Ignition Switch Failure

[Pebbles]

I've just got back from the Isle of Man T.T. races. Whilst there I suffered a complete failure of the ignition switch, taking the bike off the road for 4 days whilst a replacement was sent for from Triumph UK.

My bike is a 99 Sprint ST and I checked out the routing of the cable from the switch onto the frame support for the fairing etc. and it seems that in the early models the amount of slack cable between the switch and the frame was short, which means that as you turn the handle bars the cable is pulled tight through nearly 180 degrees putting a lot of strain on the connections within the barrel. This results in failure of one or more wires.

I looked at later models and they seem to have the cable routed differently allowing a lot more slack !!!!.

My advice to all ST owners out there is have a good look at your wiring run. If its short ( like mine was) cut the cable tie holding it to the frame ( this gives more slack)

Be warned cus a new ignition switch is £99.00 plus fitting !!!!!!.

p.s. The TT was awesome.


Peter.

[Pwdrhd]

Yes, that appears to be a design flaw in the '99 Sprint. I had the same problem. Not a switch problem but a wiring harness problem. I bought a used wiring harness for less than $20 I think and replaced that rather than the entire switch. If you have a '99 Sprint, at least keep an eye on it if not replace it before it leaves you stranded.

[TRIUMF3]

I Think a re-rout of the wires was a recall, as my local dealer did it for free, i cannot remember if they said it was a recall or some other triumph free-be. ask your dealer.

[SpiderTex]

Had a discussion with a Triumph technician... apparently the lengths of the cable "tree" vary from bike to bike...
Independent of year it got built