Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech Latest Ignitor Failure Table

Fyi,

from my brief research I found we have had four (4) previous threads on failed ignitors,

Here is my count for failed ignitors (cdi) from a brief search but might be more, but first some other useless info:


CDI stands for capacitor discharge ignition.
Triumph calls ours a digital inductive ignition.

For 2nd hand buyers:

“I put Dwight's 2002 Bonneville America box in my 03 Speedmaster and it worked. An added benefit of the Speedmaster box is that the rev limit is 7,900 rpm compared to the America's 7,400”.

Ebay's 2nd hand parts link from Pinwall

The threads found were:

25th April 07 - fm Ramsound
May 07

16th of June 09 1

09 Aug 09

29th Aug 09

and finally 02 Dec 08

So what I've attempted is to incorporate all the info from those threads into a final table, but would appreciate to be notified if we have more or what I've gleaned is innacurate. ie

I'll then update any further info which will help our cause.

Here's the Table Of Failed Ignitors

So if you are interested in not forking out your hard earned cash or like me, do not like being treated like a di#khead, have a look and please pm or email me so we can include or vary any further numbers using this thread.

One thing though,

No more posts please on failed ignitors unless it's in here

FYI, What I did glean was, some have had their replaced under warranty (fine), some way after warranty has expired (fine), one who had to pay for labour (not fine) and others who bought second hand one's and replaced theirs by themselves cos their dealer either bluffed them or who knows what (Bad Dealer).

I would also put money on it there may even be some who have paid the ridiculous price for new ones too. Hopefully no one here.

The whole thing is a "sh#t fight" and imho wrong.

Why is it that some dealers can do what they can to organise a replacement, whilst others may be thinking tough luck Jack, and in the meantime some of our blokes and girls are getting ripped.

Don't be bluffed. Triumph knows they had problems with these and decided to do nothing. Not good and definitely not professional.

The question is, have Triumph always been notified by particular dealers of this problem and tried to organise a replacement, or has it been particular dealers at fault for not looking after their customers in the first place by not contacting Triumph, I don't know? Maybe a bit of both perhaps.

Doesn't matter now, this is about collarboration between our numbers and data to justify replacement when out of warranty if or when it happens to you.

My reason for doing this is we needed a number of how many have failed and how many have been replaced when out of warranty.

This info once verified by us can then be used by future members as verification to their dealers that other dealers have organised replacements by Triumph free of charge when bikes have been out of warranty. You can then show them the data??? etc blah blah blah.

We now have a pre-requisite in other words that YES, others have had their's replaced even after 40k miles by Triumph and your saying (as an example) it's not possible? I don't think so and this is why etc.

So again it's all about getting our figures accurate so a dealer can't fob you off or pull it apart as inaccurate. So, at least we are doing our best to prevent that happening anyway.

One last thing. For those who are on the "failed ignitor" list and have not provided their bike type and date of manufacture, and at what milage their ignitor failed too, can you contact me and I'll put it into the table as I did with the dyno table.

I'm trying to see if their is a trend as already the area around 04 / 05 looks suspect. This also would help our cause as it could possibly narrow down a bad batch from Triumph.

Also, any constructive suggestions or comments both good and bad are welcome so this info Can have a bit of teeth. Ok, not fail safe of course but certainly better than nothing.

Finally, we have read that an engineering mob are close to developing an after market ignitor. Great because that can always be plan B for those that can afford them but please remember some aren't as fortunate as others in the disposable income department. Something to consider as Xmas approaches to help out those less fortunate.

cheers
staffo

Fantastic work Staffo! On behalf of all of us here I thank you for your diligence, tenacity and elbow grease in collating all the information here on past and/or future ignitor failures as they pertain to our bikes. Your efforts can and will surely help the likes of myself and others and that deserves a huge round of gratitude. Thank you!!

I'll second that!!

The link didn't work for me. All the same, credit is due to you since my effort to sniff out a trend failed with a miserably low percentage of failures reported.

here's the post started by oldroadie web page

on Ignitor failure count....and the one by bigbill web page

Ed

Before I respond, I have varied the original post so members can just have a look at the numbers etc,

Firstly to Ed, you need to have downloaded the free version of

acrobat reader

fyi I also use acrobat for the dyno table.

