Bad alternator..... I think--now I KNOW!

[rockbobmel]

I rode to work yesterday..... nothing different, then on my way home about 3 miles my bike stalled and the battery appeared dead.  I had it towed home and charged the battery all night.  I had it tested and it was in excellent health.   I put the multimeter on with the bike running and it was 12.04v....That's  lower than with the bike off.

I wanted to go to Americade. Had it all set up.    Any Ideas?   Are they easy to swap out?

Thanks,  Bob

[Chrisj CMA]

I rode to work yesterday..... nothing different, then on my way home about 3 miles my bike stalled and the battery appeared dead.  I had it towed home and charged the battery all night.  I had it tested and it was in excellent health.   I put the multimeter on with the bike running and it was 12.04v....That's  lower than with the bike off.

I wanted to go to Americade. Had it all set up.    Any Ideas?   Are they easy to swap out?

Thanks,  Bob

First check the 55A dogbone fuse in the little rectangular box behind the right side cover.

If you have more than 60 or 70K and no alternator maintenance ever it could just be brushes. The alternator can be tough to r & r the first time but it is doable if you have patience.

[rockbobmel]

14 K.    Dogbone fuse is good.

[LB]

Charge up the battery and start the engine, with high beam on. Check voltage across battery terminals with a volt meter (multimeter). If you have 14 + volts, alternator is good. If less than 13 volts, it's not charging = bad alternator.

[rockbobmel]

That's exactly what I did.  12.04 volts running.

[The emperor has no clothes]

Doesn't seem like an alternator would go out in 14k. But with electrics it's entirely possible. They are very finnicky to come out and to go back in. There is a certain tilt and angle that you have to get just right. I would recommend a new o-ring and dampers while you are at it. Many poo-poo the cheap aftermarket alternators. I've had pretty good luck with mine. If you go OEM you can save some money by buying the 1500 GoldWing alternator and clocking it.

[LB]

12.04 volts = bad alternator.... Like Meathead said, go with Honda Goldwing alternator and just clock it. Part number is 31100-MT2-015.

[gordonv]

Before you toss the alternator out, check the voltage coming out of the alternator, not at the battery.

Remember you'll be dealing with the full 14V, so make sure you test it right.

My brushes where stuck. Cleaned and was working again. All the alternator repairs are easy. What is hard is getting it out of and into the bike. There is very limited space.

[rockbobmel]

My boss is willing to help me.  I could order one on line. Can you explain “clocking “ for the goldwing alternative? I have a Clymer manual.   Thanks. Bob

[The emperor has no clothes]

My boss is willing to help me.  I could order one on line. Can you explain “clocking “ for the goldwing alternative? I have a Clymer manual.   Thanks. Bob

There are 3 long bolts that hold the body of the alternator together. The gold wings is rotated about 120* from ours. All you have to do is remove the bolts, separate the body slightly, and rotate it. It will become readily apparent when looking at them side by side.

[Lyle Laun]

I've always had good luck getting a local shop to rebuild my alternators rather than buy those ebay ones (junk) or a more expensive Honda dealer one.

Lyle...

[rockbobmel]

If I wasn't pressed to ride to Americade next week, I prolly would have gone through the motions of troubleshooting. I ended up getting this https://www.partzilla.com/product/honda/31100-MT2-015?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIn8H4xM212wIVjP5kCh0NSwicEAAYASAAEgLAPvD_BwE  ---So instead of bringing the whole shebang to my  boss's shop, I tackled the removal.  There were a few discrepancies in the manual, but I figured it out. So hopefully the install/results will play out successfully.   My bike cover doubled as an umbrella. It sucks working in a hot sunny driveway.

[old2soon]

Guessin here I shoulda mentioned L A Lectrical sooner.  My Bad!  RIDE SAFE.

[Alberta Patriot]

My alternator went out at about 58,000 miles. I went online and there were many cheap Chinese aftermarket replacements, but all had too many negative comments so I had mine rebuilt locally. The stator failed. He said that the stator windings were very thin wire and upsized the wire slightly, replaced the bearings as well.  $175 Canadian Pesos.

[Mr.BubblesVRCCDS0008]

I bought a gold wing alternator from Honda direct line payed 35 dollars to overnight it. The next day it was here and I was up and running in two hours. That alt. Now has close to 100,000 miles on it

[¿spoom]

Sadly, the early and repeated failures with the OEM Hitachi alternators are numerous and well-documented. The winding was done badly for a huge run, making wire breakage inside the windings a common "non-fixable" failure in addition to a large number of winding ends breaking at the soldered joint to the brush leads. I pulled my '97 Std's at around 30-40k when it failed, and was able to repair it by re-soldering a winding end and replacing the brushes as PM insurance, only to have it fail again around 15k miles later with a winding broken internally. There's a guy (in the Midwest I believe) who was the rewind/rebuild guru 10-15 years ago. I sent him mine as a core swap for a rebuilt one with a slightly better output. He would replace the bearings and diodes, rewind them and rpl the brushes. Great workmanship, maybe somebody else can remember his name. Though the later 1500 Valk years' alternators were supposedly OK Honda never exactly admitted to any of it or published a date that could be used as a guide.     

[Ricky-D]

This here's the service that is regularly used by the Valkyrie owners over the years, and has been rated the highest service and quality by the same.

http://myplace.frontier.com/~hemi-roid/

***

[vanagon40]

Sadly, the early and repeated failures with the OEM Hitachi alternators are numerous and well-documented. . . .     

Yep. Mine failed at 14,300 miles.

