09 Rhino Electrical Problems

Today when I was out on the rhino I couldn't get it to start after I shut it off.
When I turned the key the solenoid just clicked away in the battery box.
I turned my display to battery and it read 10.2 V
Seeing as I had forgot my cell phone, I had to walk most of the way home (not to self always carry you phone)
Once I got back I boosted it with my truck and it started right up, but the whole way home the highest the display would read was 11 - 11.4 V and by the time I got it in the shed it was under 10.

So can any one tell me what is going on with it? Is it the stator, or do you think I might be lucky and just have a bad battery?
I will take the battery out and charge it up and have it tested first but if any one has and info it would be greatly appreciated.

Even with a bad battery you should be showing higher than 12 volts while the engine is running. If you have a manual start looking through the section for checking the charging system.

That's pretty much what mine done...had to replace the stator.

Any one else have any ideas???
How much is a new stator, and how hard is it to change?

renegademxz wrote:

Any one else have any ideas???
How much is a new stator, and how hard is it to change?

They cost enough that you will want to test it to be sure that it is indeed bad. To test it you need to unplug the connector that carries 3 white wires, coming from the stator. You will find that connector essentially lying on the bellypan right behind the stator. The stator is inside of a cover on the passengers side. That cover also supports the 'leafblower fan' on a 660.

Using a multimeter, set it to the AC Volt scale that will show 20 volts and not over-run the meter. This is AC and not DC voltage, so make sure the meter is set correctly. With the engine running, measure between any 2 of the 3 contact pins in the stator side connector, being careful not to short between any of the wires with the probes. You should see something like 20 Volts AC, within perhaps 5 VAC. If that looks OK, move only one of the probes to the 3rd wire and read that voltage. If that looks OK, then move the probe that you did not move before, to the pin that you are not probing now. This is the 3rd voltage measurement and if it is around 20 VAC as well, this part of the test says that the stator is probably OK.

Another description of the testing sequence between 3 identical looking white wires: In your mind's eye, label them 1, 2 and 3 (in any order). You will first be measuring between wires 1 and 2. Then you will be measuring between wires 2 and 3 (probe moved from 1 to 3). The last measurement is between 3 and 1 (probe moved from 2 to 1). This shows that you have measured all of the possible combinations of 'between 2 wires' that there are. Another possibly confusing thing is that since this is AC voltage, there is no positive or negative polarity to worry about. It does not matter which color probe is on which wire, every step along the way.

The last test that the stator has to pass, to be deemed good, is a ground isolation test. Switch the meter to Ohms scale, the lowest or second to lowest range. Look for "Ohms" and not for K (which stands for KiloOhms; 1,000 Ohms) and not M (which stands for MegaOhms; 1,000,000 Ohms). To check your meter, put the metal tips of the probes together and you should see a low reading. It should be reading 0.00 but the probes themselves have some resistance, so there may be a small reading. this reading is the lead resistance of the probes themselves and should be well under 1 or 2 Ohms. This is the number you will see when you have a dead short in what you are measuring. When the probes are not touching, you should see a very high resistance, no movement from the bottom of the scale on an analog (speedometer dial type) meter, or usually an OL symbol on a digital meter. The test, with the engine OFF, then is to measure between each one of the white wires and ground (engine case). You should see a very high resistance, with a digital meter it will show the OL symbol (OVerLoad, or infinite resistance).

If the meter does not show a short to ground with any of the 3 wires and shows the proper AC voltage between all of the combinations of any 2 of the white wires, it is good.

since you don't have a book Steve, I'm going to start printing all this good info out and making my own...lol

ASPENDELL ROVER wrote:

since you don't have a book Steve, I'm going to start printing all this good info out and making my own...lol

Ha, Ha. Fine by me, this world needs more organization of the information within it. Just don't copyright it, such that I cannot say it again, eh?

Steve, 
wow very informative, thanks for the tip.

it will be with all my other tools that I use "once in a blue moon"...btw I got nitrogen set-up

ASPENDELL ROVER wrote:

it will be with all my other tools that I use "once in a blue moon"...btw I got nitrogen set-up

Good enough! Now you will be able to touch up your pressure for every ride. BTW, a little tip regarding checking for pressure loss if you should ever suspect a leak: There is so little volume of gas in the shock that you cannot simply push a 'tire gauge' type of device onto it to accurately measure the pressure. What happens then is that a small amount of gas is withdrawn from the shock to fill the innards of the gauge, this will cause it to read a little lower than it actually was before you put the gauge on it. To determine if you have lost any pressure, set your filler line pressure to the pressure that you expect the shock to have in it. Then shut off the tank side so the filler line is simply holding that pressure. At that point, you can open the valve between the filler line and the shock. If the pressure in the shock was indeed what you expected it to be, it will not show any change in pressure on the gauge. If the shock was indeed lower than you expected, the gauge reading will drop. The change in pressure is not an accurate measurement of the actual loss in pressure in the shock (a chamber volume related thing), but it will tell you that you indeed had a loss of some sort. Also, the pressure within the shock will be quite temperature dependent, the pressure will go up as the shock gets hot with usage, etc.

