2003 XB9S charging issue

My girl has a 2003 XB9S that has been sitting a most of its life (only 3100 miles currently). About a year ago she had it serviced at the local dealership because it wouldn't start and she can't remember what they fixed. Bike ran for a day and then died on her and has been sitting in the garage ever since.

Last weekend I picked up an 1125r and decided it was time to get her bike running again. Bought a new battery and the bike immediately fired up. She rode it around the neighborhood for about 10-15 minutes and parked it. When I went to start the bike a few minutes later the battery is dead, the bike tried to turn over once, when I hit the starter a second time there was no noise at all.

Would a bad stator kill the battery that quickly? Or is there something else I should be looking at? At a loss here and would love to get this thing going again for her.

QUOTE; Would a bad stator would kill the battery that quickly?
possibly....but they're robust components so unlikely. do this:
1-remove negative cable from battery. DO NOT use a tender. give battery a healthy charge to bring it back to life. something on the order of 10 amps for 20 minutes or so with a quality battery charger.
2-reinstall negative cable. check negative cable end at frame ground point for tightness. carefully check positive cable and its terminal for cleanliness and tightness.
3-with a multi-meter set at DC VOLTS...or a DC voltage meter....now start bike. at approx. 1000rpm you should see approx. 12.7 DC volts.....in that vicinity. rev to approx. 2500rpm and hold steady. now you should see approx. 13.2-14.4 volts DC. do you? charging system working properly. do you NOT? if that's the case carefully remove the 30 amp battery blade fuse and check. if blades corroded replace. remove the plastic front pulley cover. 3 torx screws. find the very large gray plastic connector plug. pull apart and inspect closely. it is the heart of your charging system. inspect and clean if required...reconnect. report back with findings and refer to attached schematic.Attachment 4694

Thanks Lunatic! I'll check it out today and report back.

Got it charging now at 10a with the negative disconnected

Bike started right up and showed 13v at the battery @ 1000rpm. Brought it up up to 2500rpm and nothing changed. Battery slowly dropped by .01 every 30 seconds or so until I shut it off at 12.92volts.

Pulled the 30a fuse and it looks good, started the bike, pulled the fuse, bike died. Looks like that's not the culprit here.

Attachment 4699

Negative ground is tight and looks ok

Attachment 4700

positive terminal looks good

Checked the gray plug, nothing visually wrong that I can see, blew it out and checked it with the multimeter and got no reading with the bike running. Put it back together and checked battery, now at 12.82v.

Sounds to me like your charging systems isn't working. If it were my bike I'd replace the stator.
I'm no expert but that's what it sounds like to me.
I don't believe the issue is your voltage regulator. I believe if your voltage regulator was bad the charging system would be putting out too much voltage and popping fuses.
I'm not an expert.
Those are just my thoughts.
So far you're doing a great job with your trouble shooting.
If I knew a test for the voltage regulator I'd post it for ya. I'm sure John(lunatic) or another Buell guru will get you straight.
Until then go to www.buellmods.com and download a service manual. You should find trouble shooting procedures and the steps necessary to replace the stator in the service manual.
Good luck

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Chicknstripn

Sounds to me like your charging systems isn't working. If it were my bike I'd replace the stator.
I'm no expert but that's what it sounds like to me.
I don't believe the issue is your voltage regulator. I believe if your voltage regulator was bad the charging system would be putting out too much voltage and popping fuses.
I'm not an expert.
Those are just my thoughts.
So far you're doing a great job with your trouble shooting.
If I knew a test for the voltage regulator I'd post it for ya. I'm sure John(lunatic) or another Buell guru will get you straight.
Until then go to www.buellmods.com and download a service manual. You should find trouble shooting procedures and the steps necessary to replace the stator in the service manual.
Good luck

---

Thanks man, I need her to call Harley on Tuesday and find out what they did the last time it was there. She says it was around $750 and the the symptoms were the same so I'm wondering what they did. I'll keep poking though if anyone has any other recommendations.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by RedDevilWheezy

Thanks man, I need her to call Harley on Tuesday and find out what they did the last time it was there. She says it was around $750 and the the symptoms were the same so I'm wondering what they did. I'll keep poking though if anyone has any other recommendations.

---

you've reached the point where you need to narrow it down between a weak stator/rotor assembly or VR. to do this you'll need to look at the schematic i posted earlier for you and find the 2 feed wires from the alternator. the alternator consists of the rotor and stator. repeat test procedure with multi-meter set at AC VOLTS....repeat AC VOLTS. pin the 2 legs of the alternator....hold motor steady at approx. 2500rpm and test. should see 47-52 AC VOLTS. if so faulty VR. if not faulty stator.

Thank you sir, I will give it a shot tomorrow morning and report back.

Voltage regulator it is, thank you all for the assistance!

yes sir my pleasure. NOTE: if you plan on keeping your XB shim out the new VR from its mount. a 3/4 inch thick sleeve or spacer on each mounting point moves it out nicely from the super-hot exhaust are of the front cylinder and known to extend VR life. just a suggestion.

Thanks man, I will for sure be doing that.