I am in the process of replacing my 5th gen stator that has 61,000 miles on it. I think that would be considered a long stator life, but I really don't know why it gradually failed to produce adequate power, for the following reasons.
1. The Stator coils are ungrounded and showing no continuity.
2. Stator field resistance shows within spec .5 ohm on all three fields.
So if the stator is not shorted out/grounding and the field coils have normal pathway resistance, why would it not produce power as designed?
This question leads me to this proposition. Half of the coils sit in motor oil and this causes a semi crusty baked on oil buildup. Could the baked on oil build up somehow cause a weaker magnetism transfer (or flux leak) to the coils? If that was the case, possibly removing the carbon buildup on the coils would solve the problem. I might giver that a try just to satisfy my curiosity.
Any other ideas why the stator fails when it should be good?