Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech Bike in shop with mystery problems

My ol' Speedy has been in the shop for 3 of the last 5 weeks. This is really getting to be a drag. The mechanic can't find the problem. I wrote about it a while back in Satxron's Igniter gone maybe?.

The bike died on the road and I had it hauled into the shop. They replaced the crank position sensor at a cost of $228 and 10 days in the shop waiting on parts. 4 days after getting the bike back I noticed it cut out again and knew I still had a problem. The next day I rode to work, and when I came out at noon to ride it to lunch, it wouldn't start. An hour later I came back out, tried it again, and it started right up. I called the shop and asked if it could be the igniter. The said 'maybe', and to bring it in. They said Triumph might help me out since I had already spent money that didn't fix the problem.

Yesterday I talked to the mechanic. He asked all kinds of questions. Then he asked if I knew the airbox had been removed on my bike, and replaced with pod filters. I said yes, and that I had removed the airbox and installed the kit. (Freak) He said, 'Ooooohkay....'. Hmmm, didn't like the sound of that! He also told me that heat wouldn't affect the electronics, like the igniter, even though it was over 100 degrees on the days it failed.

I called back this morning and the tech said the bike was still on the bench. The mechanic hadn't yet found the problem and he wasn't working on Saturday. So it's been 8 days since I took it in the second time, and it will be 10 on Monday. That makes 20 days in the shop since the 4th of July. I think I'll just go pick it up, fixed or not.

I bought a spark tester to throw in my bags, so I can test for spark if the bike dies again. I've gotten zapped before, so this will be a handy little device. I don't even have to pull the plug. Just pull the wire and snap it on the tester. I see that I'll have to make an adapter for the top (skinnier). If spark is the problem, i.e. no spark, then I'll work upstream.

Question, is there a way to test with a volt meter? I got a good one for a birthday a while back, but I'm unsure about using it. I'm afraid of shorting something out. Can anyone give me any pointers? One thing I am sure about though, is that if I want this fixed, I am going to have to fix it myself. Grrrr...

One more question, I still have the original battery with 3 plus seasons and 22000 miles. Could this be battery related?

Cody

Hey Cody - sorry to hear about your bike issues - what a drag! Just curious if MotoPrimo is working on it or Belle Plaine or someone else? I hope it get it sorted out soon - the short riding season is slipping away!

Hi Jeff,
The bike is at Motoprimo. I'd try Belle Plaine, but it's a lot further down there. Besides, I bought the bike at Motoprimo. They 'should' take some ownership in this problem.

You are right, the summer is slipping away fast. To make matters worse, I am just about to do a job change, and I probably will be semi-retired for a month or so. It's the perfect time to do some serious riding and now I have an unreliable bike.

Cody

That sux. The first thing I would tell them is to refund the $228 since that was obviously not the problem. Why should you pay if it doesn't fix the problem? It may be time to get ahold of Peter Carleo at Triumph of North America. He's the main PR guy and gets things done.
I would bet it is the CDI box since it is intermittent. That is what we found on Matt's bike. And YES temperature will definetly affect electronics, where they pulled that one out of is anyone's guess.
See if they will let you "borrow" a cdi box for a few days to test if that is the problem.
Best bet is still to get ahold of Peter, maybe he can get you a new CDI box.
Good luck.

Quote:

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The bike is at Motoprimo

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Hey John - I don't deal with Moto Primo, although I've given them several opportunities to "change my mind". I choose to drive the extra miles and get the better service from Belle Plaine, but I certainly understand you are in a predicament here.....

Of coarse if money is no object - maybe you want to pickup a spare ride: EBAY1 This guy is 10 minutes from you and and he has lots of goodies already installed! Or this one in Fargo : EBAY2 He is selling w/o reserve!

If one TBA / SM is good, two MUST be better.........Seriously tho - good luck with Moto Primo - let me know if I can help you out some how..........

Cody, Matt Weinert from Triumph NA just posted up in the Forum with the Handle of RAT Coordinator. Why don't you PM him, maybe he can help you get through to who you need to talk to.

Motoprimo is the real problem here, I work about two miles away from them and they are on my way to work... I bought my bike from Belle Plaine if that tells you anything. Seriously, call down to Belle Plaine and talk with Dan, i think that you will be surprised with the difference in attitudes and abilities. I have run into other triumph riders, and on more than a few occasions, they did as i did and went to motoprimo first, then bought their bike from Belle Plaine. True it is a few more miles, but the service is well worth it in my opinion.

Hey Chris - same story here....tried to give them money and they just aren't that interested....I've stopped on 4 different occasions and they have yet to get my money. The difference at BP is night and day...

BTW...I used to work with someone by your name at LaserMaster years ago...any coincidence?

Jeff

I won't go back to Motoprimo , even the convenience isn't worth the treatment. I will do one better, I will tell all that I know that they shouldn't bother either. Hopefully they will lose the Triumph dealership, anyone else would serve the company better. Don't really mean to rant, but I would hate for someone on this board to go there and be treated poorly which seems to be in their mission statement... 1. treat people poorly. 2. see #1.

Anyways, I will definately tell everyone that if you need anything triumph or otherwise in Minnesota, go to Belle Plaine they are worth any extra difference in miles.

Well, it wasn't me, but that is definately a coincidence. Hopefully the guy you worked with wasn't a jerk. I would hate to get a bad name without actually earning it.

Hi Topher,
Yeah, I've heard that before about Motoprimo. I also know several other people who prefer Belle Plaine and/or have had a bad experience at Motoprimo. I actually called Belle Plaine this morning. They said they couldn't really troubleshoot the problem unless I brought the bike in. It's almost 50 miles down there and I'd have to haul the bike. I'd rather not do that at this point. I'm glad I'm not in Wyoming or some other remote place and trying to deal with this.

