Triumphrat

joelgcooper · 12-26-2007

Any help from those of you much better at this than I is appreciated.

I have an 07 America and I just got in a windshield and light kit to add (both from Triumph). I took the cover off the battery, removed the battery, removed the seats and loosened the gas tank. I only needed to mount the new relay and attach to the harness. While I was working on the bike I had the tank cocked to the side so I could work under it but not so I'd have to disconnect anything. I did not touch the carburetors at all.

I reassembled the bike. It was night, it was cold and raining and I'd had a few beers so I didn't test ride it. But I cranked it to make sure the battery was good, etc. and I noticed pulling the choke made no idle difference. That was strange to me so I wheeled it to the driveway and checked the hose, etc. anything I could think of. Finally, I found the knob for idle speed (under the left carb) and it sounded normal.

The next morning I got up and took it down the road and it was all I could do to keep it running. I rechecked everything visually. I talked to a mechanic friend and he felt like it couldn't be the carbs if I never touched them and that I'd missed something. I pulled the seat and lifted the tank. I did confirm the gas supply line was in tact and not obstructed. I did find another hose that comes from up around the fill hole down under the tank. In fact, it looked like it might have been crimped. I confirmed more than once it was a clean route down to the carburators. The bike ran better and I set the idle where I thought it should be but the power is not there. It doesn't have the umph! of the low gears and on the open road, I can give it full throttle and not get it above about 55mph. I with the tank down I've tried to confirm both hoses are not crimped or compressed. I even disconnected the new lights to see if electrically I had done something.

When I say no power, it just runs like the engine speed is wrong for the gear I'm in. I can ride it but it takes extra gas to not stall it, etc. I've seen no gas leaking and I don't smell gas in general. With all the starting and choke, I've smelled fuel around the bike at times.

The bike has right at 1,050 miles on it, the gas in the tank currently is the last gallon or so of good mid-grade gas I ran without issue on to this point. I didn't want to add anymore in case we had to pull the tank and disconnected. I didnt' figure it was the gas anyway. There hasn't been enough gas through this tank to have a lot of junk I wouldn't think. And the bike acts the same whether aux or prim. Admittedly, I've turned that idle adjust knob enough that I do not have it where it started likely. But I have it where it sounds normal with and without choke. Attached is a picture of the knob I'm referring to.

It is frustrating to me because the changes were very simple and straightforward and I tried to be so careful. Any ideas you can give me to check are appreciated.

SHILOH · 12-28-2007

It's sounds as if what you did shouldn't have affected the carbs, but something has caused the choke to no longer function, and the other symptons are consistent with a cold engine running lean.

I think if you find and correct the choke issue, everything else will fall into place and all will be well. Also check for a vacumum leak, possibly in the AI system and the left carb. Check the connection from the left carb to the AI pump located forward and under the tank. It maky have been displaced when you tipped the tank sideways.. A major vacumum leak would make the choke nearly unless.

Best of luck!

sjalex · 12-29-2007

the tube that comes down from the righthand side (not sure of the exact setup on the america but it's like this on bonne/scram/thrux) is a vent tube for the gas. If it's crimped or blocked somehow, a vacuum will be created in the tank preventing proper fuel flow. Since the choke is an enriching circuit it could affect that too.

As a test to see if that's the problem, you could try a couple things: go around the block as is, and when the problem presents itself, loosen the gas cap - that should break any vacuum - and see if the quality of operation changes. You could also disconnect the vent hose completely and see if it runs any differently. If either of these things shows you an improvement, your vent tube is almost certainly crimped or blocked.

Maybe not the best idea to put your mouth on it but if you can blow air through that tube it would be a good test too. It just vents to the outside air.

Incidentally, if this doesn't help, but you don't get a lot of replies in here, it might be a good idea to take the question to the vertical twin forums.

Cheers, and welcome to the forums,

Stephen

joelgcooper · 12-29-2007

Stephen and Shiloh,
Thanks for the reply. Everything you guys told me checked out. But it turns out I was in the way of myself. I was so convinced I didn't touch anything else that I really only considered that the issue. As it turns out, the lack of power was me running on a single cylinder. Apparently when I was lifting the tank or running the light kit cables I hit a coil to plug wire... not to knock it off where I'd see it hanging, but enough to prevent a spark.

So I'm ok, except that I put about 30 miles on the bike trying to trouble shoot it. It appears that the gas that never got ignited is in the oil. So I parked the bike and am going to get filter and oil to get the gas out of there.

Thanks again for your responses. They were a big help.
Joel

Baltobonneville · 01-05-2008

For me, it's easier to just remove the tank than try to work around it, because things like this happen, and because removing the tank much improves access to the things you're working on as well as the things you're not working on, like the coil connections.

Having said that, the tank is very easy to remove on the Bonnie. I don't know how difficult it is to remove it on the cruisers. It definitely helps to have less rather than more fuel in it, and you need a place (cardboard, old blanket) to set it down before you pull it off.