[rockbobmel]

Wow,   I prolly would have got a rebuilt one from that guy in Indiana.  The local stealer wanted $700+ before labor.
       Too late,  mine is on it's way from partszilla. It was $250. shipped. No core charge. I hope it was made after all those Hitachi "bad run" and a good one-- it's an oem Hitachi Goldwing alt.    
       I'm also relieved that it is prolly the culprit because I skipped the troubleshooting and just went for the simple replacement-fix.

[rockbobmel]

I bought a gold wing alternator from Honda direct line payed 35 dollars to overnight it. The next day it was here and I was up and running in two hours. That alt. Now has close to 100,000 miles on it

  How long ago?

Did they remedy the problems?

Mine is in the driveway now with all the bolts and tools waiting for the new one so all I have to do is install and go.

[The emperor has no clothes]

Wow,   I prolly would have got a rebuilt one from that guy in Indiana.  The local stealer wanted $700+ before labor.
       Too late,  mine is on it's way from partszilla. It was $250. shipped. No core charge. I hope it was made after all those Hitachi "bad run" and a good one-- it's an oem Hitachi Goldwing alt.    
       I'm also relieved that it is prolly the culprit because I skipped the troubleshooting and just went for the simple replacement-fix.

$250 for OEM is good. I think it's going to solve your problem.  As far as the M.A.R.S. rebuilt ones, some people have complained of a loud whine with them.

[rockbobmel]

Thanks guys, for the info AND encouragement!!

[RainMaker]

Sadly, the early and repeated failures with the OEM Hitachi alternators are numerous and well-documented. The winding was done badly for a huge run, making wire breakage inside the windings a common "non-fixable" failure in addition to a large number of winding ends breaking at the soldered joint to the brush leads. I pulled my '97 Std's at around 30-40k when it failed, and was able to repair it by re-soldering a winding end and replacing the brushes as PM insurance, only to have it fail again around 15k miles later with a winding broken internally. There's a guy (in the Midwest I believe) who was the rewind/rebuild guru 10-15 years ago. I sent him mine as a core swap for a rebuilt one with a slightly better output. He would replace the bearings and diodes, rewind them and rpl the brushes. Great workmanship, maybe somebody else can remember his name. Though the later 1500 Valk years' alternators were supposedly OK Honda never exactly admitted to any of it or published a date that could be used as a guide.     

I have used the same guy.  I think it was M.A.R.S.

M.A.R.S., Inc.
Starters - Alternators - Generators
2805 S. First Street
DeKalb, IL  60115

[vanagon40]

Sadly, the early and repeated failures with the OEM Hitachi alternators are numerous and well-documented. The winding was done badly for a huge run, making wire breakage inside the windings a common "non-fixable" failure in addition to a large number of winding ends breaking at the soldered joint to the brush leads. I pulled my '97 Std's at around 30-40k when it failed, and was able to repair it by re-soldering a winding end and replacing the brushes as PM insurance, only to have it fail again around 15k miles later with a winding broken internally. There's a guy (in the Midwest I believe) who was the rewind/rebuild guru 10-15 years ago. I sent him mine as a core swap for a rebuilt one with a slightly better output. He would replace the bearings and diodes, rewind them and rpl the brushes. Great workmanship, maybe somebody else can remember his name. Though the later 1500 Valk years' alternators were supposedly OK Honda never exactly admitted to any of it or published a date that could be used as a guide.     

I have used the same guy.  I think it was M.A.R.S.

M.A.R.S., Inc.
Starters - Alternators - Generators
2805 S. First Street
DeKalb, IL  60115

The guy exclusively rebuilding Goldwing (and Valkyrie) alternators is

KEN HEMING
3701 E. 69TH. AVE.
MERRILLVILLE, IN.
46410-3963
219-947-4038
hemi-roid@frontier.com

Ricky-D has the link

This here's the service that is regularly used by the Valkyrie owners over the years, and has been rated the highest service and quality by the same.

http://myplace.frontier.com/~hemi-roid/

***

[¿spoom]

This here's the service that is regularly used by the Valkyrie owners over the years, and has been rated the highest service and quality by the same.

http://myplace.frontier.com/~hemi-roid/

***

Yup, that's who I dealt with some 15 or more years ago. So glad he's still around. Great guy to deal with a high quality mindset.
If the OP has no particular plan for his old unit, he may want to consider sending it off to MARS for a refurb and keep it on a shelf for the future. He'll never have a hard time selling it in the future and recovering every dime if he ever decided to.

[rockbobmel]

That's what I was thinking also.

[rockbobmel]

Welp it’s in.  I picked it up at the UPS hub at 7 this morning and had it done by 8:30. I was able to “clock “ it like described. It got stuck because of the diode, capacitor? thingy on the end. There wasn’t one on the old one so I took it off.  I got scared because I tried to start it before I had it back together, and it didn’t start.  I almost walked away but remembered that there was the tilt sensor flopping around. I held it upright and she started.  I crossed my fingers and rode upstate Vermont.  All is well!!
Another plus is that it’s a Hitachi “made in Japan “.  Yaaaayyyyy!

[rockbobmel]

This

[dalai-lama]

I replaced mine two weeks ago at 142K miles.  The lead for that is a bit shorter on the "goldwing" and my original one had a wire that was starting to be frayed so I wanted to use the new one.

I was able to mount that in a different spot on the alternator where it would reach but then this got in the way on getting the alternator back in so I just let if flop and then once the alternator was back in, I was able to secure back into its new position on the back of the alternator.

[rockbobmel]

I hope it’s not necessary because the old alternator did not have one so I took it off the new one.
I rode 500+ miles this weekend.

[Valkorado]

I hope it’s not necessary because the old alternator did not have one so I took it off the new one.
I rode 500+ miles this weekend.

It's a filter for IS stereo, not necessary on other models.

[rockbobmel]

I just looked and the Hitachi alternator that came out was "made in Japan" also