ongoing stator problems

flames4555 · Post by **flames4555** » Fri Jul 20, 2007 8:17 am

I'm starting to get a little frustrated with my Cyclone. I'm on my 3rd stator and after trying to start it over last week end I discovered that the stator is now reading 1.7 ohms . If I pull long enough I can get it running , but last winter no more than 3 pulls if would fire right up.
The original stator that was in the sled lasted about 2 days then died . The next stator, which I purchased from DK trader lasted about a week and then dropped to 1.4 ohms and the most recent stator ( a used newer round plug version from EBAY) lasted all winter, but now seems to have died as well. I Have a Hewtec CDI on it and have checked my wiring several times and everything look good.
The last 2 stators measured bteween 2.5 -2.7 ohms when installed . I have read Harley's excellent posts regarding stators here on the site and have a faily good understaing of what to look for. I suppose that it is possible that i have had 3 bad stators , but is there anything else i should look for that may be taking them out .
Also does anyone know a good source for these ?

thanks
Kevin

Post by **ICCSF 108** » Fri Jul 20, 2007 12:19 pm

In the last 31 years I have only had one Deere stator go bad, I think I would be looking else where for the problem (of what's taking them out)
Maybe bad ground somewhere? etc. etc.
Have you tried calling Hewtec to see if maybe there CDI could be taking the stator out???

Just a few thoughts as I'm at a loss as to why your having so much problems..
It could be possible that the last 2 stators you installed were going bad I guess.
I guess would try a new one but would also look at every other possibility also.

just my $.0685 worth

Kenny

flames4555 · Post by **flames4555** » Fri Jul 20, 2007 5:04 pm

Thanks for the reply Kenny,
Yes I haved asked Scott for some advice via email I'm just wating for him to respond. To me is seems quite weird as well and there has to be something else that may be contributing to the issue. I just always like to ask questions here on the site because the information i have got in the past has always put me in the right direction . I will keep you posted on the reply from Scott at Hewtech.

thanks again Kevin

flames4555 · Post by **flames4555** » Sat Jul 21, 2007 9:34 pm

Here's what Scott from Hewtech had to say on my staor problem for anyone interested . It seems I better recheck my grounds especially the one from the motor to the chassis.

I have heard of this before on a RUPP sled. After much troubleshooting,
the problem was that the ground wire that typically connects from the
engine to the chassis was missing. All the 50W power intended for the
lighting system was routed through the stator coil, through the CDI
system for the lights.

Check your wiring over really good. Connect a wire from your engine to
the chassis & check to be sure you have good grounds in your lighting
system wiring, voltage regulator etc. The only thing that will kill a
otherwise good stator is excessive heat, or high current. Nothing else
in the CDI system can draw excessive current, so I have to suspect it's
your lighting wiring like in the RUPP. A bad ground from the chassis
can also route lighting current through the kill-switch into the
stator....check the grounds over to be sure the engine & chassis are
connected using at least a 14ga external wire....metal to metal.

Scott

Rodimus Prime · Post by **Rodimus Prime** » Sun Jul 22, 2007 12:52 am

right at the 5 prong engine plug is a wire going to one of the screws on engine housing its the ground. on the points the wire went to plate as well.

second its a john deere there is two yellow wires that connect to the lighting system and is not connected to the cdi. one is usually grounded to one side of the voltage regulator to frame and the other goes on into the rest of the system lights tach hand warmers electric start etc.

if your machine still has the connection block near the starter (we got tired of rotten blocks and just wired direct at dealership) someone could have put the one yellow for ground to the kill wire for the cdi which goes through stator to ground. so check the block or connections near the pull starter.

JoeRainville · Post by **JoeRainville** » Thu Jul 26, 2007 12:06 pm

Hi Kevin,

Did you check the trigger (timing) ring too? I should not have the abilty to pull current from the stator under normal cirumstances, but make sure it has no direct path to ground from the leads.

Holler if you end up needing the trigger, as I have about 20 of the for the Cyclones. Unfortuately I don't have any more stators left.

