Return of the Stator/Rectifier Nightmare

[Beacham]

..well it just seems to be beginning. A while back, I got a lot of very good help on this forum when I did a complete makeover of the electrical and fuel systems on my 1987 evinrude 225. new rectifier, stator coil, power packs, plugs, ignition coils, starter motor, battery cables, gauges and wiring. what a blast! rebuilt all six carbs, new fuel system,and good to go. the motor went from 3800 top rpms and unable to charge the battery to 5500 top speed and good juice throughout my system. voltmeter reads about 14-15 V when running. accordingly, I have enjoyed about ten hours of peak performance run time on the motor. ..until the day before yesterday.<br /><br />I was motoring along with a warm engine, when heard a sort of whizzing noise under the cowling that got louder and then abruptly stopped with a ping. then again. whiz whiz whiz, zing! and once more. I cut the engine. looking under the cowling, there was nothing I could see, but some bits of shiny metal, looked like razor blades, had materialized in the pan. I limped home on the kicker, and started it again today in my back yard with the flusher. she ran great for a while, warmed up nicely, and then the whizzing started again, seemed to be from the vicinity of the flywheel. I peeked, and this time the tiny bit flew past my ear and into the cabin. wups. I cut the engine, pulled the flywheel, and looked at my brand new stator. at first blush, nothing appears to be the matter, but it turns out that the bits were coming off of the metal guard (or whatever it is) that is on the aftmost two of the stator coils. I know that nothing is, or was, touching inside the flywheel after my big fix-it, but the metal on those two coils is peeling up and flying away! what the hell??<br /><br />re-cap of my big fix-it (electrical)<br /><br />new battery cables and wiring throughout<br />new rectifier<br />new stator<br />all new magnets in the flywheel, glued in the proper orientation with the proper goo.<br />new power packs<br />new ignition coils and plugs<br />new starter motor<br /><br />I bought a new solenoid but have not installed it.<br /><br /><br />so, again and again, people have it pointed out to them that their electrical problems with power packs and stators are the result of a bad rectifier. so, I ran the simple rectifier test that I found described elsewhere on iboats. with my ammeter, and I get a big (but transient) current deflection when I test the rectifier leads against ground one way, but when I reverse the leads, the deflection is small, just a blip. my batteries charge, but there is ONE TIME that I cut battery power while the engine was running. I was worried that I may have killed my rectifier with this, but I checked it immediately after and it passed the test as I described above. now the rectifier has two yellow leads that come out of it. one has a grey stripe- does it matter which of the stator leads is connected to which of the rectifier leads? my rpms read fine, and ground is good. <br /><br />I will email pictures to anyone who is interested, but all they will show is the shiny new stator and another picture shows the shiny bits of metal that are somehow jumping off of the (dead centermost part) of the triple layered metal guards on the aftmost two coils. any ideas whats up? the rest of the stator looks fine, but I figure that I am already in for a new one. should I get a new rectifier also?? I will wait to hear this time before doing anything.<br /><br />thanks, seahawk in seattle<br />beachamd@yahoo.com

 

[Joe Reeves]

Re: Return of the Stator/Rectifier Nightmare

If the tachometer was working and the battery voltage was okay, I'd hold off on the regulator/rectifier purchase for now.<br /><br />The problem with having the retainer plates of the powerpack charge coils flake apart is a new one to me, something I've never encountered. Is there any evidence of the flywheel magnets hitting those coils?

 

[Beacham]

Re: Return of the Stator/Rectifier Nightmare

there doesnt seem to be any evidence that the flywheel is touching the coils. there is some scuffing of the flywheel magnets, but as far as I can tell, its from the coils flaking off. further, when you look dead-on at the charge coils, the metal that is coming off is not in line with the rotation of the flywheel. its wierd. so, looking at the charge coils, imagine a center line between them. the metal that is flaking off is to either side of center. the outer parts of the metal surface are intact. its tough to explain, but there are three layers of metal, and the flaking is the outer two layers (so far) but only in the center half of each of the two coils. I'll email a picture to you. <br /><br />could there be some kind of polarity issue that could be pushing the coils outward? I had no indication about which of the recifier leads (both yellow, one with a stripe) lead to which of the stator leads. if this was reversed, could that cause some kind of problem? I glued the magnets in as diagrammed, with the little notches on each of the magnets facing down, toward the underside of the flywheel. could there be some wierd magnetic field thing that is pulling on the charge coils from the center? you'll see what I mean when you look at the picture I am sending to your email. <br /><br />the new stator and rectifier is from sierra...<br /><br />thanks in advance for any help.<br /><br />dan beacham

 

[Beacham]

Re: Return of the Stator/Rectifier Nightmare

..my mistake, the parts that are flaking off are the inner halves of the retainer plates, not the coils themselves. the glue around the coils looks fine, but one of the bits I recovered was a chunk of glue. again, what is wierd is that the retainer plates are flaking from the center outward, not with the rotation of the flywheel.

