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What causes a Stator to go bad?

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RmkMtnRider

Active member
Nov 26, 2007
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Boise Idaho
I lost mine first ride this year.. Dealer told me it was usually a voltage regulator that causes it but mine was good.. Anybody have any other ideas?
 
B
Nov 26, 2007
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Salt Lake City
stator

Usually they fail because one of 2 things. Either a cold solder joint or a open winding. Both can be due to heat. The wire in the windings is copper with a laquer coating for insulation. This is done so they can keep the coil as small as possible and to enhance the magnetic field. Heat will break down this coating allowing either a short or a weak field. The stator rebuild guys just remove the old wire and rewind them with new. Number of wingings and coils determine the voltage output and amperage. That raw power feeds to the voltage regulator which bleeds off excess to get down to the required voltage for the electronics. If the reg is faulty it allows raw power through and usually blow lights and or kills the ecu due to over voltage. I guess it could short to ground and cause the stator to overheat but I think other things would fail too.
I beleive the reason Cat had so many stator failures is theirs was mounted on a small plate that did help cool their stator. Polaris has theirs on a large plate that acts as a heat sync. I could be wrong. Early Polaris had stator probelms too, I am not sure how they cured theirs. Maybe better coating on the wires to take more heat.

Your failure is probably due to a break down in the actual stator if the reg is good as you say. They generate heat in normal operation and possibly a thin spot in the wire insulation just gave way. Without some real detective work you won't know. All you can do is replace it and move on. May be cheap insurance to replace the reg compared to another stator.
 
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Kraven

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Apr 11, 2009
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MIDWEST
BLAINE

I lost mine first ride this year.. Dealer told me it was usually a voltage regulator that causes it but mine was good.. Anybody have any other ideas?

You may want to check with "BLAINE" on WWW.hardcoresledder.com or www.johndee.com

He rebuilds ARCTIC CAT stators and got into POLARIS stators approx 1 year ago.

He also offers a one year warranty as well
 
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RmkMtnRider

Active member
Nov 26, 2007
294
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Boise Idaho
Alright so got the new stator in. I have a new updated volatage regulator too cuz that what we orginally thought it was. But anywys..

Got the stator in, started it up and the headlight works.. Guage light sorta show through but no numbers or anything on the display. The lights on the left side of it (brights, rev, brake) work just fine but not the display. Tail light works but no brake light.. Im guessing the stator took out the guage? and maybe the harness for the tail light? Idk.. Need some help guys. Had to pull it out of the poo dealer because I couldn't afford for them to track it down at their hourly rate.. as I'm a poor college student.. Any ideas are appreciated.
 
B
Nov 26, 2007
1,150
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Salt Lake City
lights

On the older sleds, a reg failure would cause a voltage spike and blow any bulb that was on at the time. Blown headlight and tail light was always a dead give way that the reg was dead. Tail light may just be the bulb.

Gauge is a different story. Pull your's off and go plug it into a different machine. That's the only way I know of confirming your's is dead.
 
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RmkMtnRider

Active member
Nov 26, 2007
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Boise Idaho
It was for sure the guage. pulled my dads off his and worked fine on mine. I just don't want it to blow the stator again if theres something that caused it? I'm just going to unplug the tailight. I've taped off almost all the connectors, and not going to run the tether anymore. I sure hope it's fixed, i dont want it to blow again.. Thanks for the input tho
 
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volcano buster

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Nov 26, 2007
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Stayton Oregon
I burnt a stator due to my hot grips grounding out on the bars. Guy in front of me told me to turn my lights on. The grips had started to come loose and worked the insulation off over time.
 
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RmkMtnRider

Active member
Nov 26, 2007
294
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Boise Idaho
Well all my grip heat is unplugged.. I run aftermarket bars and I'm too cheap to run buy new hand warmers.. haha The only thing i can think of is i did install a tether that i had to wire in.. Im no electrician so maybe that could of been some of it? The only other thing is this was my first ride with a PCV.. Could mapping on that do anything? Its running good right now so we'll see.. I'm going to carry the other voltage reg. with me this winter just in case..
 
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