Another small favor. Triumph expert needed

Coyote Chris

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I am back from Canada! I need a bit of advice and steerage.....my riding friend John is a wonderful guy, a retired army guy but he is very cautious on the web and wont register for forums....even though he has two Indian Royal Enfields and a new and old Triumph twin.

On the first day of our trip, his 2006 Triumph Bonnivielle T100 (16,000 miles) quit three times in one hour....the engine would just die like you hit the kill switch....lights stayed on and the oil light and alt light would come on...he would coast to a stop...turn the ignition switch off.....let it sit for a minute, and it would start right up....after the third time, we stopped at a rest area and thought about things. I told him the next time it happened, to quickly turn off the switch and turn it on again.
Then I checked bat. connections, what I think is the igniter connections, and I wiggled the coil connections, both high and low voltage side of the coil. The bike never acted up again in the next 700 miles. If this is a 360 crank like John says and both plugs are fired with each revolution, then a bad low voltage spade lug connection on the coil could have been it. (Its hard to see and get to without taking off the tank.)

I need a forum or person who knows these bikes so I can find out if they have ignition issues as in intermittent coil packs, igniter, pick up coils, etc. Any suggestions on specific resourses before I surf up the web? John does have the manual at home.
(this is an interesting thread about the Triumph ignition problems.....)
http://www.triumphrat.net/twins-technical-talk/108336-2005-bonneville-ignition-problems.html

Chris who likes forums
 
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junglejim

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I had a Kawasaki that did that. It turned out to be a bad ignition switch. The contacts were all burned and pitted like the contact points used to look in my '53 chevy. Kawasaki said that it wasn't servicable, but I filed the contacts, like I did on my old chevy, and it worked fine. Getting the thing apart was the hard part.
 
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Don't know about Triumphs but my Guzzi did the same kind of thing only at one point it quite completely. It was the spade connector to the coil. Took it off, crimped the connector a bit with pliers and shoved it back on the spade. Hasn't acted up again in 10k miles.
 

mikesim

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Sounds to me like the ghost of Joseph Lucas has resurrected hisself!
 

RedBird

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Intermittent problems like these are the most troubling -- difficult to determine the problem when it is working, and my experience says when you are trying to find the problem, the darn thing works!

I have a Triumph Scrambler, 2008 - the last year they had carbs before they went to fuel injection -- but (and I say this with fingers crossed) I have not had any problems with it yet so no answers from me on this.
 

Bear

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Jim, We could almost have a Lucas thread. I had two MGs and you really needed to have a sense of humor to own one.
 
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oregon
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I agree with my Brit owner friends, M lucus died on my 1951 BSA 600 single when it lost its mag, but the ITalien mech/ bike shop owner had allthe components needed to rebuild the thing on the spot!

That said I would suspect either the ignition switch , or the sidestand safety switch. first try bypassing the safety switch and see if that cures it. maybe some contat cleaner for the IGN switch.

Eldon

previous owner of two brit singles, the BSA + a 1950 Matchles single , also owned it in Libya.
 
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Should not have bragged about fixing the Guzzi :) Just today it died again. Same thing, coil spade connector. This time I wiggled it enough to get to a NAPA place, got a new spade connector, spliced it on and reconnected. Good as new.
 

RedBird

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While this is most likely not the problem, make sure that the tank vent hose is not pinched shut. Try riding with the tank cap loose and see if the problem disappears.
 
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Coyote Chris

Coyote Chris

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We eliminated fuel as a problem. Every fuel issue I have ever had (My Connie has a stuck poppet valve in the cap so every once in awhile I have to open the cap and equalize the pressure) has the same symptom...the bike acts like it is running out of gas....we all know that series of symptoms...in John's case, the engine quits suddenly...I still think it is the spade connector or the infamous coil pickup that everyone is having problems with....
LUCAS! Prince of Darkness!!!!!
While this is most likely not the problem, make sure that the tank vent hose is not pinched shut. Try riding with the tank cap loose and see if the problem disappears.
 
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