Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech Ugly Problem Resurfaced (long)

Well I changed my name with the new board from ExHog to TBANGA (TBA "in" GA). Very creative for not having coffee yet!

My problems resurfaced last weekend on my '02 America, or "Lizzy" as I like to call her. Put about 40 miles on her, stopped for gas, turned around and as i was coming to a stop light downshifted into 3rd, she let out a HUGE backfire, and dead. No fire, no nothing. I sat on the side of the road for a solid 2 1/2 hours before I got her started again. When she did she sputtered and ****** near threw me off a time or two until she got back up to speed and ran like a top in 5th, until I had to stop again. As soon as I did, another HUGE backfire, and dead again. I was closer to home now, so I waited for an hour and she still wouldn't start. I left her on the side of the road in a neighborhood, for about 3 hours. Came back and she barely started, would run about 100 yards and die again.

A few things. First the positive. The Biker community is truly something else. I had no fewer than 10 bikers stop and try to help. Several stopped just to look at the Triumph. Unfortunately one said "Used to ride Triumphs, but I ended up just like this on the side of the road a lot", that's why I ride a Harly now". Had to grin and bear that one!

Second, it's got to be something with the carbs or the ignition. She reeks of gas when she dies and I'm not touching the throttle, which leads me to believe something is sticking open once the bike get's really warm. Although when trying to restart, it want's to fire but just can't, so it could be the ignition as well.

Third, the big motorcyle show in Atlanta this weekend gave me an opportunty to talk with some guys from Triumph. No one had a clue, other than to refer me back to my dealer. Now I was hot at the dealer b/c as I called the 24 hour roadside that comes with buying a bike from them, got an answering machine. Turns out my dealer was there, and the guy from Triumph got us together and I got to say my peace. He's coming to pick the bike up on Thursday, and they're going to tear it apart and rebuild it until they find the problem. If they can't, I'll be looking at a new bike from Triumph.

Sorry this is long, but if anyone has any thoughts, it might be helpful. We've ruled out vapor-lock, idle-speed, flooding, and electical connections. Also, if you have a bike from MotoBritalia in Alpharetta, the roadside assistance number on your VIP card could be incorrect. Call the number and make sure. If it's wrong call Drew at the dealership and they'll hook you up with the right one.

Great to have the forum back!!!!

TBANGA

Just wondering if you ever found out what it was.

you dont say if you have spark. your electrical connections could be good and still have no spark.had a car do this once and it turned out to be the electronic ignition going bad.couldnt hurt to check it out(unless you check for spark the way i do.).
lotsoluck

trboam

The dealer picked up the bike yesterday. They'll have it for at least a week trying to figure out what could be wrong. Carb, coil, computer, seems to be the most likely suspect. I'll let you know.

have a friend here in nz who is having a similar prob on his 04 speedmaster shop has had it 3 weeks they said to him yesterday that the pickups are the problem,i think thats the electronic version of the points,maybe someone else can explain more good luck

Uh oh....mine started doing the same thing (04 Speedmaster). She dies when I let off the throttle after riding for a bit, and then doesn't want to restart. Florida Motorsports in Tallahassee has her for the week to try to figure it out.

AV8R,

Sounds like we have the exact same problem. She'll run all day when I'm on the throttle, but once really warm (let's just say hot) as soon as I let off the throttle dead, and there is NO restarting her until she's ice cold again.

I'll let you know if they can figure out my problem and maybe we can help the two communicate with each other and get our rides back! It's not fair being in the 70's in January with no ride!

That sounds a lot like a vacuum leak that opens up when things get warm and expand. Could also be something in the ignition that is heat sensitive and stays just cool enough with the air moving that it works. Slow down or stop and the temp goes up enough to kill it. A cheap neon timing light makes a great tool for telling you how well the ignition is working. Much better as a diagnostic tool than they are for actually checking timing.