QuestionPaul,
About 6 months ago I bought a salvaged 1998 Honda VFR; the bike had 10,000 miles on the odometer. I spent much time and some money to get it road-worthy. I rode it for a few hundred miles and then had charging issues: the battery would lose charge during long rides. Information I got from a model-specific website indicated that the regulator/rectifier was at fault, so I replaced it with an upgraded part. The bike then ran great, and all voltages across the battery terminals (ignition off, ignition on, idle, 5000 RPM) were within specification. I rode the bike for another 1,000 miles without issues.
After one long ride, I took off the seat and rear cowl for a routine check of things and noticed that the connector between the stator and the R/R was badly melted. The stator wires also showed signs of excess heating.
I posed the problem to VFR forum, and the consensus was that the connection between the stator and the new R/R was weak and was the source of the over-heating. I then directly soldered the stator wires to the wires of the R/R to eliminate the "weak link". However, the problem remained.
When the engine is running, the wires coming from the stator get very hot--the higher the RPM, the hotter the wires get. I also noticed that, with the connector in place, the wires on the R/R side of the connector also got hot.
The bike seems to run fine with no problem other than the wiring gets very hot. However, I am concerned that the heating is indicative of some underlying problem that will eventually damage the electrical system and leave me stranded.
Thanks in advance for your advice,
Jon
AnswerWithout being able to test the components on your bike I would say a bad ground somewhere causing an undo resistance at ground and this could explain the heat. You said an upgraded rr.... maybe contact that vendor with the heat question ??
Other tah that I still think a ground issue somewhere....has there been frame painting or powdercoating ?
