so I have posted on here a few times about the cutting out surging and plain old dying on me problem right a few of you have responded that it may be the ignitor and I even read the thread to fat for my bonny thinking it was the ignitor. I took it to the dealership and under warranty paid $170 to have the battery replaced which they said was bad and not a yuasa. the other dealer put the wrong one in so the work and the new battery not covered under warranty yeah I know right. so after eight months two trips to the stealership and countless headaches what could be causing this problem? it happened again tonight. so when I got home I was a bit angry and passionate about discovering this problem. I took off the seat and with the bike at idle knock the crap out of the ingitor and nothing not even a hiccup I pulled and tugged on every wire I had still nothing I bypassed the kick stand switch still ran like a new ferrari so why did it keep dying whenever it wanted to? by the grace of the the lord almighty why couldnt i reproduce this problem on a whim afterall it sure did it whenever it wanted to and quite frequently. So now Im really mad and I am about to take of the tank to get to the coil and carbs and I was going to need room to swing the sledge hammer ha. as soon as I moved the tank gas started pooring everywhere and I moved it very gently and easily I promise. so I forgot to turn off the petcock sure but still I hadnt disconnected the fuel line yet so why is gas coming out at an alarming rate? well a closer inspection after all this time and all these great mechanics looking at it revealed a small tear in my fuel line right behind the hose clamp at the petcock. looking at the hose clamp now I am not surprised, it doesnt have any rolled edges and is quite sharp and the fuel line has all the thickness of a cheap condom so it didnt take much to cut through it. so as it turns out the problem was this the cut was bad but since it was in the bend it really didnt open up enough to leak fuel or I would have noticed it. it did however allow the vacuum of the carbs to pull air in and put air bubbles in my fuel line therefore starving me of gas. once the air bubble passed then my carbs would get gas again and all was right with the natural order of things. it was something so small that myself and many mechs overlooked it because we were thinking on such a bigger scale. so my bike is finally fixed after 7 months of searching and lessons learned 1. dont ever take your bike to D&D in pensacola they are a bunch of crooks. 2. dont let something overwhelm you so that right off the bat you go to all the great big things it could be and 3. dont try to move your tank when the engine is hot you know unless you are trying to set yourself on fire then by all means go for it.
good lord man! what an ordeal ! once again the old axiom that -education is always expensive,dont matter how you come about it.ya well as far as the people that did you wrong,,well cheaters never prosper ! and you have got to feel Fantastic,as in you are the man,i always feel that way everytime i solve a problem,or accomplish something difficult. im sure that you are glad that you decieded to tackle it yourself, you learned,and are well on your way to gaining enough knowledge about your machine ,where no-one will be able to pull crap on you again, good luck,,these things are really stone simple
I don't know if this falls under simple explanations or what, but thanks for the post and I have got to appreciate your tenacity. yet another thing i will check on my bonnie.
Dude, I did the exact same process with an old Honda years ago. the result was a bare wire under the fuel tank but it cost me plenty before I got mad and basically did what you did. It was dark and I pulled off the seat, panniers, tank bag, tank etc. then I saw a spark.....
Two inches of electrical tape fixed the problem...
Remember Billy Bob Thornton in "Swingblade"? Two mechanics looking at a large roto-tiller and couldn't get it running at a small engine repair shop. The famous line.....Billy Bob walks up, unscrews a cap and says "Ain't got no gas".
Always eliminate the obvious first.
" If its got compression, the right fuel air mixture, and a spark at the right time....it's gotta run" Cliff Wiig (my grandfather, mechanic, and mentor) I miss him dearly.
Remember Billy Bob Thornton in "Swingblade"? Two mechanics looking at a large roto-tiller and couldn't get it running at a small engine repair shop. The famous line.....Billy Bob walks up, unscrews a cap and says "Ain't got no gas".
well i hope that cures it.Dont want to sound bad but i bet it will show its self again.They dont act like a car there gravaty fed hard for air bubbles to get in if its not leaking gas.
I hope so!! Your rite leaking gas & a hot engine - DONT mix!! Your problem reminded of a friends Bonne. It was a looseclamp on the carb boot. When cold & hot- different symptoms. A quick turn w/ a screw driver & all was well! I have seen that more times than I can count- on newbikes that were SUPPOSED to be dealer prepped! Found mine in week 1. Friends actually had gas seeping down the side of the carb!! Ran like crap till the carbs/ engine warmed up &then all was well. Gotta keep an eye on ALL the nuts & bolts on these bikes! Stealership- whats that? Never been back since purchase!! Never will!!!!
I have to agree with Mike also.
That was the first thing I was thinking after reading your post.
That the carbs are gravity fed and even if air got in to the fuel line
It would only very slightly interrupt the flow of fuel to the bowels.
The bike would of had to completely empty the bowels to kill the engine.
The flow of fuel is very fast to fill up the bowels and the main jets would
not suck up the gas faster then the float needle will allow gas to flow in.
And a slice in the line would leak more gas then it would suck in air.
Yes you found a problem but, I don't believe you found what you were looking for.
I'm thinking the same problem is snickering at you waiting till you least expect it.
I have to agree with Mike also.
That was the first thing I was thinking after reading your post.
That the carbs are gravity fed and even if air got in to the fuel line
It would only very slightly interrupt the flow of fuel to the bowels.....
I'm thinking the same problem is snickering at you waiting till you least expect it.
I agree with Mike and Bill. There is no vacuum created with a gravity feed. What you should have seen was a fuel spill which would have been big enough to prevent flow into the carb bowls (ie fuel everywhere else) and I don't think you had that symptom. The carb bowls are designed to be large enough to allow air to bubble out of the gasoline. Fuel actually spills from the needle valve into the bowl below and along with engine vibration shaking the bowl mixture, there is always some air leaving the fuel and venting out.
Hope I'm wrong, but I'm not convinced the gremlin has left.
so I guess you guys think you know everything dont you LOL. ok your right I just took it out for a nice 200 mile ride and barely got her home the first half of the trip was fine but then a little put here and there nothing big then a little worse by the time I got close to home it had gotten so bad I couldnt even take of from a stop light it was horible much worse than its ever been. now im thinking its electrical because it will die and I will stay on the gas and coast it then when I hit a bump it will start again. if it is running smooth I will hit a bump and it will start cutting out and surging. guess I tempted fate to much with the ha ha I win line huh. arrgh I did while she was running smooth today put it up against some pretty good competition even an r1000 they of course left me past 120 130 ish but up till those speeds they stayed within a pretty good range. im very impressed with aside from the problem at hand oh and just to further explain why I paid money out of pocket when it is still under warranty. I took it to D&D cycles in pensacola fl for the same problem they told me it was a bad battery. the one that the dealer put in it during set up was an interstate so since it wasnt a yuasa triumph wouldnt pay to fix it so I had to pay for the battery. no problem, now since the work to find the bad battery resulted in finding a non warrantied battery then the work wasnt covered either ergo triumph also would not cover that. so $170 out of pocket on a bike under warranty and they didnt even touch the problem it was having. bad bad form on their part. so we will keep on trying to see where in the problem lies. I hate doing shotgun maint but I may have to replace things till I fix it IE ignitor pick up coil coil ignition switch etc.
kurt look at your fuses my main 30 amp fuse was loose and did the same thing .fuse looked good but wasnt makeing a good conection.If you can get it to do it when its dark see if head light gose dim when it acks up thats how mine did. allso check battery cables and ground under the rear of motor.
thanks Mike, I will try that next anyone else with any suggestions?
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