Input on Buddy 125 stator

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DeeDee
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Location: Denver

Input on Buddy 125 stator

Post by DeeDee »

Good evening MB. I'm looking for help from anyone who knows about the Buddy stator. I had a recurring burning smell coming from my flywheel fan shroud for the last 3 or 4 rides. I pulled the stator and harness today. There was a fairly heavy layer of greasy dirt on everything, but no burnt wires or screaming signs of arcing. I cleaned everything off w/ electrical contact cleaner and a solvent brush. I found some small dark spots on the epoxy coating of the insulated pole. Everything smells like solvent at this point. What do you say Buddy think tank? Is this where my smell is coming from? Thank you in advance.
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Buddy 125 stator with 15,000 miles
Buddy 125 stator with 15,000 miles
Screenshot 2023-01-07 5.10.45 PM.png (341.25 KiB) Viewed 3228 times
Less chit chat, more riding, Buddy 50, 125, 170i, RH50, Yamaha C3
scootERIK
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Re: Input on Buddy 125 stator

Post by scootERIK »

I went and looked at 3 OEM stators and one of them has a few small black spots in the grease/epoxy on the white pole. My spots are smaller than the ones in the picture(I can take a picture tomorrow if you want to see.) The other two had nothing in the grease. Mostly they are just covered in dust and grime. Also, due to some laziness and not thinking I didn't label all of them to know if they are working or not so I don't know if the ones with black spots is working or not(at least not without more time.)

If I was in your situation I would install the NCY stator because the OEM stators seem to fail a lot especially on older scooters(and the NCY ones seem to be pretty darn good.) If that fixes the problem you know the stator was bad. Worst case it doesn't fix the problem but you will have a better stator and more information to use to diagnose the actual issue.
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DeeDee
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Re: Input on Buddy 125 stator

Post by DeeDee »

Thank you for the reply. I'm betting a breach in the epoxy is causing a small arc. When I put a voltmeter on my battery before I took it apart, everything was acting like it should. I'm in here because of a burning smell coming out of the fan shroud. I'd get a whiff of it at stop signs, then a much stronger smell when I shut the scooter down. All of the surrounding wiring looks good. The smell was isolated to the fan shroud opening. I could smell nothing when I removed the seat bucket. I have a donor 125 here w/ 5,000 miles on it. I'll probably pull the stator from it and install.
Less chit chat, more riding, Buddy 50, 125, 170i, RH50, Yamaha C3
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DeeDee
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Re: Input on Buddy 125 stator

Post by DeeDee »

I pulled the stator off my donor scooter and installed it. It was really clean compared to the one I pulled out of my bike. I ran out of daylight. I'll put some miles on it tomorrow, and see if the smell is gone.
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20230108_135050.jpg
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Less chit chat, more riding, Buddy 50, 125, 170i, RH50, Yamaha C3
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DeeDee
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Re: Input on Buddy 125 stator

Post by DeeDee »

I wanted to post a follow up in case anybody else is in the same positon. Swapping out my stator with the lower mileage used one got rid of the burning smell. Scooterworks still offers the NCY stator on Amazon for under $50 w/ free shipping (hard to believe with as expensive as everything has become). I bought one to have on hand.
Last edited by DeeDee on Sun Jan 22, 2023 5:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Less chit chat, more riding, Buddy 50, 125, 170i, RH50, Yamaha C3
Neil82
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Re: Input on Buddy 125 stator

Post by Neil82 »

Thanks for the follow up post and tip on where to source part. Could be valuable for others as it sounds like stator is problematic at times on the Buddy.
2022 Buddy 170i
scootERIK
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Re: Input on Buddy 125 stator

Post by scootERIK »

Neil82 wrote: Sun Jan 22, 2023 2:58 pm Thanks for the follow up post and tip on where to source part. Could be valuable for others as it sounds like stator is problematic at times on the Buddy.
The stator in the 125(and maybe 150) is a weak spot. I believe the quality of the OEM stators has gotten better. But if you have an older 125/150 there is a good chance you are going to have to replace it(2009 and 2008 are some of the worst years.) After two failed OEM stators I went to the NCY one and have been trouble free(my first NCY stator has about 50k* on it, the OEM stators failed at 8k and 5k.) At this point I won't put more than 1-3k on a stock stator before I swap it out for the NCY. If you can do the work yourself the $50 is a great investment for better reliability, but if you have to pay the shop it might be a little harder to justify the $50 plus 1.5 hours of shop labor.

If your stator fails and you have a shop do the repair make sure you get the NCY. When my first stator failed I had the shop install an OEM stator and it cost me about $180 for parts and labor and then that stator failed 5,000 miles later. That was an expensive mistake.


*I have two NCY stators, the first has 45-60k on it and the second one has probably 45k+ and both still work. I would have to check my notes to get more accurate miles.
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DeeDee
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Re: Input on Buddy 125 stator

Post by DeeDee »

I noticed a couple of other improvements on newer Buddys: Rear shock is now marked forsa, and the gas tank cap gasket doesn't crumble apart like on the older scooters. I just picked up a 2016 Buddy 50.
Less chit chat, more riding, Buddy 50, 125, 170i, RH50, Yamaha C3
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