 

[Beacham]

Re: Return of the Stator/Rectifier Nightmare

in case anyone else is reading, joe reeves responded in email to some pictures I sent him, and I wrote back:<br /><br />Joe:<br />Uh-Oh Dan..... What you call notches, actually beveled areas should be facing the open area of the flywheel. That is, with the flywheel sitting on the bench in an upside down position, those beveled areas should be facing you.<br /><br />It's possible I am misunderstanding your explanation as the "facing down" statement would be true when the flywheel is installed.... but on the workbench when one is installing the magnets, that meaning is reversed.<br /><br />In looking at the pictures of the stator coils.... I've never seen anything like that. The center yoke of one coil looks black/burnt but that may simply be the picture exposure. However, if it is black/burnt, the only occasion I've ever come across that scenario is when the magnet would be scraping it. Is that stator by any chance a 3rd party stator rather than a factory stator?<br /><br />Joe Reeves<br /><br /><br />Me:<br />right, you got it. with the flywheel upside down on the bench, magnet-access side up, I glued them in with the notches facing me. thats what is shown in the diagram contained in the magnet kit. I am pretty sure that the magnets are right, but just wanted confirmation, which you gave. the notches, or bevels face the underside of the flywheel when it is mounted on the motor, and face upward at me when it is off and on my workbench, upside down.<br /><br />the center yokes of the charge coils dont look disfigured and there is no char on the surface. they are both black in color, and there is no chafing on them that would indicate they were contacting the flywheel. its especially wierd, because the retainer plates, which are flaking off, are actually recessed relative to the center yokes, which protrude about 1/8 inch from the surface of the outermost retainer plate. only the center-facing halves of the retainer plates are breaking off, on both sides.<br /><br />looking at the parts of the center plate that have not flaked off, on either side of center, the surface is kind of white and ashy-oxidized. is this normal?<br /><br />the stator and rectifier are both sierra brand, but again spanking new. less than ten hours on them. can you tell me if you are supposed to match one particular rectifier lead with one particular stator lead? both stator leads are yellow, as are both rectifier leads, but one of the rectifier leads has a grey stripe. should this grey striped rectifier lead go to the port or starbord of the two yellow stator leads? does it matter?<br /><br /><br />thanks, dan

 

[seahorse5]

Re: Return of the Stator/Rectifier Nightmare

If you had a factory stator, there would be no question about the warranty, and they also pay the labor and for any other parts damaged by the covered part.<br /><br />As for Sierra's warranty, they have one but it may take some time as you may have to send the stator in to them for inspection, then wait for their answer. See the person from whom you purchased the parts.<br /><br />Unless you have a worn upper crankshaft bearing that allowed the flywheel to hit the stator, I'll be the metal plates were not secured correctly during manufacture.<br /><br />I am assuming that after all your repairs that you installed lockwashers and hex nuts on your battery terminals instead of wing nuts, right?

 

[muskrat]

Re: Return of the Stator/Rectifier Nightmare

is there any of the boats wiring harness hooked into the engines wiring harness at could the making a ground short.

 

[Beacham]

Re: Return of the Stator/Rectifier Nightmare

as far as I can tell, the flywheel clears the stator coils all the way around. maybe that changes when the motor is running, like you said, due to a worn upper crankshaft bearing. but again, there is no evidence of anything having rubbed the insides of the magnets, just scuff marks where the charge coil retainer bits have come off a piece at a time.<br /><br />seahorse- I used hex nuts and lock washers- I have read your posts before!<br /><br />..as far as the boat and engine wiring harness, I am not sure what you mean. there is an engine wiring harness; that is grounded to the negative terminal of my battery, and up in the console, I installed switched terminal posts, also connected to hot and ground of the battery. my sacrificial anode needs replaced, but I am not sure how this could fit in. <br /><br />in any event, I will take it back to fisheries supply; hopefully they will help me out. for my next stator, I will definitely use johnson/omc! <br /><br />one last question; if the flywheel was hitting the coils, it would be pretty obvious, right? I mean, your would expect to see something worn out and rubbed down. its only been on for ten hours or runtime or so (less, really) but if theer was contact I figured that I would know right away. I could hear distinctly when each of the retainer plate bits peeled up in there- it was pretty loud.

 

[Beacham]

Re: Return of the Stator/Rectifier Nightmare

well I am going to return the stator for inspection and hopefully a refund, but I know that money back on electrical components is a rare occurance.<br /><br /><br />just to double check, it would be really obvious if there was rubbing between the flywheel and the coils, wouldnt it? there would be some part that was worn down, or some lines on the soft inner surfaces of the magnets, right? all I can see is some recent scuffing that looks like it probably happened during the short time that it took each of the bits to flake off of the charge coil retainers. maybe bad glue.<br /><br /><br />last I had the flywheel off, I half-considered replacing the upper crankshaft bearing, since I could see it. there doesnt appear to be any problem, but is that a major operation? I am pretty handy, but still have not gotten inside the motor. dont really want to, cause the thing runs like a top (especially now) but I am all about preventative maintainance. is the upper crankshaft bearing an easy thing to replace? its not outlined in my sealoc.<br /><br /><br />thnaks for your help in this,<br /><br /><br />dan beacham, seattle