Triumphrat

BadWolf · 03-21-2007

Been a while since I've been here but I need your help. I put my 99 Legend in storage in October in my un-heated garage. I took the battery off and put it on tender. The battery is fine and holding charge, the bike turns over, all lights etc work, have a full tank of gas (from October) but she won't fire. What should I be checking first, before I run to a dealer?
Any suggestions would be appreciated. :???:

Woody1911a1 · 03-21-2007

pull a plug , you can get the right one out the easiest w/o having to take off the tank , and read it .

5 months is alot for gas or so they say , but hey my tractor starts up each spring np . stabil/schmabil lol.

did you just foul the plugs ? clean it gently or replace it and try again . if it was just fouled it should fire on that cylinder .

that's where i'd start .

Eyun_G · 03-21-2007

Did you drain the carbs or use fuel stabilizer? Another good question although not to sound insulting, is the petcock on? You could also pull the plugs and make sure you're getting spark. If that general stuff is ok, you could always spray a little starting fluid in it and see if that helps.

ecrabbit96 · 03-21-2007

This is a popular subject this time of year. The bike is in all likelyhood firing, that is easy enough to check but first save yourself some work, go for the easy step first.
You must drain your carbs, if there is anything that has been said time and time again this is it. (no disrespect intended).... You dont have to drain the tank if it is mostly full, though there is no substitute for fresh gas, if the tank had very little gas in it then you will want too. Drainning the carbs will bring fresher fuel down, and reset the levels in your carbs. Carbs dont always go dry, sometimes the weight of a full tank of gas resting on the petcock will cause some to seep by and actually over fill the bowls. You can never go wrong drainning your carbs and starting with a fresh level. If that doesn't work, then start looking at the hardware.

BadWolf · 03-21-2007

I wanted to pull a plug to check for fouling but I can't get a wrench down that deep.......seems the Legend came without the required tools to pull the plugs (allen wrench, 18mm? plug wrench). I'm not sure but I don't think the Legend even came with a toolkit, which means I now have to buy these. It seems to always come down to how much time we have to fix or do things ourselves, as opposed to getting it done by a professional. Since I'm a mechanical clutz it seems to always fall to the latter.
As to the gas I've never had a problem with this before. My wife stores her 79 Beetle (convertible, original owner, low miles, completely restored) for at least 2 months longer than the bike and it starts up fine without stabilizer, but I will go that route next year. For now I'll sleep on it and curse in my dreams. Anyway thanks for you help and I'll try to keep you posted.

jimmyj900 · 03-22-2007

By all means, don't drain the carbs or change the gas -- you might eliminate a potential problem! :-D

Seriously though, here in the US there are over 50 fuel formulas and they all behave differently in storage conditions. I don't know what Canada has for standards but it's entirely possible you've gotten some of our cra*ppy US gas.

You also don't know how long that fuel had been in storage (or under what conditions) before you filled your tank.

Jim

Slinky · 03-22-2007

I just had an interesting probem with my Thunderbird. It has been sitting in the garage since last October. I took it out and filled up with fresh fuel. All was well for a few days until it hit reserve. It was ok at low speed, steady throttle, but any attempt at acceleration resulted in a lot of popping and farting, with the bike running on two cylinders.

What had happened was that some kind of white jelly stuff had built up in one of the float bowls, and it was blocking the fuel from entering the main jet. It was also blocking the drain point so that confused me too when I initially tried to drain the floatbowl and nothing came out.

jimmyj900 · 03-22-2007

Quote:

What had happened was that some kind of white jelly stuff had built up in one of the float bowls, and it was blocking the fuel from entering the main jet. It was also blocking the drain point so that confused me too when I initially tried to drain the floatbowl and nothing came out.

It used to be that you got a layer of varnish, but I've been noticing with the new gasoline (designed for injected engines) seems to have more lubricants and wax in it.

That reduces wear on injector mechanicals, fuel pumps and such but jams up carbs pretty quickly.

Also, the fact that you only had one carb gummed up indicates that the float valve is leaking a bit.

Jim

Slinky · 03-22-2007

Quote:

On 2007-03-22 15:14, jimmyj900 wrote:
Also, the fact that you only had one carb gummed up indicates that the float valve is leaking a bit.
Jim

Could be, but I have a vacuum tap fitted. I got into the habit of flicking it on for a few seconds once a week, in the hope that it would stop the carbs drying out. I have to say this is the first year I have had trouble with the Triumph carbs.

svanos · 03-24-2007

This happened to me once, so I'm going to pass it along even though I may sound obvious.

IS YOUR RUN SWITCH IN THE RUN POSITION?

Steve