Triumphrat

LongRoadHome · 03-18-2009, 02:17 PM

Queen Izzy decided to die on me this am. Was about 5-10 minutes into my commute when it felt like I lost a cylinder. Then another. Then, it was a battle to keep her running at the light. After a few seconds, she died and couldn't get her started--would barely turn over. Battery acted like it was almost dead, but 10 minutes earlier when cold, it had started like normal.

Then, loading it into the back of the truck, I managed to @#$% drop it and busted the headlight mounts on both sides. Crap.

So, bad battery? Bad coil pickup? That's what I'm thinking--one or both. Battery's less than a year old.

djw · 03-18-2009, 06:08 PM

Ack!

My guesses (until you said it would not crank) - I would have thought a vac line leak to the petcock, but putting it on prime would probably have bypassed that unless the petcock is completely bad. Or a tank vacuum (opening the cap to test).

The cranking issue... hmm. Not sure what a shorting battery would do, but probably not drop cylinders.

Bad pick-up might work when it cools down and flake-out when hot again.

If you rule these out and start thinking it is something else, I have a couple of backup PVL coils and an igniter in my spares box you can try since you're just down the road from me. PM if you want to try them.

LongRoadHome · 03-18-2009, 09:56 PM

Thanks for the offer. I'm thinking coil or igniter given the cranking flakiness. I hate frickin' intermittent electrical problems.

Of course, it started right up, battery cranked like it was new, no hesitation. Headlight brightens up around 2200 rpm as usual. Ran until the cooling fan kicked in; still ran fine with no hesitation. Go figure.

I did manage to get it off the truck without dropping it this time, so things are looking up I guess.

seumas · 03-18-2009, 10:27 PM

Mine did the same thing to me one time--left lane of the freeway at 80 mph--after getting across three lanes of traffic and sitting on the shoulder for about fifteen minutes and calling it every name I could think of, it fired back up and has never done it again. That was 20K miles ago. I never did figure out what happened.

LongRoadHome · 03-18-2009, 11:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by seumas

Mine did the same thing to me one time--left lane of the freeway at 80 mph--after getting across three lanes of traffic and sitting on the shoulder for about fifteen minutes and calling it every name I could think of, it fired back up and has never done it again. That was 20K miles ago. I never did figure out what happened.

oh #$%#, ROFL

wdietz186 · 03-18-2009, 11:36 PM

The coil or pickup wouldn't keep it from cranking. Sounds like a high resistance somewhere.Start with the battery terminals.Remove and clean the battery and terminal ends with some scotchbrite or fine sandpaper.If nothing obvious there follow the neg. lead to where it attaches to the frame and do the same to that connection. Repeat with the pos. cable.A battery could crap out like that too but I would check the connections first.If none of that proves fruitful yank the tank and sides and start inspecting connectors etc. for corrosion/damage.If you have lots of miles or it sits in the weather you might suspect the ign. switch too.

LongRoadHome · 05-21-2009, 11:39 PM

update.
It was the battery. New battery; problem solved.

So, got the new headlight brackets and back together. Now, the tach is wonky. It's like the needle can't keep up with the rpms, way overshoots when revving up and then comes down too slow and never reaches an accurate number at idle.

Looks like I'm going to learn about the inside of Triumph tachs this weekend. That or get robbed by the Bandit. They only want $314.81 + S&H.

KitNYC · 05-22-2009, 05:28 AM

Sorry to hear about your mishap, but glad the battery cleared it up! Might be worth checking the connections to the ignition coils before dropping $ on a new tach; the tach runs off the #1 coil, & you may as well clean the others while you're in there.

Cheers,
-Kit

LongRoadHome · 05-23-2009, 03:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KitNYC

Sorry to hear about your mishap, but glad the battery cleared it up! Might be worth checking the connections to the ignition coils before dropping $ on a new tach; the tach runs off the #1 coil, & you may as well clean the others while you're in there.

Cheers,
-Kit

You're probably right--I should clean the coil contacts just to make sue. I'm measuring aroudn 8-11 volts on the tach leads when it's running up and down between 1K-6K