Recently my 09 FXDF started running weird. The bike has about 25K miles. I was out for a ride the other day and randomly the idle RPM's will jump up to around 2000 when I stop at lights. It stayed like that for then next few times I stopped and then went back to normal back to normal. It has happened a few times now. Every time I shut the bike off and restart it the idle is fine and the bike runs fine. I was coming home the other night and when the idle jumped up I lost the lights on my speedo/tach also. That issue was also intermittent. Sometimes if I rev the engine it fixes the issue but sometimes it doesn't. When I got home I checked for codes and had some historical ones stored. They were:


P - NONE
S - B0563: Battery Voltage High Pn 68921-07: Turn signal module
Sp - 61006: Accessory Line Overvoltage instruments
61007: Ignition Line Overvoltage Pn70900068: Speedo Tach Combo
b - NONE


I've been trying to do some research and it from what I've found its pointing me in 2 directions. One is to the regulator and the other is stator. I also noticed my battery that was new at the end of last season hasn't been holding a charge very well which, unfortunately, makes me think stator. Spike in voltage makes me think regulator. Maybe its both. When it comes to the moving parts I'm pretty good but when it come to the electrical/charging system its pretty foreign to me.


So, I'm looking to the vast knowledge of all you guys to see what you think. I'm really hoping its not the stator considering I just had the whole primary off to do a chain conversion less then a week ago.... I could start by swapping out the regulator since its easily accessible but I don't want to waste the ~$160 if I don't have to. What do you guys think? Any help is appreciated.

 

I would start at the battery connections and the battery condition first. Pull it, charge it 24 hours on a low amp maintenance charger and have it check out on a good battery checker. Then you will know it's not it and the connections are good.

 

The battery stayed on a trickle charger all winter and has been plugged in every night I get back from riding. I checked battery connections already because I had a ground issue with my tuner last year so that was the first thing I checked. I will have the battery tested but it should be good since its basically brand new.

 

Really good chance that you've got a stator going out, providing an intermittent voltage to your regulator and your voltage regulator is simply trying to keep up. Would explain the battery not holding a charge, because it's probably not getting a good charge from the bike. Trickles are fine, but the battery needs some amp'd up juice (ha, good pun) from the charging system.

My stator went out 2 years ago, and it took the VR with it. The battery was on it's way out anyway with 7 yrs on it. I replaced all three; stator, regulator and battery.

 

Ugh. Unfortunately that's exactly what I was thinking. I was hoping someone on here would tell me I was wrong and have some good news for me. My battery I replaced end of last year was original too.

 

The stator is a pretty simple 3 phase coil with heavy windings. Pretty much, what takes them out is overloading and old bad batteries (which also gets the regulator). It runs in oil for cooling. What will go is the three small connections of the AC volts coming to the regulator. It's very easy to check with a AC/DC Volt/ohm meter.


Rev. 03-29-17
Some electrical 101 and a little more..

Remember, the best made brand new battery that has been on a maintenance charger for 3 days that has a loose or bad connection is no better then a boat anchor with a loose rope. The connection can get loose after one ride if the battery is not anchored and the wires are short and get tugged in a direction that can unscrew the bolts.

After a good 24+ hour maintenance low amperage (never over 2 amp) charge, with the charge light in the solid green and the battery has set about 24 hours off charge, voltage should be about 12.8 volts.
You can speed up this process by turning on the ignition key (headlight comes on) for ~3 seconds and then switch it back off. This is enough of a load to bleed off the excess residual charge from the charger and then you can measure the battery voltage.

12.8 = fully charged
12.6 = 75% charged
12.3 = 50% charged (Lot of new modern cars with system protection will not even click at this point but will have good headlight beams showing)
12.0 =25% charged

Always check both the terminals at the battery lead and also at the terminal on the wire. That helps to verify connection. With a DC volt meter (one that has a feature to lock high and low reading is best) hooked across the battery terminals and reading 12.8 or so, crank motor and while its cranking it should not drop below about 9.6 volts and as soon as it starts and throttled up to 2000 rpm, voltage should read around 14.8 volts. The 2000 rpm is the bench mark standard. Ignore idle output. Ignore output above 2000rpm unless it exceeds 14.9 volts. That is a sure indication that regulator is bad.

The crank check shows a rough check of the reserve amperage capacity of the battery while cranking with a 150-200 amp load on it. The 14.8 shows a good alternator and if you leave it on a while as the regulatory will drop the voltage a little showing itself working. However, with the lights and stuff always on, it will never drop back much. If you have a lot of options, most modern bikes will not show 14.8 charging volts at idle but stock newer bikes will be close. Older bikes with lower amperage output not so much. However, 2000 rpm is the bench mark for the standard 14.8 volts.

If you think battery is good and something is draining it sitting, now would be a good time to check for drain problems. Go to Harbor Freight and get you a AC/DC meter for under $25 or so. http://www.harborfreight.com/ac-dc-d...ter-37772.html Make sure it has DC amps draw, DC voltage, resistance and AC voltage. Key off. Remove the negative cable off the battery. Set meter on DC amps. Hook the meter lead to cable and the other to battery. !!Key off.do not turn on!! Ignore that first draw as the alarm trims back and stuff charges for 1 minute. Now, how many milliamps (mA) is it drawing? It should be no more then 6 mA which is the ECM (1), speedometer (1), tac, TSSM (1), HFSM (1) and voltage regulator (1)

When a battery wears out, a good charge will show fairly good voltage, but the battery can still have very low amperage capacity which will show in the crude crank test above, but it really should be checked after a good charge by removing it from bike and getting a free check at a place like AutoZone that has a fancy load meter check that gives you a print out of the battery health. Battery MUST BE CHARGED to check it. Be sure they set their meter to correct cold cranking amperage stated on the battery. Never charge the AGM absorbed glass mat battery with a regular car battery charger unless it is a newer one that says safe with this type of battery. Also, by taking battery out you now know you have good connections. Vibration tends to loosen the connections or a little corrosion will prevent charging or cause starting problems. Be forwarned, these checks quite often are incorrect due to the low amperage of these small batteries and junk checking equipment. If bike is charging, no load on battery when key is off and you are still having problems…REPLACE THE BATTERY. If battery is more then 3-4 years old.. REPLACE THE BATTERY.

