Voltage regulator fails

(11/10/2013) I've had problems recently with the oil temperature gauge and oil pressure gauge. So when the voltage gauge started showing low readings, I jumped to the optimistic conclusion that maybe the gauge was flaking out. Wrong. I rode it over to Mike Russo's house this afternoon and watched the needle slowly drop from 11V to 10V to 9V to 8V.

We checked the gauge connections. They were fine. So we decided to go for a ride. Hey, it was a beautiful afternoon, perfect for riding. I hit the starter button and it became immediately clear that it was not the gauge. The bike would not start.

Fortunately, Mike had a spare battery--yes, Mike seems to have a spare everything in his garage--and we replaced my battery, hoping that was the problem though we were very skeptical. I have learned that even in the face of skepticism, however, try the simple solution first.

The replacement battery allowed us to start the bike but the voltage gauge was still reading only about 10.5V. So, we went for a short ride to see if the stator would bump up the charge. It did not.

We decided it wasn't likely the stator causing the problem because I've had a stator fail on this bike before. When a stator goes, it tends to go slowly and revving the engine will usually cause the voltage needle to move up a little. It wasn't budging in this case. That left only the voltage regulator as the suspected culprit.

Mike called the Raleigh dealership. We described the symptoms and what steps we had already tried and Carl at the parts counter agreed that it was probably the voltage regulator. He had one in stock. It would cost me $217. Mike asked him if that was the gold plated version, because we didn't need that one. No, $217 would buy us the stock model (HD part number 74505-06).

We drove in Mike's truck to Raleigh and purchased the new voltage regulator. We opened the box and found one large part. No wrapping paper, no instructions. Our first thought was hey, this is good, right? No instructions and it has only two simple connections. How hard can this be? (Advice: never ask that question out loud; you're cursing yourself.)

In order to get my old voltage regulator off, we first had to remove the pretty chrome cover. Two small allen-head bolts were all that stood between us and getting the voltage regulator off. I removed the right bolt. It was hard to get off because someone had applied copious amounts of Loctite. Then we went after the left bolt. Forty-five minutes later we got it off. I'll spare you the details, but the process involved vice grips, drill bits, various other tools, and plenty of cursing.

After installing the new voltage regulator, we located some new bolts and cut and ground them to the needed size for fastening the chrome cover. No Loctite!

Here's a tip from Carl the parts guy: before you install the new regulator, clean thoroughly the area on the frame where the regulator bolts to the frame. This is because this is the ground connection for the device and you want as clean a connection as possible.

The bike is now running great with the stator properly charging the battery and powering the entire bike. The left LED turn signal is now fully lit as well, an unexpected bonus. (Previously, the lower half of the light would not come on due to insufficient voltage. It only fully illuminated when activated as a blinking signal.)

As usual, I have Mike Russo to thank for saving me from running off to the nearest Honda shop. He also did most of the work getting the old regulator off. Thank you Mr. Russo!

And as always, keep the shiny side up.

-The Long Rider