Triumphrat

rivera · 07-02-2009, 11:57 PM

A few nights ago I was riding home from a friends house, (rode there after work with no problems), and the bike starts stuttering, skipping, hesitating.. Thought it was cause I was almost out of gas so I turned on the reserve and it seemed to go away. I filled up, shut off the reserve, and took the long way hope. The hesitating got really bad that I thought I wasn't gonna make it home. Made it into my neighborhood and bring first and second into higher rpms and it seemed fine. Called it a night. Two days go by where I don't ride and it happened again today, had to walk the bike back home. Changed out the plugs and it ran just fine. Apparently I do have a boyer and I was running ngks for only a couple of hundred miles, how quick does the boyer eat em up? I put champions in there and it definitely takes a few more kicks to start.. Runs fine though.. Or so I thought. About 30 minutes (if that) of riding on these champions and the problem comes back. I change em out with another new set and its fine.. For now.. I’m sure it'll happen with these too. Should I go back to ngks and try those again? How fast do these boyers actually eat up plugs? Any connections I should check? There’s a box under the horn that isn't connected to anything.. What is it? Are Champion N3C's the right plug?

Any help is appreciated..

rivera · 07-03-2009, 12:04 AM

Here's the box I'm wondering about.. It has two male connections on each end, although the picture only shows one.. The horns on the left side of the pic, and this box is located between the reflectors that house the bolts of the tank..

thirdbike · 07-03-2009, 12:29 AM

Rivera, first ya got to tell us what you got for a bike. Then if you changed anything, then what you checked if anything. Is your battery holding a charge and if so what voltage. Finally, Boyers if anything, help save plugs rather than eat them up. Either NGK or Champions will work. Some prefer one brand over the other.

KADUTZ · 07-03-2009, 12:42 AM

the 'little box' is a rubber cover over the old condensers from the points ignition.

I dont know what bike you have but from the picture I am guessing maybe a '69 bonnie?

Champions are the right plug all I run in my brit bikes. if your battery/charging system are up to snuff and the problem started AFTER you road to a friends house and left the bike UNATTENTED and have never had a problem before maybe some little urchin messed with your carb mixture screws. screws turned in to far will foul plugs quickly as will a weak ignition/battery. (by the way I dont love Boyers) There are to many things about your bike that are unknown but usually things dont go that bad that fast with out help

jus my pinion

K

rivera · 07-03-2009, 12:52 AM

Sorry guys! The bike is a '70 TR6R. Come to think of it I think my battery might be a bit weak. I'll have to check on that and see where we're at. The only thing I've tried thus far is changing out the ngk b7es's to champion n3c's. The n3c's are what went bad in that short period of time..

Also, the whole time at my friends house we were sitting outside by the motorcycle, no one touched it.

KADUTZ · 07-03-2009, 01:42 AM

assuming you have a top notch charging system and a good battery breakeven point for a 70 TR6 charging system WITH the headlight on is 2700 RPM. I once sold a Boyer to a rocket scientist(no joke he really was) who couldnt get it to work properly. He told me how it was junk cause he measured the magnetics and they werent strong enough(not enough gaus?). Exchanged it for him and he still had a problem so I gave him his money back I got tired of of talking about it. He had an old battery that jus barely held a charge
but that couldnt be the problem. He used points and the problem was cured so like he said the boyers you sold me were deffective cause the points work great. By the way I sold the first 'bad' boyer to a regular (brit bike smart)customer for cost with a full explanition of why the unit looked used and wasnt in the factory box. I told him if he put it in and had a problem I would exchange it with a fresh new unit no questions asked. Guess what no problem. Suggest if you battery is bad replace it with a 12N9-4B1 and kep the RPM's above 2700 if the head light is on.
again jus my pinion
K

Caulky · 07-03-2009, 07:11 AM

"Thought it was cause I was almost out of gas so I turned on the reserve and it seemed to go away."

Checked the carb banjo filters?

72TIGER-X · 07-03-2009, 08:04 AM

1st thing i thought of when i read this was charging system, because you said you left your mates place at night. i have NO problem with ngk, but i do have a 37 year old lucas alternator. i think if you check your battery & charging system you may well find the problem. i HAVE suffered from the 'prince of darkness'

rivera · 07-08-2009, 02:43 AM

I don't know what's going on to be honest.. I got new NGK's that I initially rode the bike with. Put those in and it ran perfect, not one skip or hesitation. I ride to work today, same story, no problems. I start it up after work and its running rough.. I let it idle for a bit and it started running really rough.. gave it some gas and held the rpms up a bit for awhile, and rode off. Hesitated, skipped a bit, but I made it to a friends house. Started it up a few hours later, ran fine.

???

I get home and I do notice a little bit of smoke coming out of the exhaust, (left one only), and that starled/puzzled me a bit. As of right now I have no idea what's going on with it all. I'll look into it more another day. What usually causes smoke? And why would it only be coming out of one exhaust pipe?

farric1 · 07-08-2009, 05:12 AM

[QUOTE=rivera;1312828]I don't know what's going on to be honest.. I got new NGK's that I initially rode the bike with. Put those in and it ran perfect, not one skip or hesitation. I ride to work today, same story, no problems. I start it up after work and its running rough.. I let it idle for a bit and it started running really rough.. gave it some gas and held the rpms up a bit for awhile, and rode off. Hesitated, skipped a bit, but I made it to a friends house. Started it up a few hours later, ran fine.

Hi Rivera

I have a long experience of plug fouling with both my 71 Commando and my 70 Trophy TR6.

Here goes;

1. If you have an older version of the Boyer ignition, then your battery must be in tiptop condition, otherwise you'll get fouling and poor running. Even a volt less can upset the system. I recommend the latest version of Boyer, or trispark. Both these systems will tolerate a less than crisp battery. Also, ensure that your Zener diode is functioning properly.

2. I recommend that you use NGK 6BPES (not the "7") and see how you go. This is a hotter plug and resists fouling for much longer. I use a "5" in my TR6 here in Australia (wintertime at the moment) the 6's fouled after about 400 miles, (The 7's fouled in about 20 minutes, just like yours) so I switched to the 5's, and, so far, so good. Check that you don't have any pinking (or "pinging" depending on where you come from)

The 7's lasted for about 400 miles in the Norton, so I've gone to 6's in that bike. They're OK at the moment.

My bikes are in tiptop condition, are timed correctly and yet both machines foul their plugs. So what is going on?

I don't really know for sure.

I have a theory that the modern fuels we use in our old bikes burn too cool. This, coupled with the higher oil consumption seen in older bikes, seems to favour deposits on the plugs. Hotter plugs do work better, but they don't seem to last indefinitely. I'd welcome a discussion here on the forum as to what other people think about this issue.

Good luck. Don't forget to carry a plug spanner as well as a spare of plugs at all times.

PS You may like to try Iridium plugs as well, although I have no experience of these.