Christ what a load of smoke !!

[Rushy]

Had a 200 mile one way trip to do on the GS on Friday and had fettled the bike after a brief winter lay up including fitting a new battery.

She was very reluctant to start and was displaying symptoms of firing on one only.
Strong smell of petrol and a fear of having flooded her I tried to remove the spark plugs and clean them but no spanner in tool kit and nothing I had would touch it.

Tried a TPS rest twice , no joy. Was recommended too " give it a fist full " on start up to give it a load of air to go with the petrol. Success !!!!!!! Sort of

Cue a loud screeching noise on start up followed by smoke billowing out of the alternator cover. Hit kill switch.

Autopsy revealed a seized alternator , the bike started and then span and fried the belt.

Anybody know what a new alternator is gonna cost roughly please ?

2011 12GS with 55k miles on her.

 

[Wilde]

On ebay a few about £75.00 if that helps.

Sent from my LG-D855 using Tapatalk

 

[Nice 'n' Fat]

Did you wash the bike before standing it down?

 

[Rushy]

Did you wash the bike before standing it down?

No , but I did wash it a few days before firing it up .

 

[tanneman]

There are 2 alternator outputs for the GS. I believe the GSA has a higher rated output.

 

[Deleted account 211025001]

It's not the first time I've heard of that happening. You could try these guys for a recon unit LINKY

Otherwise, Motorworks for a 2nd hand unit?

Andres

 

[Deleted account 190920001]

You won't get a recon unit. The usual culprit with this is they rust internally expanding, seizing and splitting the case. Your old unit is affectively destroyed so none exchangeable. There are a couple of different types which aren't directly interchangeable so make sure you know which you have. They can be swapped but connections and stuff are different so it takes a bit of work.

 

[Nice 'n' Fat]

Did you wash the bike before standing it down?

No , but I did wash it a few days before firing it up .

As per post #7 ....... the water ingress probably did for it and the alternator could sadly now be scrap

 

[AberdeenAngus]

Jet wash ?

 

[Delboy777]

Happened to me, on my old GS exact same way too, and its more common than you might think. Thanks feck for warranty, bike recovered and new alternator fitted.

 

[bigmadstu]

No very handy on an "adventure" bike if water can get into the alternator and cause this problem. Wonder if this is very common and if it's worth doing something about it. I'm the type that likes to address potential problems before they arise.

 

[Packer]

There are 2 alternator outputs for the GS. I believe the GSA has a higher rated output.

GSA and servo equipped bikes have a higher output unit.

If it was only washed a couple of days previously I'd have thought it unlikely that rust could have formed fast enough to do serious damage. I'd try and pull the unit apart, perhaps replace the bearings.

 

[Nice 'n' Fat]

No very handy on an "adventure" bike if water can get into the alternator and cause this problem. Wonder if this is very common and if it's worth doing something about it. I'm the type that likes to address potential problems before they arise.

The problem occurs when the bike is left/stored wet or after washing and not thoroughly fired. This can cause corrosion within the alternator that leads to seizure and can cause a fracture of the alternator casing when cranking the motor over. The answer is to not to store your bike away wet or at least to get it all up to a working temperature so any moisture is driven out

 

[robb]

Washing a bike is vastly over rated and clearly causes more harm than good.
I'm an advocate of the keep riding no washing approach to winter.
Mine will get a proper bath in the spring, just lights and mirrors during the dark days.

 

[Delboy777]

The problem occurs when the bike is left/stored wet or after washing and not thoroughly fired. This can cause corrosion within the alternator that leads to seizure and can cause a fracture of the alternator casing when cranking the motor over. The answer is to not to store your bike away wet or at least to get it all up to a working temperature so any moisture is driven out

What he said

 

[Bendy toy]

Eventually time alone will do the deed. The rotor laminations corrode and expand. The rest is predictable. Its probably better to put the bike away warm so that any moisture can evaporate, but one time is really not going to cause a catastrophic failure.

On the other hand, using it regularly keeps the alternator warm and the water at bay. A bike in storage has more time for rust to develop inside the casing.