Thanks too for your as well as the other compliments from Keith and Steven. Much appreciated guys and hopefully it'll help us or at least someone. You can only give it a shot but we know they give nothing away unless you mount a half descent case.

To our other Ed and regarding your links, thanks for the info though they are actually part of the 16th June and 9th Aug 09 links I submitted but appear different cos the dates of the links I mentioned were from the original thread poster ie oldroadie and bigbill who btw did start this process and who too must be acknowledged and recognised as seeing a need to get the data.

Thanks anyway cos it shows you are interested

Great effort Staffo! Unfortunately Acrobat is down for maint. from 6-8 tonite, so I'll try later, Jim

I couldn't open the table either. Mine failed prior to May 07 and was replaced on warranty. I have the latest Acrobat reader.

Sorry guys, I've been re-doing the original post and maybe that's the cause. It works for me but without going on about it and just in case you missed it, you have to download Acrobat Reader to read it.

Thanks for the info Bob, I've added yours to the table now

Stacka, there were a lot of posts about igniters posted between 02/07 and 04/07. Here's a link to one of my posts after finally getting the dealer to agree to replace.

older igniter thread

Thanks Bob. I've put the link into the original post as the first chronological thread. Haven'd had time to go through it yet but thanks heaps cos it proves how long we have been complaining about these ignitors ie Way Too Long and to be honest, I've also been driven by my own needs cos mine touch wood hasn't stuffed up yet.

Now that I've mentioned it though

Thanks for putting that together stacka. I hate to see people pay $500 for what is customarily a $100 part, especially when it should cost $0.

A little more info on mine - I bought my Speedmaster used. I have no relationship good or bad with any Triumph dealers. The dealer who put through the goodwill claim on my igniter replacement is 200 miles away from me, and we've never met. We did the whole thing over the phone.

I wouldn't be surprised if the dealers get an hour'$ labor on these goodwill claims, with the assumption that the dealer is doing the change out, so perhaps it's at least worth that to them.

According to Triumph they do not have an ignitor problem.

Less than 2% according to their records.

BTW, I'm still bugging the you-know-what out of Procomm,
but their ignitor is "still in development".

By the look of it Procom have done a lot of talking but little development in THEIR new ignitor. For instance Kevin (Jack D) said in the thread Ramsound (Bob) found:

Quote:

---

Kevin,
Seems to be much of the same reply for the last 2 years.
This is the email I got from ProCom on 3/19/07:

Hi there. Production of these CDI boxes are going to be complete in about 4 months.

Thank you,

Customer Service
Procom Engineering, Inc.
66 Maxwell
Irvine, CA 92618
Tel: 949-748-6338
Fax: 949-748-6339

---

So that puts it round the middle of 2005. We're nearly into 2010 and still no ignitor. Has someone already said "don't hold your breath". Not wishing to put a dampener on things and hopefully you're in the "pack her/him away for winter camp" so your not missing out on valuable ride time.

If you are in that cat then, and apologies if you've given it a go already and been fobbed off but Imho I believe perhaps another dealer should be contacted, even by phone 200 miles away as has been successfully done already, and get on a level with whoever with what info is so far collated.

If you are successful (hopefully) or not, at least you've given it a good go. The stats show good results so why not

Fu##, I just spent 20 mins editing this post and lost the lot cos I took too long Grrrr

Ok, calm down stacka, you were raving again anyway .

I was just trying to encourange anyone who was having ignitor problems to give it a go and put it onto Triumph for a replacement even when out of warranty. Now we know they have already done so, why shouldn't they with YOU??? There was a fair bit more too but I couldn't be bothered for now. Did I hear a collective sigh of relief then LOL.

Ok what I really wanted to say was, we really need to beef up the table. Like Dill said for instance:

Quote:

---

2 for me

---

.

Was that 2 used, new from Triumph, out of the bin, 2nd hand, where from in other words. No offence Dill but your's stuck out more. I think I might have set myself with the wording LOL.

Whatever, it'd be great to find and I can't stress the importance of this, the possibility of a bad batch say for instance between the 04/05 models. That would give this thing much more teeth and possibility also, give those not in this category a hint of relief. It's probabaly a long shot but worth the effort I reckon.

