Motorcycle Repair: Bike gone dead, regulator rectifier, yamaha virago

Question
Hello Chris,

Started up my '92 Yamaha Virago 750cc this a.m. and rode about 1/4 mile before the whole system went dead.  Lights went out and the engine quit.
Pushed it home and pulled the battery, it was sizzling away and it was very hot, almost too hot to hold.  Don't remember a battery in a bike ever being that bad.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

rnpIII
Richard Porter

Answer
Hi Richard.
 Start with the fuses and see how many are blown, including the main under the high side cover.  Then check the stator wiring for shorts.

 When it is running again, check the stator output at the battery.  It should be between 13 - 15 VDC.  If it is more, then the regulator/rectifier is the likely problem.  It is extremely rare, but they do go bad every once in a very great while.

 If you have the repair manual, which you should, it should have the test proceedures and specs to check the regulator/rectifier.  I suspect that this may be the problem.

Let me know what you find.
Good luck.
FALCON