Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech Failure of my second R/R in Two Years

Hi all,

I have a quick question, was the failure of my second R/R in two years not simply bad luck but perhaps a symptom of our inferior R/R conncectors as per this thread

Some of you may remember I am still trying to track down why my bike simply lost all power and stopped, but started again three minutes later.

It did this three times in continuous succession on a 50klm ride recently, (i.e. started, lost power, stopped, rode for 3klm's, lost power etc x 3).

So I am going to replace the side stand switch just so it's not a factor (for bike stopping) but would appreciate an answer to my original question just in case there happens to be a possible link between both occurrences i.e. R/R replacements and bike conking out.

As always, thanks to all and sundry who may be able to help me track down 'the why's and wherefors' of my electrical woes

Cheers
stacka

Hey Stacka
Just a thought?

My brotherinlaw has a Thunderbird 1600, he had charging problems at 2 years and 10,000k. They diagnosed crook rectifier, and replaced. But it produced the same problem within 2 days and 50k, back to the shop again and many calls to Triumph head office, any way it turned out to be the connector plug arrangement.

So perhaps it is not your rectifier, but just poor contacts in the connector plug.

Stacka, that regulator works by shunting the excess voltage to ground. If the regulator wasn't seeing a good earth it would overheat causing it to fail. Could be the hidden culprit in a repeat failure. That's my bet, and it could begin at the connector.

Regarding that side stand switch... if you're gonna get down on your knees to mess with the thing anyway, why not just bypass it altogether? Just a thought.

just take the switch off & you'll never have to worry about it again. you'll save some cash too!

Thanks guys for your help on this one again. Regarding having a good earth, I can take it I'd be better off putting in a better connector and checking out, cleaning and Di-electric greasing the ground wire. Can anyone confirm this one with me?

Regarding the side stand switch, I did think about that one but didn't know how to do it. As I've already ordered the side stand switch, I suppose I could get the workshop at the dealers to do it for me instead. I am concerned that in a few years their is a possibility for problems again. Yeah, I think I would be better off having it bypassed. Just another problem I can forget forever. Thanks for confirming what I should have just done in the first place.

Of course I could also ask you guys how to bypass the side stand switch ???

change the damn Gill coils to some Nology ones. When they start to fail the ecu will shut down the bike, but you can start it right back up after you cycle the switch off and on.

Thanks Dennis.

Atm I believe I have two independent electrical problems with my speedmaster. It appears Triumph weren't too good in supplying failsafe electrical components for the earlier bikes and I'm now paying for it reliability wise.

My first priority is to fix this problem of stopping for no reason. I'll get rid of the side stand switch and as you suggest Dennis, replace the coils.

The other issue is to do with the connection I have to my R/R. I would appreciate it is someone could direct to which connectors I need to buy from this supplier though. Otherwise I'll contact the supplier myself and ask them.

Thanks again Dennis.

stacka

I'm thinking one of the two at the bottom of the page.

Yup, just verified...we use a five wire plug.

You're a champion Zdenko. Thanks mate

Also a big thankyou to everyone else for your help.