Triumphrat

mongo76

I have a 2007 Scrambler that is doing exactly what is happening here on some of these bikes.I took it to the dealer (Cascade Moto classics) (great dealer by the way).I left it for three weeks and of course it wouldn't do it again and they couldn't duplicate the problem.
Oh the problem? Riding along and it just stops running.For no appearant reason.I thought at first it was because when I hit a bump or in a curve or on an off ramp it also died.Well I couldn't get it to do it again.So I wasn't sure why or what is causeing this.
So the dealer thinks it is the little black box under the seat( little black box just ahead of the rear fender.)Because I am a rather large heavy O.K. Fat rider, he thinks my weight is what is causing pressure on the box.
I was thinking that there are others out there with the same issue and there are others.(I am still heavy, but I'll bet some of you are not and this isn't why this is happening.)
Lets talk just scramblers for now. I do not think I need nology coils or what ever yet (I thought that was a issue on early tripples)
So the dealer told me that this box used to fail all the time when it was mounted closer to the engine and heat was killing it.So Triumph moved it under the seat where it would stay cool?(Sorry I don't think that was the best place but I am not an engeneer either).
So back to the dealer,He/they think my big fat butt is warping the seat and putting pressure on the black box.Thinking I am sitting right about where the strap is and I sit in the middle of the stock seat.I thought it was a weight issue, but it is a placement of weight issue according to them.
So the fix?
Well they wanted to make a guard to keep pressure off of the box.I think that is't going to look like something that Triumph would have designed or done from the factory so I looked at the situation and asked them if it is just the clearance that is needed.
(Oh yea it is hitting the seat,there just isn't enough clearance under there) (we used some yellow grease paint and it left contact points where it touches)So I thought that takeing a heat gun and warming up the seat pan(melting it) enough to push on it and then pour cold water on it after it moves in enough to get the clearance needed, the cold water causes it to take a set.
That gives it the clearance it needs to keep seat pressure away from the little black box, if you push it in far enough.
Plus I also noticed a plastic cast rib(right towards the rear of the seat pan where it pushed down on the wires, where they enter the "littl black box". It pushes down on the wires that plug into the box. So I took a razor blade and removed the middle of it so it will not touch the wires anymore.I cut the middle out of it leaving both sides intact just case it is supposed to keep pressure off the wires witch it was not doing.

Well the first "Fix" that the dealer tried, they used a piece of wood in a press and tried to hold it after it was heated up, but it didn't give it enough clearance.So after my bike had been there for three weeks I wanted to ride it.
So I showed up (after several call that they made to me trying to diagnose the problem) and wanted to know what I could do to help get my bike to have the problem again, since they were not haveing any success in achiveing that goal.

I guess I sort of got ahead of myself here, talking about what was done after I rode it.

Well I rode around 80 miles and it just wouldn't die.So we're fixed right... Yah hoo I hope so!
I was ready to write the thank you e-mail and all that,but held off and put another 7-800 miles on it and Crap it dies again.

It will start every time, just pull in the clutch and hit the starter.Not much fun or very safe when passing a large truck on a two lane highway with oncoming traffic and it dies and you have to pull off that manuver.( Yes it happened to me and thankfully I wasn't making any dangerous passes where I would not have had enough time to get it restarted or slam the brakes and get back behind the truck) not to mention all the other unpleasant times this dangerious situation has happened.It is one thing to be pokeing along on a city street with no trafic at 25 mph, but if you're in the wrong place at the wrong time this is very dangerious to have happening.Worse yet it is intermittant and you just don't know when to expect it to happen.

So I hope this might help some others.
If all the other fixes work that is great.(Nology coils,die-electric grease,checking coils covers connections and all what ever is fine)
But I am pretty darn sure that the little black box under the seat is getting hot or pushed on, and the conections or the guts inside are shorting out for a split secound causeing the bike to stop running.I hope that is what is happening.I think the extra clearance is the solution to the problem.

This would/should be something that Triumph can do very easily on the next batch of seat pans and it will not cost much more than a retool of the pan dies.(Most likely very expensive) so they will let it go til someone gets hurt or killed when their bike dies in a inopertune time and they get run over or worse.Hopefully someone at Triumph will see this is a fixable problem and issue a seat recall after they cast more clearance into the seat pan.(Triumph already bought a new seat for my bike since the dealer is thinking that it was warped)

I have had some really close calls and I want to get this solved as it is a rideability issue and a Saftey issue!
Not just some garbage electrical parts.