I have an 03 buell xb9s with jardine pipe, taylor wires, ngk plugs, and the white wire mod. Under moderate acceleration I've noticed that the low beam will go dim at night. Is this normal?
Check your Battery terminals under your seat. Sometimes they come lose due to the vibration of the bike. If it is not that do a voltage check(You can get them at any radio shack or wal mart). Start your bike and check to see if the bike is putting out at least 14V. If it is not sounds like you Voltage regulator is starting to go.( about a 95.00 fix) worse case stattor. I had the same problem with my bike a couple weeks back and mine turned out to be a lose battery connection. Fixed it with two lock washers and have not had a problem since. jbirwin
I just replaced the spark plugs and wires. When I did this I put some dielectrical grease on the upper grounding terminal. I did this because I read on here that it would help with misfires in the rain. But it would make since that the regulator is going out. Is there anyway to test the regulator if everything is checking out ok?
Ok so I just found this Voltage Regulator Connector Update Doc. Have you taken a look at this connector. It seems that if you have problem with the regulator blowing out it might be due to a faulty connector. I'm going to check mine in the am.
That's something I put together ages ago - can't hurt to check and it will only cost you 15-20 mins of time. Have a look at the simplified circuit diagram in there and you can see where you should be checking for poor connections. The '77 is very common but the '46 connector on the regulator input isn't unheard of either.
Whatever you do don't just look at it and assume all is good because it isn't burnt / melted. You just have to do a search on this through old posts here and you will see lots of BS about 'looking' at the connector. The DC output of this regulator can run just over 30 amps so the slightest resistance will drop enough voltage to impact charging.
The service manuals on this site have the details of checking the stator output as well - failed stators are not uncommon. The battery connections and the associated ground connections should also be double checked. Go easy with the dielectric grease - by its very nature it is an insulator so clean the connections so they are electrically good and use the grease to keep out the elements and resulting corrosion.
