Triumphrat

shoggot · 03-27-2009, 10:14 AM

Story commences:

I rode to work yesterday morning in the rain, no issues. While working, the bike (02 TB) sat outside in mild drizzle/light rain, which went on more-or-less non-stop.

On leaving work and heading home: I start the bike normally (full choke, in neutral; leave it idling in neutral until revs are at ~ 3.5k, at which point choke goes to full off, and I'm ready to go), and head to the gate; while stopped at the gate in 1st, clutch full in, the bike idles lower and lower and dies. That never happened before...

So I head to the gas station, switching to reserve as I do so; the bike's lurching semi-madly. If I had to guess what it would feel like switching between 2 cylinders firing and three, I'd say this was it; but I don't know what it would feel like, so I could be wrong. It felt like a few seconds of full power, a few seconds of halved power, a few seconds of full power, repeat & rinse.

I get to the gas station, gas up (I was close to empty, but not quite where I'd expect it to be to have to switch to reserve), and head out. At the stop light, the same thing; except now, stopped, I can feel a knock, more or less felt at the airbox covers through my knees, but who knows where it originates? It's not steady; bike loses a bit of power (revs down), knock, bike's reving normally again; rinse, repeat.

Heading towards the highway (but unsure if I want to take the turn in this state), I switch into 2nd and then 3rd; the hesitation goes away, and stays away from this point forward. However, something new & exciting: whenever I clutch in, the neutral light comes on; fully clutched in, it goes out. When I get into whatever gear I want, it'll stay on for a short time, then goes out - though there were some periods in 2nd and 3rd when it just stayed on, period.

Note: this neutral light appears (or at least, felt) to have had no effect on actually gearing; the bike 'felt' normal, I just had this light behaving badly.

When I got home, I parked (in 1st), neutral light was on steadily.

This morning, I turned the key - no neutral light until I actually switched into neutral. Bike behaved normally on the way to work.

Something about the wet, then? Amateur diagnosis from a colleague was a wet air filter, but this wouldn't affect the neutral light, I'd think? I've ridden in the rain & snow, pretty much every day this winter, and never had this happen before; then again, I've never even cracked open my airbox; maybe it's time to do so?

So: serious threat, and I should get 'er to the mechanic right away, or just avoid riding in the wet, or?

IrlMike · 03-27-2009, 04:01 PM

The clutch switch & neutral both work the Igniter cut out circuit. You need to check these components & the wiring associated with them. Water may be part of the problem, but less likely than other things. Could be a faulty or shorted wire, poor earth connection or bad switch & sod's law sometimes gives us two problems which combine. I can email you a wiring diagram if you pm your email.

Mike

shoggot · 03-27-2009, 04:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by IrlMike

The clutch switch & neutral both work the Igniter cut out circuit. You need to check these components & the wiring associated with them. Water may be part of the problem, but less likely than other things. Could be a faulty or shorted wire, poor earth connection or bad switch & sod's law sometimes gives us two problems which combine. I can email you a wiring diagram if you pm your email.

Mike

Gratsi, Mike - I have the wiring diagram, though, via the TB service manual. Now I at least have a heads-up on where to start looking. Any speculation on that 'thunk'?

IrlMike · 03-27-2009, 04:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shoggot

Gratsi, Mike - I have the wiring diagram, though, via the TB service manual. Now I at least have a heads-up on where to start looking. Any speculation on that 'thunk'?

The 'thunk' may just be transmission lash as the engine cuts & picks up ? (I'm thinking the electrical gremlins are also affecting the Igniter cut out.) Oh and the sidestand switch is in the mix there too.

Bbogie · 03-27-2009, 09:32 PM

Quote:

While working, the bike (02 TB) sat outside in mild drizzle/light rain, which went on more-or-less non-stop.

Sounds to me like you were at work way too long.

cafetbird · 03-28-2009, 09:38 AM

I'd say you very well could have had some issues with some switches or electical connections, and also a coil due to the rain. I've experieced a few odd issues with the neutral switch in the rain before - fixed after I took the clutch switch apart and applied dielectric grease. I also had a coil cut out once as you describe in the rain, due to the fact that the body had developed a split, which let water intrude. However, mine did not come back when I got it up to highway speed...

lovecuba · 03-30-2009, 12:35 AM

Ditto to all above. The knock or 'thunk' you are feeling is when the igniter is cutting the current flow momentarily to one (or any) spark plug. This is replicated on my bike sometimes when starting from cold. Initially it only runs on two cylinders for a few seconds and displays this sympton.

shoggot · 03-31-2009, 09:10 AM

Alright; so, my plan is as follows (for the coming weekend; I'm not going to have time to pull the tank until then, and at least for now, she's running alright):

Check coil casings for watertightness; check electrical connections at clutch; check electrical connections in headlight shell (since I'll be pulling the headlight ears off anyway for a replacement set, my home-made's will be replaced with a better set of home-made's); check wiring at plugs for watertightness.

The stand switch I think I can eliminate, it seems rock-solid in wet or dry, electrically.

Glad the 'thunk' isn't a sign of horrible, horrible things, in all likelihood. I was a bit freaked out at the time.