[deyoung]

2000 Heritage Classic - Change out voltage regulator and found oil in the plug connector. Concerned that oil may be "wicking in" from two regulator wires that enter engine housing. Local HD Dealer said don't worry, that it is common on the 2000's. Anyone have an idea where oil may be coming from and if it needs attention...Thanks

 

[Rustler]

Originally posted by deyoung 2000 Heritage Classic - Change out voltage regulator and found oil in the plug connector. Concerned that oil may be "wicking in" from two regulator wires that enter engine housing. Local HD Dealer said don't worry, that it is common on the 2000's. Anyone have an idea where oil may be coming from and if it needs attention...Thanks

There is a service bulletin M1107 that relocates the connector higher on the downtubes - warranty claim for those under warranty - applies to "some 99 or later FLT models"

Typical huh - rather than fix the seeping problem just relocate the connector higher so the seep doesn't follow the wires *up* into the connector.

 

[rherlaar]

similar problem on Deuce ?

Hi ,

I've had the same problem on 2000 Deuce.
My dealer had not only to replace the VR but also the stator . He claimed it was fried due to this oil leaking in . I wonder if he ripped me off because be never mentioned anything about this service bulletin at all actually .
'good to know anyhow , I'll investigate this a bit further now ..

Rik

 

[HIPPO]

That is a very interesting theory if you consider the stator is normally cooled by the primary oil.

I doubt very much the oil would cause any sort of electrical problem. I'm not totally sure but the plug relocation service campaign (if it were a recall dealers would be forced to perform it on every affected bike) may have just been for the touring bikes. They have been playing with the location for these wires for several years now on the touring bikes and it looks to me they got it right with the 02's. The wiring was extremely exposed and subject to chafing.
The relocation just fixes the oil leak.

 

[rherlaar]

vr/stator weirdness

I agree it sounds peculiar , but here is the score . After some 2000 Miles battery didn't get charged anymore . Fluke measurement in my own shed told me the VR was suspected dead. I also found a bit too much oil cropping up in the aforementioned connector pair.Dealer (well , agent really , but dealers are scarse in this part of the world , especially the reliable ones) confirmed this and replaced the vr. Still no cure , charged with some on/off behavior . Next thing I know is that dealer convinced me the stator was fried (probably not due to oil getting in between rotor/stator but due to the malfunctioning voltage regulator unit )
I thought the original charging system is shunt based so not sure why it would have killed the stator . Normal wear is impossible given the very few miles . However , another (far away but good ) dealer claims that the standard charging system should be okay 'less you run a X-mass tree . The frustrating thing is that I still fail to see where the oil comes from in the first place . Guess it's time to order the necessary maintenance manuals to start with .

regards

Rik

 

[ron2000]

a month ago I bought a 2000 heritage with 4000 miles on it and it has had a charging problem since day one. I poured 1/2 oz of oil out of the stator/voltage regulator plug and bought a new battery. I also found that the "battery" fuse was not installed and that only one side of my battery fuse has a connector/wire in the fuse block. I wanted to know if the battery fuse is for looks or am I missing a wire that goes to the battery from the fuse block. Also I thought the oil in the plug was from a sloppy oil change when the filter was spun off? Thanks for your time.

 

[HIPPO]

If you ever open the primary it will become obvious. The wires from the regulator go thru the plug and into the primary and some distance after they enter the primary case the insulation stops. The primary chain runs in an oil bath and among other things cools the stator much like oil cools a transformer.

If the insulated portion of the wiring runs with a downward slope to the connector area primary oil seeps out by capillary effect between the conductor and the insulation. The ocasional drip is objectionable but since oil is dielectric there is no adverse effect.

As long as the outputs from the regulator are not shorted and properly grounded respectively you can run Las Vegas off it, if only for a millisecond, ie once the system is overloaded it will just run your battery down with no othger effect.
Strangely the one thing that may kill a regulator is long speed runs with an extremely small electric load, because it will cause the shunt in the regulator to dissipate the full load and overheat.

Now and then you just get one that is not 100% and stators are pretty delicate as far as handling them, you bump one on the wrong place and you can short a few windings. It will still work, but eventually it will $hit the bed.

Welcome to Harleyworld, get new ones and maybe you are luckier.

 

[rherlaar]

thx

thx hippo

dealer said the same thing today ( the respected dealer that is ...
the other dude clearly accused the oil to have wrecked the vr)
Almost 100 years of v2 engineering ... aah it's a Harley ..so we forgive.
On another note , bar turning my bike into a mobile X-mass tree , would a
compu-fire style vr do the trick ? They claim to shut down the circuitry if the battery is found fully loaded ....hmmm...perhaps a solutuion ?

rik

 

[HIPPO]

Generally speaking the newer versions of the HD parts are quite reliable unless the bike is being worked on by people that really shouldn't, or look at things without seeing anything.

On the touring bikes with the high output systems running the spots in addition to the headlite is all it takes. The little bikes have little concerns in this respect because they have low output systems to begin with.

The series type regulators like the Compu-Fire's work well, but the main advantage is that they may give you a couple horses on top if you use no or very little electric load. Here I go giving my dyno information away.
Just as easy to run no charging system.

You have to be careful with aftermarket stuff, there might be an american name on the box, but much of it is made in third or fourth world countries to a price point.

On a touring bike in the real world it is of no consecuence and probably a waste of money. If you keep having problems with the updated parts there is a problem in another area of the bike. If you want to go aftermarket due to a concern you may have with fried parts Accel is a good way to go. They are conventional replacements but are guaranteed for life and they are real good at replacing stuff.

 

[HIPPO]

As far as the engineering, if you consider the style and bean counter dominated corporate culture that locks them into a much less then ideal engine configuration and emission constraints, the results obtained by the factory and in particular the aftermarket engineers are nothing short of extarordinary.

We have a 45 degree V-Twin in an FXR frame locally, that was a group effort, that has dynoed at 278 HP and can be ridden on the street (if you have the fuzzies). There is no doubt in my mind we can crank it up to an even 300 if anyone else starts to get close.

 

[wyodude]

On the touring bikes with the high output systems running the spots in addition to the headlite is all it takes.

I guess I'm not clearly understanding this. Are you saying the running the spots plus headlight is hard on the regulator? I run this was all the time in an attempt to increase visibility.

Thanks in advance for the clarification.

wyo

 

[HIPPO]

No, read the thread again, what I said is that on long high speed runs it is good to run the extra electric load as the regulator does not have to dissipate that much current (heat) thru the shunt.

On very short duration low speed trips with repeated cranking sequences it's hard to keep the battery up to full charge, and that's why they have the high output systems.

 

[wyodude]

Thanks HIPPO,

You da man!

 

[rherlaar]

corporate culture ..

As far as the engineering, if you consider the style and bean counter dominated corporate culture that locks them into a much less then ideal engine configuration and emission constraints, the results obtained by the factory and in particular the aftermarket engineers are nothing short of extarordinary.

Point taken


a sound piece of philosophy

thx ..

Rik