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Photo by Carl Parker, Always curious Tibetans, Tibet, China

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Photo by Carl Parker,
Always curious Tibetans,
Tibet, China



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Old 13 Sep 2016
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Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Estonia
Posts: 787
DRZ issues

Need help here!

Wife's 2007 DRZ stopped charging in Mongolia. Before the trip I put on "improved" high-output stator and rectifier kit (over $150 kit). Locktited the bolts and all, so it wasn't loose. See the pic. Heat expansion maybe? Or the epoxy glue has peeled off the stator and created sandpaper effect?

WTF happened?





Flywheel was strangely scratched more from one side than another (running off-center?), don't have a pic. I moved the flywheel laterally with my hands as forcefully as I could, flywheel didn't seem to be loose. So I smell it's the loose epoxy that' the cause (see it peels off from the top parts).

Anyway's, we're currently screwed in Mongolia in the middle of nowhere.

Bike's just barely reached 70Kkm, hence a very low mileage for a travel bike.

It wasn't loose like it happens mostly on DRZs, I did locktite the stator down, also it's an upgraded stator and rectifier/regulator setup (stronger build, more robust and high output, according to the manufacturer at least) since I did some homework on DRZ's weak spots before going on the long road. But even this "better" stator setup went bust, I guess it's either our bad luck or the Suzuki designers and engineers have done a bad job on this part of the engine (and also the top end longetivity and the CV carb issues we have, compression we measured well over 30% under nominal). Well okey, with the fuel smelling hands the carb can be fiddled to work again on most cases (it's a real bitch to get it out from the DRZ!), but let's see how things go with more serious parts, if we somehow magically get the stator repaired and then the top end goes bust (no compression) then maybe have to abandon the poor DRZ on the Mongolian roadside I guess... We simply can't find that fancy Nikasil treatment over a re-bore in this part of the world and buying a complete new top end costs more than the bike itself here with all the shipping and excessive import costs.

Not sure what to do with it.

Wife is riding it so mildly and carefully like a baby, never revving hard etc, with my riding style I'd kill this bike a hell lot sooner Imho. Its carefully serviced, high quality fully synthetic oils, air filter clean and always properly oiled, valves checked, etc. Hence unbelieavably fragile and short-lasting bike really considering how much hype the DRZ gets, "Made in Japan" quality etc bs made us believe its a good bike. Our 20 years old and 300 000 on odo Bmw never let us down like that, never touched its EFI etc, it just keeps going and compression is still like a brand new engine. Talk about build quality difference.
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