Using the maintenance charger can get more years from a battery but be careful here. You do not want the last start 5 miles from home. If it still grunts when you first hit starter or kicks back with a bang, replace it. After a few years, charge and pull battery and have it checked for cold cranking amperage ever spring. Even then, if it grunts most ever start, I would replace it. Most battery checkers at AutoZone and places like that do not do really well on the low amperage setting on small batteries. Not sure why but they tend to say they are OK when they are weak. If they have one that fits your bike, Wal-Mart's AGM absorbed glass mat battery is just as good as any for one third to half the money of a Harley Battery. My last 4 years befor it started grunting. And out it came. Do not put an old fashion one with vent tubes on a modern TC Harley. Do not jump, push start or run bike with a half dead battery except in a real emergency. If a bike battery is down and you jump it, throwing all that amps to it from a big car battery especially one that is running can wreck a bike regulator or charging system. Charging a worn out battery can kill alternator stator or the voltage regulator or both. Probably ending in a big dollar repair in parts alone.

It is also a good idea to always check your battery at 2000 RPM with your meter set to AC. If by chance, the regulator goes bad, sometimes it will let AC come thru. That is a sure sign of a bad regulator. Older 2 wire stators have a single-phase output while the newer stators with 3 wires have a 3 phase output. The 3 phase system provides a more consistent and higher current output to the voltage regulator. The voltage regulator takes the AC from the alternator, rectifies it to DC and limits the voltage level to the battery depending on the voltage reading it gets back from the battery.

Also remember, when starting a Harley, hit the starter and hold it in till it is firing on both cylinders and running before letting up. If you let up before it’s running, quiet often, it actually take an FI motor longer to start. There is a fraction of a second more for a long stroke Harley then a multi-cylinder car for it to get going. If you do not do this, it will kick back with a bang, sneeze thru the intake or crank a lot longer the second time or shame on you the third time. Also, if you have a habit of doing this, the starter solenoid switch contact will only have half the life it could. You cannot hurt the starter. The starter gear has a sprag clutch. There are drive pins in it that as the gas motor catches and run, it outruns the starter motor drive and disengages it from the electric motor. If you hold it in a little too long and listen carefully, you will hear the sprag clutch run up the ramps and slip. Makes a sizzle hum. This will show you your starter sprag clutch is OK.

My batteries:
11-05-03 Originial Harley 3 years
08-07-06 Harley 6.5 years (nursed way too long and was grunting and banging often)
04-29-13 Walmart Ever Start 4 years (grunting)
03-25-17 AutoZone Duralast Gold

 

Easy way to check your stator.. unplug it from the voltage regulator. You should have 3 terminals.. using a DVM/ohm meter, check the resistance between any two of them, and between any of them and ground (like the crankcase) You should not see a dead short - 0 ohms, but some small resistance value.. a really high value also is not good.

Let's you check it before digging into it.

 

Ok so I got a multimeter and have been doing some checking before I go digging into the primary. I started by checking resistance between the 3 terminals of the stator. I got a consistent reading around 0.6 for all terminals. One thing that confused me a little was when I touched the two leads together on the meter it should have a resistance of basically 0.0, right? I know the wire has some resistance but it was reading 0.3. So is 0.3 really my 0.0 so my terminal-to-terminal reading is actually 0.3 less then what the output says?


I checked terminal to ground and that test passed.


I check battery voltage and I was at about 13 DCV with the key off. When I started it up and raised the RPM's to around 2000-3000 the voltage stayed the same. From what I've read it should raise as you rev the motor due to the charging system. So does that mean my regulator is bad? All the tests I've found for the regulator don't seem to apply to the connector type that Harley uses. Also, my multimeter doesn't have a diode setting so I couldn't test is anyways.


Is there another way to test regulator being bad as opposed to stator? If I can avoid opening up the primary I'd like to. I also don't want to buy a $160 part and find out that wasn't the issue or possibly fry the new regulator due to a still faulty stator.


Any thoughts? Thanks.

 

you could check the voltage output direct from the alternator. would have to look at my manual but remember years ago had a suzuki GS1000 that a stator failed, anyway it is a similar type of stator and the voltage direct from the alternator was suppose to be around 75VAC.

 

Sounds like the stator may me shorted together. You checked your meter and it was zero. The possible all combinations for the three wires all should read .1-.2 ohms. Check each to ground on the bike should show nothing.

One thing you did not do was check the output of them at 2000RPM before the regulator. They should each combination read 32-46 AC volts. Bet you are low. That 13 dc volts at 2000 rpm is low with lights on. It will probably keep battery charged.

The stator is checkable with a meter. If it is correct, then the DC volts coming out of regulator to the battery is the only check you can do on regulator without fancy equipment.

I may have missed it but have you charged, removed and had the battery checked off bike?