Bonneville America Forums Forums Off Topic Discussion Forums Lounge Backfire!!

For the first time in 6,380 miles on my 04 America she backfired while starting.All though this was the first it was a doosy.Blew the air box all too heck and scrared the bageebees out of me.LOL! I`ve read of others haveing this happen and getting it taken care of under warranty.My problem is I`m just out of my two years,has anyone gotten this problem taken care of by the factory after warranty has exspired??

Hi BigJack,

After I bought my 05 America she backfired 2 or 3 times really big at start before I learned to leave the throttle alone and let the choke take care of the intake charge by itself. I guess I need to check the airbox. I never thought that the thing might be broken.

Have a good ride,
~John~

Heya Jack
You can probably get Triumph to honour the warranty even though it's recently expired as a goodwill measure since it's a known issue with these bikes, however I'd personally take it as an omen that you need to get a "freak" kit from Brent and get some free-er flowing filters on it.

Don't rely on getting it done as a good will thing....I didn't. I got the box for free from Triumph and had to pay labour to get it fitted and only cos I burst in to tears! Being a girl works sometimes! That and I threatened not to pay for a service...

John...If yours has blown, you'll know about it. It rattles the tank. But it only take 3 minutes to check. And that's from taking the seats off to putting them back on again. 8mm and 12mm spanners for the seat if it's original...

Do you have "off road" pipes on your bike? If so, they may not help you. It may be time to look into a Freak setup.

If they won't give you one let me know, I have a spare, would have had another except the yute decided to toss his into the bonfire last weekend.

Ask Gina How she knows?
Hows the Thruxton treatin' ya?

You threw that into the bonfire!!! man for once I would have been the voice of reason...

Oh yeah...dumped the gas I drained out of the bowls earler into the filter and dropped 'er in the fire. She burnt good!

Well as long as it burnt good, I guess its ok

It's ok baby...

mistakes were made...

When mine blew it was very early in the morning. I'm surprised my neighbors didn't thing a bomb went off! It is a real waker-upper!

I know that they made changes in the airbox between 02 and 03, anyone have an 02 with a blown up airbox?

Sounds like I need to jealously hoard (and guard! - and I am well armed) my 2002 gently used and then removed airbox!
I freaked the bike finally this summer.
Don't ask what my pipes look like!!!!
Hey its meant to be ridden, not just looked at cause she's pretty!
B

John,after being made aware of the dead throttle start on this site I`ve made it a habit to use no throttle, with or without choke.Dealer says its because of to close valve over lap and Tryumph is aware of problem and will replace it even out of warranty.

Has anyone ever blown an airbox that they had drilled through the bottom of? I drilled through the bottom of my air filter and air box floor, as many others have, and with a shim to each carb needle I have been more than pleased with the mild performance upgrade - and it sounds cool, too.

But with the box opened up in this manner, could it, or would it, still be possible to blow it?

I would "assume" that the extra breathing with a drilled box would eliminate the backfire explosions which crack the airboxes. It may ocassionally backfire, but now the splosion has somewhere to go. Less stress?
I dunno, just thinking out loud.

Mine backfires occassionally, more often than not on decell off the freeway, but sometimes on start up, like right after a fill up. Isn't bad - no major "explosion", but an audible "pop".

Just makes sense that with a large hole drilled through the bottom of the UNI and airbox, the expanding gases have an escape route, and therefore minimizes any chance of damage.

For what it's worth, for what the airbox mod cost, vs. what The Freak costs, including time and effort, I have to doubt that the performance gains of The Freak are that great over the performance gains over the drilled air box. Maybe beyond the point of diminishing returns?

That's probably why they have airboxes in race vehicles!