What are the Symptoms of a Stator Going Bad?

There are ways to test if your powersports vehicle’s stator is going bad. But if your machine isn’t charging properly, the regulator-rectifier is more likely than the stator to be at fault.

Partzilla’s powersports pro John Talley hosts live Q&A sessions on our YouTube channel every Friday at 3pm Eastern. In this edition, John gives his tips on how to tell if a powersports stator has gone bad.

How to Tell if a Stator is Going Bad Q&A

What are the symptoms of a stator going bad? 

John Talley: It’s part of your charging system, so if you’re getting a charge that’s too low or too high, that could be a symptom of your stator going bad. Nine times out of 10 it’s going to be your regulator-rectifier. But your stator is sending AC voltage to the voltage regulator-rectifier, which then in turn flips the signal to AC, and then smooths it out to make it a DC signal using diodes, and more than likely capacitors inside of it. I’ve done several videos showing how to diagnose each one. If you think your stator is going bad, my favorite test to do is not just an ohm test, because I don’t think that’s very accurate. Set your meter to AC volts, unplug the lines coming from your stator, start it up and see what it’s reading. It should read north of 25 volts AC. I’ve seen them go as high as 45, but to answer your question, the short answer, is if it’s going bad, then your vehicle won't be charging like it should. 

Watch the video below to see how to test the stator of a motorcycle, ATV or side-by-side.

Watch the video below to learn how to test the charging system of an ATV.

Watch the video below to learn how to test powersports vehicle regulator-rectifiers.

Want to see more live repair questions answered? See more motorcycle and ATV repair questions answered here.