Welcome to the forum.

Something's not quite right, but at the same time, those numbers aren't "wrong" either....if the VR was dead, you'd be discharging way below 12V. Are you idling it, for those 30 minutes while monitoring voltage? The bike won't make 13-14+Volts while only idling, you gotta get the RPM up a bit.

The early 400s were known for bad VR's, BRP even released a recall regarding their failures, you can still find plenty of info online, just do a little google search, but I'd be shocked if yours lived this long. Still, even if it was, you've replaced it, so that should have addressed that.

The guys will tell you to never take a battery off the shelf and just put it on the bike and expect the stock charging system to pump it up, they're much more along the lines of "maintainers" than actual chargers. Did you charge the battery before install?

 

I checked it while idling then I checked it while it would get revved up with no change when the voltage would drop would be after riding it around for a little bit and no I didn't charge the battery before I put it on the battery read decent voltage so i figured it would be alright thanks for the response

 

Hmmm... in some instances I've read where the VR failures would damage the wiring harness as well, check your harness/wiring/connectors real good, see if something turns up.

 

I talked to a service department at a can am dealer they are saying its probably the stator

 

My thoughts would be if you have a battery charger/tender hook up battery to that, give it a good charge for a few days, then give it a ride and check the voltages.

To me at least charging the battery first seems cheaper and less labour intensive than the stator.


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I put the battery on the charge today I'll try it in a day or so and see if there's any change

 

Something about that doesn't sound right, to me. The stator is almost always practically an on/off "switch", it's either going to generate current or it's not. The voltage regulator is responsible for regulating the voltage to the battery, that the stator is generating via engine rpm.

If your stator coil had broken and/or was bad, it would generate 0 voltage, which isn't the case here.

Have you gone on any extended ride with the new VR and battery? I'm curious if you now actually have any system problems. What I mean is, if you're not running the headlights, running the winch, sitting on the brake pedal- in other words, demanding a lot of system voltage, you wouldn't exactly "see" a lot of voltage, just popping off the spark plug, which would explain what you're perceiving to be "low" numbers on your multimeter.

 

I haven't went on a extended ride yet but I thinking the shop I talked to was thinking stator due to when checking the voltage when revving it the numbers didn't go up I also have a Kawasaki brute force and I checked it the same way when I rev it up the numbers go up

 

Well, another 2004 Bombardier! Mine is a 300? or 330 - bought it used ten years ago (or more) and ran it for a number of years with 'battery issues.' Had a dealer swap out my battery (and lose my original!) and offer myriad suggestions and $$$pensive repair suggestions. I was avoiding replacing the regulator as it seemed to be a 'black box' and I didn't understand how it 'should' work enough to test it. Finally, I bought a new one and the problem was solved. Before that, the Stator was suggested as a potential culprit in my case as well.

The regulator was a cheaper repair and one I could handle in my sleep. So I went for it. I can find the Mfg if you think it might help.

My question is "Why did you replace the regulator when you did?" **

BTW Before I replaced the regulator, I noticed that the headlights didn't seem to vary in brightness as one gave it the gas an let off (as I recall it doing in my older chevy's and such). With the new regulator, I don't think it does either! I will check this out tomorrow to be certain.


** Did the dealer do the R&R of the Regulator (and battery)? If you put the old regulator back, does anything change?

As has been said, it would seem that the stator either works or it does not. A service manual should offer the SPECS and Test Points to check to verify that the STATOR is putting out the volts and amps required.

You wrote "... would run for 5 hours then just die ... " Then what? How did you get it home? Were you able to start it or not? You have run it since, but did not tell us what transpired between the point at which you said 'it died' and the next time 'it died.' That is, what did you do to bring it back to life each time?

 

After it would die we would jump it it would run for a short time then die again ended up trailering it home replaced the voltage regulator because my local atv mechanic felt it was that as long as the battery us charged it runs great I dont know much about this stuff thus why I'm asking for opinions I haven't tried the old regulator my local mechanic offered me to bring it in saturday morning said he doesn't have to room to take it in yet but he said he would check things over for me and let me know what he thinks it is

 

"...replaced the voltage regulator because my local atv mechanic..."

I tried last night - reving the motor to see if the headlights got brighter/dimmer as the RPM changed. Nothing I could notice!

OK, did your local man replace the VR?

Or, did he suggest doing it and you bought one and did the swap?

Regardless, the new VR is either defective, or the VR was not the problem in the 1st place.

Do you know how to test the VR (Maybe ask the vendor you got if from)?

Can you return the VR for a replacement?

If you re-install the old VR is there any difference? BTW I think you were only checking VOLTAGE (as I recall your original post) and I THINK checking amperage might be required to verify the regulator's operation. The VR Vendor or MFG should be able to provide a VR test procedure. The Bombardier people should be able to provide the STATOR test procedure.

Try You Tube - I found the following:

Basically, determining where the problem is which component(s) are failing is STEP ONE. Note that even Bombardier Dealers have a hard time finding decent mechanics - like the one I relied upon at a fancy dealership - and they are the dealers most likely to have the repair manuals on hand. A generic repair shop or a dealer for another brand may not have access to Bombardier's resources.

Hope the videos shed some light.

BTW I simply went to You Tube and typed "bombardier voltage regulator" in the search field. "bombardier stator" might work as well or "testing Bombardier Stator?"

Process of elimination . . .

Good luck

 

The residual juice your battery takes while on jumper cables was enough to run the bike for a little longer, but without the charging system functioning, it would eventually discharge to the point of killing the bike again.

That new voltage regulator should have resolved your issue, I'm curious as to why it didn't.

 

Hopefully saturday morning we all will know why

 

Well just got everything looked over by the mechanic he said on the 3 yellow wires coming from the stator I'm getting a short to ground on them

 

I found:
If you are having problems with charging, you should first check your stator since its job is to provide the extra power needed to charge the battery during operation. If the stator doesn't provide enough power, the battery will begin to drain. For troubleshooting, the stator connector that runs to the engine m ust be unplugged. With the connector unplugged, you can test the stator for both resistance and voltage.
To begin, you should first check for continuity from the terminal tabs of the connector and then see if anything goes to the ground. Set your multimeter to Ohms to check this. First, use the multimeter leads to check the resistance of the tabs by checking A to B, B to C and then A to C. The multimeter should read under 1 Ohm for all three (make sure to take into account the resistance between the leads). Readings over 1.5 Ohms are an indication that the stator is faulty.

Next, check to make sure nothing is going to ground by connecting the red lead to the connector and the black lead to the negative terminal of the battery. This should be an open circuit and the meter should not read anything. If it does, the stator is faulty.
Now, switch your multimeter to read AC voltage. To check for voltage, the motorcycle must be running and should be at about 2000 rpm. Then, measure the voltage from tab to tab, just like before. The actual number of the voltage is not terribly important. What you are looking for is that all three of the numbers are similar. If the voltage numbers are more than a few apart, the stator is faulty.

How to Diagnose Motorcycle Electrical Problems - Dennis Kirk

Electrical issues on a motorcycle can be the most frustrating to deal with. Follow this troubleshooting guide to help you find what’s actually wrong.

www.denniskirk.com

Now you can double check his work!