I've cooled off a little since this morning, but I'm still frustrated. The mechanic called me today at work and I explained to him that I had no spark at all on either plug wire. After some more discussion he told me to pull off the coils and bring them in so he could stress test them. Immediately after work I tried starting the bike and it fired right up. I pulled one wire and put it on my plug spark tester. The bike started again on one cylinder. I could see spark on my tester, and since the bike was running, it proved I had spark on the other side. Now I know my tester wasn't lying to me this morning when I couldn't see any spark.

I pulled the tank and followed the spark plug wires up to the coils. I saw two coil units with one plug wire going to each one. I called the mechanic. I argued that I was losing spark on both plugs, and it was unlikely that both coils would fail simultaneously. I argued that the problem was upstream from the coils. He finally agreed. He said he would call Triumph tomorrow and call me back. I think he's reluctant to sell me a CDI because he already sold me an expensive part that didn't fix the problem.

Unless Triumph overnights me some parts, I don't see where this is going to be resolved before the weekend. It's pretty bad when an owner has to troubleshoot the problem for the mechanic. This has been going on almost 6 weeks.

This sux. The GF is here for two months, July and August. She left her car home and the plan was that I would ride the bike to work and leave her the pickup when the weather permitted. She has been stranded at home while I'm at work, and she's going crazy. She bought a temporary gym membership (expensive) which she hasn't been able to use. I need to get some work done on the pickup, but I can't be without a vehicle because I am on-call. So....this just sux all the way around.

Sorry about ranting. I just needed to vent.

Cody

Chris - no he was was a good guy - just a little height challenged....I was actually curious if "that" Chris would buy a trumpy....

Also - for Cody (bike permiting)) and you - there is a southern MN camping run going on this weekend - gotta take Friday off work tho..... I am seriously considering.....let me know..

Loco,
I'd really like to make the run this weekend but 1. I'm on-call this week and next, so I can't stray too far from the computer, and 2. I don't think the bike will be ready anyway. Too bad, I'd really like to ride with you again. I give BP lots of kudos just for sponsoring a RAT group. I'd like to ride with that group again.

I sold my townhouse. I signed the papers on Saturday. I'm leaving town at the end of September and I'm heading for New Mexico, or Oregon if that falls through. That's the reason I'm trying so hard to get the bike fixed. I'm just trying to get everything taken care of before I leave town. No more on-call and 2am phone calls! Wah-hooooo!! (Well, at least for a while. )

Later,
Cody

Cody,
Not sure if it is related, but my bike quit on me about 3 weeks ago and it would crank but wouldn't get any fire to the plugs, I thought that it might be the CDI but decided to take it in to the shop instead of dropping th money for it.. good thing.. they had it fixed within 3 days and said that it was the relay inside of the motor.. I forget if it was an ignitor relay or not, but it was only $60 and it has run fine ever since. I also asked if this was a common problem and they stated that it wasn't common but not uncommon either, you may want to check it out, I cant give you the tech's on it, but I believe it may have to do with the wires running into the case on the right side.

Hey donotstack,
Thanks for the tip, but I don't think that's the problem. You see, my dealer already replaced the crank position sensor. They also called it the pickup relay. It's in the case, on the right side. As far as I can tell it works like a set of points, and tells the igniter when to send a charge toward the plugs. That didn't fix the problem. Too bad I don't use your dealer because mine charged me $228 to change mine. After the problem persisted I went back and raised he!!. After some more run-around they called Triumph and got them to give me an igniter under warranty. Pretty good, since my bike is 3 and a half years old. Still, it took way too long to get to this point.

So, the good thing is that I'm getting my igniter replaced by Triumph. The bad thing is that my bike has been out of commission almost all of July and almost all of August. It's now in the shop ***AGAIN***. I should get it back on Tuesday. I just hope this fixes the problem. Sigh......

Cody

Well I feel for ya... I would hate to live up north and only be able to get 2 good months to ride. I live in FL so I could ride year round with the right clothes. That is kind of funny though that the dealership cant figure out what is wrong. The one good thing about the dealer here is that they wont charge you for the parts that they switch out if that wasn't the problem.

dont know how your bike is running these days but check out your kill switch.ive worked on hondas that presented the same problems and it was caused by corrosion eating the contacts in the kill switch.
lots o luck
stv

Cody,
Glad to hear you're getting a new free ignitor. I bet this cures it. When we were in NH, Matt's bike quit again and would not fire. We sat and complained for a bit and tried everything, then I took my ignitor off my bike, Vroom his started ritght up. Put his in my bike and wrrrrrrrrr no joy. Swapped back, mine ran, his spun. He needs a new one too, but his fails afetr riding in severe rain then shuts it down. If he keeps it running, it will not fail. Weird, but that dern cdi box can cause some odd problems. When it comes to spark, there really are only a few things in the entire circuit.

Peter Carleo- Triumph America in Georgia Telephone # 678-854-2010.

Hey Mo,

What years are covered by BikeBandit? Can't find any reference to year....Do they cover my '05?

When you look through the bikebandit entries, they will distinguish up to, and then beyond certain engine numbers, one example is they list two different ignitors for the speedmaster, which I assume are for the '03-'04 models, and then the '05 and beyond models. Short answer is yes, they will support '05 models.

That's a handy site. I know Polaris and Yamaha have their parts manuals on line and wished Triumph would do the same. I use them before going to the dealer just to make sure I'm getting the right part and cut down on the wait.

I've been a big fan of bikebandit, even when they were only providing aftermarket support. Definitely a good alternative to the Stealership network.

Michael,

Thanks for the heads up re bikebandit's site!