you know what your talking about on this situation, and you have no grasp on how other people ride evidently "Billy" I was thinking it was people who ride slow don't have the stator problem. }Put Jdugger in the beginners group since his stator is still good how does it feel to be stereotyped } | ||
| Zac4mac |
Tbowdre - T27 makes a good "speed wrench" but the fasteners on the 1125 are all T30 except the one screw holding the plastic heat shield behind the rear header. FYI Z | ||
| Jdugger |
I ride in the beginner group all the time as I coach at some track days! Doesn't bother me at all. | ||
| Catalan42 |
Well, count me in the stator/regulator club! I went out for a Palomar Mtn ride Friday morning on my 2008 1125R, and right away I started getting the dreaded TPS "dead-zone", where low voltage causes the throttle to not respond off of idle until, suddenly, it jumps to 1/4, 1/3, or even 1/2 throttle! (The lower the voltage, the bigger the dead zone coming off of idle). Even the got the "battery" warning light for a bit. All of this without even running the high beams, much less any other electrical accessories. Dropped the bike off at the dealer as it is still under warranty for the next 2 months. They called back agreeing it looked like a stator/regulator issue - parts are ordered for next week. I asked them to keep all the old parts removed so I can compare them to some of the photos others have posted here. If necessary, I can ride the new stator while sending the old one out to Custom Rewind. I am also wondering if I should perhaps spring the the Compu-Fire regulator as a preventative-health measure for the new stator!(?) | ||
| Catalan42 |
P.S. I knew this problem was coming, as running the high beams for just 20-30 minutes (while riding) would drain the battery and cause the "dead zone" symptom and low voltage warning light. For the record, I have only 6k miles on the bike. | ||
| Pmjolly |
'08 1125R???? Are you sure it's the stator or regulator? | ||
| Catalan42 |
The dealer mentioned both stator & regulator in his phone msg. Either way, it has been very weak on charging since I got it (used). Riding with high beams will kill the battery and induce the TPS dead zone in less than 30 minutes. Turning off the high beams and continuing to ride for 20 minutes will allow the battery to recharge to 12+ volts and the dead zone disappears. | ||
| Puddlepirate |
Picked my bike back up yesterday from the shop. They replaced the stator and battery, and did an oil change under warranty. 09 CR, 4500 miles. Total of $1,100 I didn't have to pay. Warranty runs out in October. From the time it went into the shop, they had it about a week. If your warranty is not expired, I dont see the point in pulling and rewinding your stock stator, changing the voltage regulator, etc. What happens when under warranty your rewound stator craps out along with the voltage regulator and battery. Think Harley is going to pay for that? I don't think so. I will continue to let Harley pay for my repairs until the factory warranty expires, and then I will do the work myself. Just an opinion. | ||
| Rt_performance |
stator(custom Rewind) and vr i bought have 1 year warrenty's. Not that i am worried about it mine hadn't failed at 10,000 but i ride to far from home to have my bike down so i did it myself. Hartdest part if fighting the harness through the harness both ways. | ||
| Bueller4ever |
$1,100 is Harleys ridiculously inflated price. $500 for a stator? Unfocking believable that they can charge that with a straight face. I will not let them put another cheap stator in my bike, no sir. $130 and small amount of my time is all it takes to replace our stator. | ||
| Vactor |
got a call today. typical stator / relay both bad. will be replaced under warranty, hope to have it done by the end of the week. |