-Rainville

B)
joerainville@hotmail.com

flames4555 · Post by **flames4555** » Fri Jul 27, 2007 12:14 pm

Thanks to for all of the input , I've made my list of things to check and with any luck I'm going to dig into it tomorrow . I will let you knwo what I find

once again thanks !!!

flames4555 · Post by **flames4555** » Fri Aug 31, 2007 1:10 pm

Well I finally got around to checking all of the wiring on the sled and installed new star washers at every ground connection . I'm still perplexed

because I really didn't find any issues with the wiring or timing trigger. I recieved another used stator recently that measures 2.68 ohm and looks pretty good. So i guess it's time to swap out the stator and get it running . Once the sled is running maybe there are some voltage /amperage measurments I could take which would help me discover more .

thanks
Kevin

Deleted User · Post by **Deleted User** » Sat Nov 24, 2007 4:51 pm

flames4555 wrote: Well I finally got around to checking all of the wiring on the sled and installed new star washers at every ground connection . I'm still perplexed

because I really didn't find any issues with the wiring or timing trigger. I recieved another used stator recently that measures 2.68 ohm and looks pretty good. So i guess it's time to swap out the stator and get it running . Once the sled is running maybe there are some voltage /amperage measurments I could take which would help me discover more .

thanks
Kevin

I recently bought a JD liquifire where the 440 - 1977 engine was placed inside a 340-1976 sled. The person that I bought it from had the stator ignition windings burn out after the modification. When checking the manual the only difference between the two is the grounding of the black side of the lighting windings. I would assume this has to do with the differences in CD modules between the two years?

harleysportster · Post by **harleysportster** » Sat Nov 24, 2007 5:30 pm

Go here and click on the wiring diagram for each year.
http://www.jdsleds.com/tech/tech.html

flames4555 · Post by **flames4555** » Thu Dec 13, 2007 2:35 pm

Well the new stator is in all of the grounds have been checked and new star washers have been added at every ground connection. There's 8-12 inches expected here today so I am just about ready to get it her back on the snow . I'm hoping that the newly installed NOS backrest assy will bring me some luck.

Thanks again for all the suggestions
Kevin

flames4555 · Post by **flames4555** » Thu Dec 27, 2007 6:28 pm

Well , i wish I had better news , but after about 20 min of riding around the yard , it began running on 1 cylinder and yes it killed another stator. My level of frustration at that moment is one I haven't seen in many years , but so be it . I need to get this squared away once and for all.
The wiring harness is now removed from the sled and while ohming out all of the connections I found that the black lead from the kill switch was okay up to the tach connector ,but wasn't transferring continuity down to the terminal block. After wiggling of black wires at the tach connector i was able to restore continuity from the kill switch connector all of the way to the terminal block.
I think this definately has something to do with the problem , but is it possible that this intermittent connections had been the problem all along ?

thanks
Kevin

Post by **ICCSF 108** » Thu Dec 27, 2007 7:46 pm

Kevin, I'm not good on electrical problems (I hate them) one like you've been having would be really testing my patience, which I have none. That being said I would have to say that anything that would interfere with the electrical could be the problem..
Have you been checking all these stators you've put in AFTER they have quit? are all of them bad or could this wire have been the problem & you just thought it was the stators again?? Sorry I haven't been following & I WILL read them all tonight...
The stators don't have flywheel marks on them where the flywheel has been making contact with the stator & removing the protective covering from them ?????
I can see where the connector would be a problem, but I don't see how it could burn out a stator Unless it would be a ground wire.. or it was making contact with something & grounding out the stator... & not burn in out the CDI or the trigger..
After all the stator should be the last/first (depending on how you look at it) link in the
Chain of the flow of elect to the spark plugs.. you don't have a loose magnate on the flywheel do you??
the wires that go through the engine case aren't getting grounded out somehow on the case are they?? Is this sled always going down on the same cylinder when the stator goes out??

Good luck

Kenny

flames4555 · Post by **flames4555** » Thu Dec 27, 2007 8:45 pm

Thanks for the reply Kenny,

Yes once the stators are dead , they stay that way , I have rechecked them a couple of times hoping I was wrong , but they all still read below what they should.
As far as physical damage I haven't seen any at all on either the stators or the magnets inside the flywheel.
During the last stator replacement I checked all of the wires as they pass through the crankcase they were fine as well as the grommet that surrounds them.
The black wire on the kill switch connector goes to the same terminal as the other ground wires so I pretty sure it is a ground. The only wire I'm a little confused on is the small black jumper wire that attaches to the voltage regulator ground. I don't see it listed on the wiring diagram, but was attached to ground when I originally disassmbled the sled .
I'm also not great with electronic problems , but I'm certainly learning a bit with this one. I guess the question is ,if the black ground wire from the kill switch had a break in the circut before the terminal block , would this create the excessive current routing issue with the stator ?

thanks
Kevin

harleysportster · Post by **harleysportster** » Thu Dec 27, 2007 11:53 pm

Kevin,
I can't believe you went thru another stator. The black wire from the cdi box is the kill wire which gets grounded out when either the kill switch or ignition switch is turned to the "off" position. If the black cdi wire had a crack or break in it, you would not be able to shut off the engine.
If you look at the wiring diagram for the 77 cyclone/liquifire the black jumper wire is there. It is not clear on the 76 diagram.