2009 Buell 1125R: engine overheating

5 of the 39 complaints about the 2009 Buell 1125R describe engine overheating.

owner complaints: 5
of this car's complaints: 13%
typical mileage: 3,706
recalls: 0

Is there a fix? 1 service bulletin covers this area of the car. See below

What owners say

Filed Mar 30, 2015 · Electrical, Engine · 3,450 miles · MI

Riding my 2009 buell 1125r, the oem stator overheated and fried 1 leg of the 3 leg stator. I had the harley davidson recall done on the bike and this made it worse, when going under 5k rpms the bike would overheat; which eventually LED to the stator frying. This caused the regulator to be fried as well since the stator goes directly to the stator. This also almost killed my battery. The harley davidson fix doesn't work and they should implement a better fix for the bike.

Filed May 2, 2013 · Engine · 1,400 miles · MO

Tl* the contact owns a 2009 buell 1125r. The contact stated that when the vehicle became hot and the engine fan would engage, the vehicle overheated and stalled. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was determined that the stator and the clutch had failed. The dealer replaced the original clutch and changed the wiring harness from a 4-charge to a 3-charge stator and clutch. The wiring harness failure also drained the battery prematurely. The contact changed the battery three times before discovering the failure. The dealer stated that the manufacturer was aware of the problem and had three different companies producing the wiring harness and stator for the clutch, but the failure had not been corrected. The failure mileage was 1,400 and the current mileage was 3,509.

Filed Oct 9, 2012 · Electrical · 10,000 miles · FL · fire

Tl* the contact owns a 2009 buell 1125r motorcycle. The contact stated that while driving 30 MPH, the vehicle stalled with the illumination of the low battery warning light. The vehicle was towed to the dealer for inspection where they stated that the stator needed to be replaced because it had overheated and burned out. The vehicle was repaired but the failure recurred. The manufacturer was notified and stated that the vehicle was no longer under warranty. The failure mileage was 10,000. The VIN was unavailable.

Filed Jul 12, 2011 · Electrical · 11,777 miles · FL

Tl* the contact owns a 2009 buell 1125r motorcycle. The contact was experiencing a recurring failure with the stator and voltage regulators overheating. While driving 50 MPH, the battery warning light illuminated and there was a reduction of all power. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where the stator and voltage regulator were replaced. The components had been replaced three times as a result of the stator and voltage regulator overheating. The failure did not begin until the system was upgraded by a previous dealer. The contact did not feel safe operating the vehicle. The failure mileage was 11,777.

Filed Jun 21, 2011 · Electrical · 3,706 miles · OH

The charging system on the 2009 buell 1125r and 1125cr has a design defect. While idling in traffic, the charging system will overheat and the stator will burn out and fail, causing the motorcycle to stall and cannot be restarted due to the battery being drained. This defect affects all 2009 buell 1125r and 1125cr motorcycles. Harley davidson (buell's parent company) is aware of the design defect and in march, 2010 released a 'fix' in the form of a charging harness upgrade. This 'fix' was installed on my motorcycle at 1,456 miles. My charging system completely failed at 3,706 miles. The 'fix' issued by harley davidson shuts off 1/3 of the stator leaving the motorcycle only 2/3 of the power listed in the specification. This is ultimately not enough power to operate all the electrical components on the motorcycle. Bright headlights cannot be used without causing the battery light to illuminate and ultimately draining the battery. At idle, the charging system cannot produce enough power to keep the battery charged. Several minutes of idling will cause the battery light to illuminate, then a 'system voltage error' will appear on the instrument cluster, then the headlights & turn signals will stop working, finally the motorcycle will stall. My entire charging system has been replaced (stator, voltage regulator, battery), and has been inspected several times by a harley davidson dealer and by a representative from harley davidson corporate. The situation has not improved. Harley davidson is either incapable or unwilling to solve this issue.