And...... Now you will be able to fill your tires with that Dry Nitrogen, that they tout so much at the tire shops, when you are out in the boonies! Just don't go SCUBA diving with that tank.... LOL

thanks steve, I'm like a cat, water is not my favorite, hence I live in the desert called CA..lol

ASPENDELL
that is a nice picture of your kit on your rino. looks good

 SteveS wrote:

ASPENDELL ROVER wrote:

it will be with all my other tools that I use "once in a blue moon"...btw I got nitrogen set-up

Good enough! Now you will be able to touch up your pressure for every ride. BTW, a little tip regarding checking for pressure loss if you should ever suspect a leak: There is so little volume of gas in the shock that you cannot simply push a 'tire gauge' type of device onto it to accurately measure the pressure. What happens then is that a small amount of gas is withdrawn from the shock to fill the innards of the gauge, this will cause it to read a little lower than it actually was before you put the gauge on it. To determine if you have lost any pressure, set your filler line pressure to the pressure that you expect the shock to have in it. Then shut off the tank side so the filler line is simply holding that pressure. At that point, you can open the valve between the filler line and the shock. If the pressure in the shock was indeed what you expected it to be, it will not show any change in pressure on the gauge. If the shock was indeed lower than you expected, the gauge reading will drop. The change in pressure is not an accurate measurement of the actual loss in pressure in the shock (a chamber volume related thing), but it will tell you that you indeed had a loss of some sort. Also, the pressure within the shock will be quite temperature dependent, the pressure will go up as the shock gets hot with usage, etc.

And...... Now you will be able to fill your tires with that Dry Nitrogen, that they tout so much at the tire shops, when you are out in the boonies! Just don't go SCUBA diving with that tank....  LOL

If a person had to "touch up" the pressure before each ride ; wouldn't that be an indication of having a leak ??  Or ,  are they like cold and hot air pressure in a tire ??...

don't worry about it Scott, your springs don't run nitrogen...lol

No , my springs don't ...but...the Elkas holding them do !!! Damned CA know it alls ...lol !!

Finally got around to testing my stator today, Not sure if I am testing the right plugs but mine has one big plug with 2 big white wires and then on single plug with one white wire.
I tested between them when it was running and got 20 volts on one combination, and then 1.5 volts on the other combination. So I take it my stator is toast????

renegademxz wrote:

Finally got around to testing my stator today, Not sure if I am testing the right plugs but mine has one big plug with 2 big white wires and then on single plug with one white wire.
I tested between them when it was running and got 20 volts on one combination, and then 1.5 volts on the other combination. So I take it my stator is toast????

Yes, it would look that way. All 3 possible combinations have to read somewhere around 20 volts AC for it to be good. The 700 has a different connector setup which makes it a little easier to describe the test connection combinations. 1: single wire connector to one of the 2 wire connector pins. 2: single wire connector to the other 2 wire connector pin. 3: One of the 2 wire connector pins to the other 2 wire connector pin.

I have one just don't know the shipping charges to you. I'd sell this one for $125. Pulled out of my running rhino and replaced but that wasn't the issue and I  just want taking it back out. It's fairly easy to change, hardest part is cleaning the gasket material off the motor.

Replace the stator, when reinstalling it be careful the magnet it very strong and it may pull the cover in quickly damaging your gasket if not aligned.

I got the cover off and the stator is toast, there is a few of the coils on one side that are all black.
When I took the cover off I left the water pump on it, hope the slot in the shaft lines back up properly when I put it back on but as long as I don't move anything it should be fine, or are you suppose to take the water pump off first? Also what does the tiny chain in the back drive? is it adjustable or how tight does it need to be?

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renegademxz wrote:

I got the cover off and the stator is toast, there is a few of the coils on one side that are all black.
When I took the cover off I left the water pump on it, hope the slot in the shaft lines back up properly when I put it back on but as long as I don't move anything it should be fine, or are you suppose to take the water pump off first? Also what does the tiny chain in the back drive? is it adjustable or how tight does it need to be?

I believe it's the water pump drive. Mine was a sloppy too. The only way to adjust it would be to remove a link or replace it. But I bet a new one is just as sloppy.

Got the new stator in the rhino and it works great, the gauge now reads 14 - 14.5 volts
Thanks for all the input guys.

Cool glad to hear it.