So whilst you might be fine now "Jack", how about giving a xmas present to one or more of our members who do have issues with their bikes by posting or pm'ing or emailing me the info. You can't have enough of it cos info is power (or $$$ )after all.

So, you can't hide , we know who you are how about we make sure we contribute what we can to help.

stacka

I don't know about a bad batch. My 05 got one in 07 and then again I had to buy one in 08. One would think they are different manufacture dates.

Yaknow, I don't think we would give two hoots if they break. Its the obscene price they put on them that gets us upset. Make it 100 buck part and you could carry a spare.

Sorry 2 for me, new from Triumph covered by warranty. Granted both of those where replaced to try and fix my case issues.

So you have had two (2) replaced then??? cos I've only got info of one replaced.

FYI, here's an email I sent to:

Triumph Twin Power

Hellow,

I noticed you do mods to up the igniter Rev Limiter and Ignition Advance Remaps and was wondering if you were working on producing new ignitors.

I am a member of the BonnyvilleAmerica forum and we have had many members who have had to pay big dollars to Triumph for new ignitors that have failed on them.

Another engineering business called:

Procom Engineering, Inc.
66 Maxwell
Irvine, CA 92618

Have been saying they are nearly in production for the last 4 years and still they keep saying “in the next 6 months” etc.

If you are interested, here is a thread I posted earlier this week which shows a link to how many people have issues with these ignitors:

http://www.bonnevilleamerica.com/forums/...part=1&vc=1

So if you want to value add to your current ignitor rev limiter service, this may well be a good money earner.

Btw, I know myself I would be reluctant to send my ignitor to someone to have the rev limitor increased if I thought it may fail on me at any time like they have for so many others.

Just a thought you might be interested in investigating.

Regards
John (Australia)

So in the end I make that 27 out of what 3000 bikes? It's enough to indicate a problem I guess but surely not to be a business for procomm.

There would have to be something that would make people buy them as an aftermarket add-on: easier remapping, something or other.

You are right Staffo, I got one replaced. They denied the next one so got it from a crashed one. They only did one.

I would think that is a pretty on target statement. The numbers simply are not there for them to build them aftermarket for our bikes.

If I lose another one I will buy another one though. I am attached to my America like no other bike has ever grabbed me. Its not even explainable. Its just not ever gonna be for sale.

Staffo, not wanting to hijack your thread but here is the latest on my igniter failure.
I was offered by somebody on the forum (who will rename anonymous) to get the price for me of an igniter in the UK, and if OK he would post it to me. I emailed him back and told him not to bother as I had bought one from the US out of a crashed 2003 America. Needless to say the deal fell through and I was still without an igniter. Not wanting to bother the nameless person after refusing his offer I decided to contact Jack Lilley Triumph in the UK direct, by phone.
They quoted me AU$675 (Converted at the current exchange rate) which included postage to Australia. I ordered it last Tuesday and it was posted last Wednesday and I should receive it next Wednesday.
I had quite a chat with the guy in their mail order departmet and he couldn't believe that I have to order gaskets, and wait for delivery. He said they keep gaskets on the shelf.
Prior to this I contacted 3 Australian dealers. The lowest price was AU1169, the highest AU1359. I know I could have tried to claim from Triumph but, I have had no bike for 3 weeks now and I wasn't prepared to wait for however long it would take to go through my local Harley friendly dealer.

I agree with all your statements gentlemen. It just pis#us me off and to be honest I'd hate to think T could start charging outrageous prices just because they could. Anyway, I have to admit quality riding time is much more important to me at the moment too than waiting to be told your plea didn't get up.

Hi Boof,

Smithy has been crook. A guy named Ian Lawley did most of the organising along with myself and some other guys from The Ulysses Club. It was a good run with about 160 bikes in all. It was all done at very short notice, but it is for a good cause and all went well.

Especislly the red 4x4. (With aircon).

Good thread Staffo. Interesting that it's only the America and Speedie that suffer with this problem and they are the models with the igniter mounted above the engine, just in the right place to be cooked and also open to any weather. The Bonnies, Thrux and Scrambler have the igniter mounted under the seat in dry and cool surroundings.

Is there any evidence that the owners that have suffered failed igniter's live in warmer climates?