Triumphrat

aldtech · 04-16-2004, 11:12 AM

Well it is beginning to look more and more like my bike is a lemon as it died on me this morning. Luckily I was only a mile from my house. I did manage to get it started but right now I don't have too much confidence in it and going to Great Bay in N. Hampton tomorrow may be out of the picture unless I can confirm a solution to the problem.

Symptoms this morning:
The engine shut off dead like it ran out of gas (tank is more than half full). After trying to restart it I switch the petcock from prime to on, which does nothing, and then to reserve. On reserve the engine starts and displays the symptoms of having just run out of gas and is now OK. I manage to get the bike back to my house and subsequently have to drive to work.

I have, as I am sure most of you have as well, run out of gas before and in retrospect of this morning’s event I feel that is exactly what has happened. I will not know until I do some testing tomorrow morning by running with the petcock in different positions but it seems that maybe the petcock and fuel delivery system is messed up. If there is an inline filter maybe that is clogged I don’t know.

My problem is this – I got the bike last year new (“01 left over model) from Riverside Triumph in Mass. And 2 months later, right in the middle of an advance rider’s course, the thing dies on me. I get the bike from Dover NH back home to Merrimack NH but the thing is riding like crap with the over heat light on all the way there.

I bring the bike to Naults Triumph in Windham because Riverside is too far and we (wife and I) were not happy with them because they ripped off my wife, who actually bought the bike, the $500 Triumph accessory allowance that was suppose to come with it.

At Naults it spends 8 weeks in the shop and from what I heard from a friend who saw it, completely torn apart at one time. Upon getting it back they are not sure what exactly the problem was but after swapping out the carbs it seems to work fine and they give it back. It was October when I got it back and was not ridden since and subsequently put in storage for the winter in November.

They have no clue what exactly the issue was and make no apologies for having kept it so long, nothing. On top of that they had tried very hard prior to me dropping it off to encourage me to take it back to Riverside because I didn’t buy the bike from them and they where very reluctant to do warranty work for a bike they did not sell. I now have a nice warm fuzzy feeling about two Triumph dealerships.

As it stands right now, after talking to Great Bay or any other dealership/service center, if a problem solution is not determined I will eventually take it back to Riverside and if they don’t have it fix within a week’s time they are going to eat it. Hopefully I have a leg to stand on under Mass lemon laws.

I know that some of you will encourage me to stick it out and you should understand that I really want to because I have wanted this bike since ’96 but right now it is a real letdown.

Looking forward to your comments/suggestions, I will post what resolution is found.

AL

jimballard · 04-16-2004, 01:44 PM

I'll assume that the tip over valve was checked; this can cause the same problem. It can be removed, but that is risky, although I'd think that the dealer would have checked that out almost at once. The heat light seems to be a problem on the Trophy; there's a download on our site to rewire the ground. I just bought a small hand held temp guage to check mine when it does come on, and I rode all last summer with it playing its "parlor tricks" with no bad results. Great Bay seems to be the best one to deal with, hopefully they'll solve your problems.

Good Luck: Jim

aldtech · 04-16-2004, 04:22 PM

I talked to a friend at Naults, a Triumph dealership, and he has made a very logical suggestion as to the problem.

As I stated in my previous post, the bike was bought last year new with 26 miles on it. Now remember it is a’01 model which (possibly) means that the dealership had it since 2000 (maybe) sitting on the showroom floor and test rode maybe 2-3 times, same gas in the tank for 3-4 years. Varnish as my friend would call it.

Last summer while taking the Advance Rider Course, which was great by the way and strongly encouraged for all, in the July heat it is obvious that the “varnish” in the bowls loosened up and fouled the system. That got taken care of by replacing the carbs last year but now it is the “varnish” residue in the gas tank that is clogging the primary fuel line intake in the gas tank itself (it has a screen/filter) and when switched to reserve the line and subsequent clog are bypassed. Makes since to me. Now I can only hope that by taking it back to the dealership that worked on it last year it will get more prompt attention and I might get it back before the end of summer.

This time I am going to pay for an oil change, maybe that will get their attention faster, a paying customer as opposed to just warranty. One can only hope.

AL

[ This message was edited by: aldtech on 2004-04-16 14:24 ]

jimballard · 04-16-2004, 04:29 PM

Hope it works out for you, but, as I said before, make sure that the tip over valve was checked because varnish can clog that and cause the problem. Removing it is done by some dealers but if the bike is on its side, fuel will pour out. Mine was removed and now I'm thinking of having a new one put on. It's worth an ask.

Let us know what you find out: Jim

shedds · 04-23-2004, 12:46 AM

well i have been hearing some crankshaft sensors going bad early on these 1200 trophy,s if the bike stalls and then cools down does it start right up? then this senario starts up again after it heats up well if that is the sensor when it cools even just for a little while it will fire up, a way to test is take off right side engine cover look for a black box with a wire on it then spray with wd40 or compressed air used for computers in a can then start it do this after it stalled (hot no oil comes out) it should start right up for some reason these bikes came with local built components rather than good asian stuff like the jap bikes toshiba,mitsubishi but i was also told if youre not on warranty and fix it youreself the part is cheaper than the jap ones on the likes of honda yamaha suzuki and kawasaki

aldtech · 04-26-2004, 01:55 PM

See new update posting-Update on Trophy 1200.

06-23-2004, 02:40 AM

It's not the tipover valve. It's not the crank sensor. It's the vacuum line that goes to the fuel petcock that is pinched off by the wiring harness running down the frame backbone. Reroute the harness, use new, good line (replace the fuel line, too). While you're at it replace every rubber hose you can find (or ditch most of the plumbing). You'll have a great running bike when you're done.
Hope this helps.