Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech Ignition/Firing issues

I have had my 2003 America for just over 12 months, serviced and ran ok all last year, after market pipes, AI removed, about 3 weeks ago when I started it up it was only running on one cylinder, Left. After a few minutes with me fiddling about the Right kicked in and ran all day ok. This Friday it started up on one cylinder, Left running, eventually with me turning on and off and further fiddling it ran ok, went out for a ride with my sons. Stopped for a coffee and the same thing happened, decided to limp it home on the one cylinder, after 2 miles the right cylinder kicked in and it was fine all the way home. On Saturday rode it to my local garage, after 1 mile both cylinders running, After explaining to the mechanic the symptoms I was experiencing he pointed to another America and said I needed a new Ignition Control Unit (ICU). Well I rode it home and did a few checks, took the tank off, checked connections to the coils and ICU, checked coil leads and plugs, changed coils and plug leads over, checked plugs all ok just no firing on right even after swapping coils and leads, put everything back as found. Still only firing on one cylinder.
My question is
1. Is there anything else I should be looking for
And can anyone wave there magic wand as the weather here is fantastic and the wife says I am a grumpy old man (could have been one without the hoss being on the blink)

Well Its been 6 hrs and I've not touched anything. Just fired her up and both cylinders are firing, in my humble opinion either the ICU is faulty or someone has waved that magic wand.

Sure does sound like a typical intermittant ignitor issue (ICU). One of the things to check before you condemn it completely is to pull the right hand cover off and check the pickup coil clearance. It should be .8mm. The earlier models were set up at 1mm and it was too much clearance. This could cause a poor pulse code to the ignitor. You will have to replace the gasket if you pull the cover. Make sure you leave your engine on the sidestand to keep any oil from falling out.

Do you have access to a known good ignitor to swap out. If the pickup coil clearance issue doesn't help, this is the next best step. Pro Com Engineering makes a replacement ignitor for a lot less than the Triumph original.

Thanks Gregger,
Will get a gasket this week, checked out Pro com and got a price from Kyle, even with import duty and VAT it still works out at half price for Triumph part, someone else has mentioned Ignitech from the Czech Republic. I have emailed them to see if they do a replacement part. www.ignitech.cz

No problem. Fast Eddie also sells this unit if you're interested. He's one of the best Triumph accessory suppliers and is a member of this forum.

Good luck with the diagnosis.

Thought i'd give an update. Received Procom unit from Procom, great service. All in about £250 including customs duty. Changed unit using map 4, fired up both cylinders, went for a spin but found it a bit sluggish at low revs. Changed setting to map 5 and the bike ran like it used to before the problems with the ECU. Overall I am a happy bunny, bikes back on the road and i've saved some money in the process, Only down side is the 10 days wait, luckily the weather hasn't been too good.

Glad to hear you got things running.