2005 ZX6R Electric(??) Problems
 

Hi all! I've read alot of good stuff on how to fix Kaw problems on this forum, that's why I joined! :) Hope someone can point me in the right direction.

About 3 weeks ago I was riding for about an hour when I heard my motor go "quieter" than usual. Didn't really mind it, thought it was just the wind. After about a mile, I stopped at a red light. Coming off the light she just went dead right in the middle of the road. Long story short I had to rent a truck to get her back home, battery was drained but not completely.

Friend of mine said he had a similar experience on his 'zuke and the "quietness actually came from losing 2 of the 4 cylinders and the bike drawing off the battery instead of the alternator.

I read up on my manual and checked out some forums, including this, and found that it could be 1,2 or all three of the following; stator coil, alternator or rectifier.

Has anyone posted this problem before? I've worked on dirtbikes but never street. Kinda on a budget so I'll be doing the work myself.

I'd appreciate any help! I wanna get back on the road so bad!:D

You need a small multimeter to start.

Charge the battery and check that there's about 13V or more across the terminals. Start the bike. If it's still dead, you probably need a new battery.

With a good battery and the bike started (you can use a pair of jump leads to a car battery) check the voltage across the battery with the meter, looking for about 13.5V or more at about 5,000 rpm., but not more than 15V. These figures are guestimates - you'll need the manual to be accurate, but they're close enough for diagnoses. If you have that voltage your charging circuit is probably OK.

If it's higher, your regulator is probably U/S. It will cook the battery if it isn't replaced, so if you've replaced the battery you need to carry out this check as well.

If the voltage is lower, you could still have a duff regulator, or a duff alternator.

Disconnect the plug from the alternator to the regulator. It's a three phase alternator - three thick wires into the connector. By measuring each wire to each of the other wires you have three pairs of wires. Set the meter to AC (NOT DC) volts, and again at about 5K rpm measure the ac voltage across each pair of wires. Again, not sure of the exact figure, but expect somewhere between 50 and 70 V ac. If any one pair is significantly different to the other two, or if there's only a low or zero voltage from all three pairs, you probably need a new stator. The Stator coil is effectively the alternator. The other bit - the rotor - just contains a set of permanent magnets. A check with a steel screwdriver will tell you if any of the magnets have failed. It doesn't often happen.

If the voltage is OK out of the alternator, but still low out of the regulator (with the connector reconnected lol) you probably have a u/s regulator.

A last check is to disconnect the battery positive terminal and put the meter between the terminal and the wire - the thinner one that feeds the ignition circuits, not the very thick one that feeds the starter. Set the meter to read DC Amps. If it doesn't read zero, or nearly zero, something is draining the battery. As yours died during a run this probably isn't the problem. Do this check with the ignition off.

Hope this gives you a start.

If you have the manual, it will give you the resistance checks on these components. Failing the resistance check implies a faulty component, but passing the check doesn't mean that the component works properly, so the functional checks above are probably more use.

Rob

Welcome to the forums, I think William hit the nail on the head. I would print that out and get to work on the problem. Good luck and again glad to have to aboard.

welcome to KF

^+1 to williams response.

Welcome to KF

Welcome to the Kawi Family!!!

YO William!
 

You the man! Did exactly what you said and she runs fine now. Alternator was chargin fine, it was the regulator. The original showed a low resistance but when I scored a new one on e-bay ($45.00) it gave a higher resistance. I installed it and a new battery and did all the tests. All good!

Been about 2 weeks and I'm still testing it (battery charge) and all is good. Thanks guys!

One other problem though...I was caught in some heavy rain the other day, soaked! I stopped for gas and the engine temp was around 200. When I re-started her up, the FI light (check engine) lit up. At first I didn't think anything of it since it does this at times when hot but it always went away when the engine temp came back down. The next day I went to start her up and the FI light was still on. I chose not to ride, just in case. She starts fine and battery charging tests good before and after running the engine but that light won't go away. Any ideas?

congrats on the fix. Pull the wet connector and attempt to dry it out. fan still starting?