1987 Warrior 350 not charging...

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JetFuelBurner

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So I traded into this antique. It needed a little TLC.

Installed a new oil plug because someone thought it needed to be torqued to like 80ft/lbs and busted off the collar.

Rebuilt the carb as it was assembled incorrectly.

Just got done with my biggest job on it to date...replaced the clutch.

Went out to the hunt club today and rode around a bunch. After a few hours of riding, stalling in the timber and re-starting...the battery was dead. My buddy gave me a tow and we bump started it. Runs fine once started.

I'm guessing it's not charging as the battery had a solid charge as it's been on a float charger since I bought it. It's been off the float charger since I began work on the clutch.

I have done no diagnostics on the charging system as of yet. I have a volt meter but really don't know what and/or how to check. The batt is now removed from the quad and charging. I filled it with distilled water as it was a tad low. Picked up a specific gravity eye dropper tester and will check that tomorrow once the batt is charged.

I called my dealer and they said they'd do a diagnostic on it for $75 but that one of the more common problems with these is quite expensive ($650) to fix. They didn't say what it was but a friend said that a diode could go bad, allowing voltage to flow back to a "magnetized flywheel" and that de-magnitizes it.

I am without a clue and would like some guidance and suggestions.

I need it next week for planting day at the hunt club. I'll charge the batt and bring a spare charged batt. That and a set of jumper cables should get me through the day. After that, if I haven't fixed it I may have to take it to the dealer.

FWIW, a $650 repair bill is more than I've got in this thing including a new set of 4 tires and the new clutch. I'd really like to fix this but won't be doing a $650 repair on it. This thing may be old and a little long in the tooth but it runs STRONG, doesn't smoke and doesn't leak oil.

Thanks!
 
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Have you thought about just buying a new battery
Lmao 88.. I guess you can never get past the simplest fix. :iagree:

I agree with that, you should try a new battery before you start toss'n money around. I wouldn't give up on the old dog either..
1st gen warriors are gonna be collector items before to long.. lol

As for something being wrong with the charging system, I highly doubt it. But you could replace the whole stator for around $150 bucks, and pick up a decent used mag on ebay for around 50.. Don't be scared to work on these old 350's yourself, their extremely simple machines..
 
I am going to check the specific gravity today now that it has a full charge. I also have a new battery.

I guess it's pretty simple to check to see if the charging system is putting out current once I have a good batt and get it running. Do you just put the tester on the battery leads prior to the batt?

The service manual pdf from this board and I'm not sure I understand their listed troubleshooting steps. I'm admittatly an electrical system moron.

I don't want to buy anything I don't absolutely have to so I want to test before buying anything. I'm cheap and I have about as much in the quad as the new set of tires I just put on it so I sure don't want to pay $650 to a shop if I can troubleshoot myself.

It's an '87. That makes it 25 years old. I think it IS a classic! Amazing how strong it runs. Not much for looks but it shits 'n gits!!

Update: Batt specific gravity on a full overnight charge checks good. Onto charging voltage...
 
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If you have a multi meter, set it to volts and prob the pos and neg terminals of the battery WHILE it's running. It should be putting out atleast 13 volts while running. The usuall optimum operating range is 13-14 volts
 
Thanks,

I'll give that a shot in a bit.

Update, checked the fuse in the charging line. It's good.

Checked the voltage and my meter is not indicating properly...verified by checking the volts on my truck and it also showed 30A charging volts...same as the quad. Guess I'll be picking up a new meter as I head out to run my "honey-do's" today.


Update, new multi meter...definitely not charging. On to the next step.
 
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It could even be a bad regulator/rectifier.

How do I check that? My service manual is sketchy at best on the details. Not so good for an amateur like myself.

The book says the next step is to check the charging coil resistance. Not sure where that is. The pic is fuzzy and basically useless.
 
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the the charging coil is part of the stator .. you need to test the 3 white wires coming out of the motor
 
Thanks mathius. That's like one of the diagrams in my manual. From what I can tell, the rectifier/regulator is centered, under the back of the frame and is finned. What Im looking at has a round plug with 6 male pins in a circle surrounding 1 female recepticle in the center. There appear to be six wires leading from the plug to the unit. 3 white, one black, one red and one green. The manual says to check resistence between the white leads. I come up with zero.

If I'm looking at the right part and I tested the leads correctly, I have a bad regulator.
 
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here are the specs On the 3 white wires coming out of the stator, they should all have 0.7~0.8 ohms resistance in all three combinations. That means imagine numbering each white wire either 1, 2, or 3. Check 1 to 2, 1 to 3 and 2 to 3.
 
so he would need a new stator then if he's not getting anything from the white wires
 
if there is nuthing at the stator ...thats right but if its ok at the stator then all he should need in a regulator/rectifier
 
here are the specs On the 3 white wires coming out of the stator, they should all have 0.7~0.8 ohms resistance in all three combinations. That means imagine numbering each white wire either 1, 2, or 3. Check 1 to 2, 1 to 3 and 2 to 3.

Thanks for the explanation Bones, that makes sense now. I couldn't figure out how do differentiate between white 1, 2 and 3. So it doesn't matter WHICH wire is number 1, 2 or 3 just so you pick one to be 1 and assume the others are 2 and 3. Then check resistance between 1 and 2 and then between 1 and 3 and then finally between 2 and 3.

So I set the meter to ohms x 1k.

+lead to 1 -lead to 2 = 0
+lead to 1 -lead to 3 = 0
+lead to 2 - lead to 3 = full scale deflection as if I just touched one probe to the other.

That can't be good.
 
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you should still be able to pull start it

Really? I don't think it has a pull start or is that something you rig up til you get a new stator? My starter works so long as I have a charge on the batt. Runs like a champ once started. I plan on bringing a spare batt out to hunt camp next week. Just has to work for a day or so.
 
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