Triumphrat

Mark62 · 01-02-2007

It is cold and flu season and my Trophy has developed an intermittent cough. It occurs when I roll on the throttle hard. The bike shudders and the tach drops. The whole event only last a fraction of a second. I think I have a loose electrical connection. I have checked the battery connections and they are good. I have also checked the crank sensor and it ohmns good. I am going to check the igniter connector. Anyone have more ideas?
Mark
BTW
I recently replaced the battery and both headlights with halogens.

[ This message was edited by: Mark62 on 2007-01-02 17:45 ]

GreenGoblin · 01-03-2007

It may be worth checking the coil serving the centre two cylinders (the coil is shared).

This coil is prone to failure and is a known Triumph problem in the UK, although not sure if US bikes have the same issue.

GG

flybiker251 · 01-03-2007

If it's a Triumph with Gill coils manufactured prior to '05 then the coils are always suspect. If you look at the classics and cruisers site it is a running topic of conversation and complaint. My Trophy has yet to experience any coil problems but the year is young. Just a thought.
Flybiker :-D

hill8586 · 01-03-2007

Love my Trophy but hate its' coils....After the 60K mile check-up mine was still coughing some and cutting out a little.....bought a can of "Sea Foam" and two (2) tanks later she is running smooth again.....must have been some "varnish" in the system...any way, the Sea Foam cleaned it up !

Mark62 · 01-03-2007

Thanks for the responses. I did not mention that I have replaced the right side coils in 05.
This morning I rode to work and the temp was in the low 30's and she coughed intermittently all the way (15miles), but coming home the temp was in the low 50's and she ran like a bat out of hell. So now I am really confused.
Mark

flybiker251 · 01-05-2007

Mark62, I also have a Legend '01 with 46,000 miles on her. Any time I have problems with her it always finds its way back to the coils. She started running rough after replacing two of the coils. Finally after much experimenting I replaced the last coil and one of the new ones. I still experienced intermitent lapses of electrical spark. I had swapped them every way you could think of. When i put three new coils on her at one time the cure was miraculous. hasn't missed a beat since. Gill supposedly started machine winding their coils in '05. Prior to that they were hand wound. If you go the coil route look for ones that were wound in '05. The manu. date is close to the screw hole. Good luck.
Flybiker

01-06-2007

Hi Mark,

Had similar on my old 91 900 Trophy and it drove me daft.

I chased dirty petrol for weeks just to find a loose low tension coil connection. The Lucars work loose real easy.

So all my coil leads are now cable tied to something solid to prevent this and it worked for the last 10 years.

If you look at the genuine or a Haynes manual you will find a list of possibles.The order they list is IMPORTANT It seems its most likely / easiest to check first-- the smart way to chase.

Bad news is its a tank off job.

I have seen dirty ht coil connections(this would be green and obvious) and an igniter box that caused similar but much worse coughing. The igniter box I think was a high resistance problem as it seemed to get worse as the bike was run.

Cheers

Mark62 · 01-06-2007

I checked the leads to the coils last weekend and I thought there was too much play so I tightened the connectors. I agree with everyone that it has to be the coils. Wednesday I rode to work, ran like ***** going ( at 34degrees) and ran great coming home in the 50's. I really thought I had a chaffed wire somewhere and was going to rip the bike apart until I found it. Now I am back to the coils.
Mark

Trophy1298 · 01-06-2007

How long are you letting it warm up in the mornings? My '98 is not fond of cold weather. I have to let the engine run for several mins on cold mornings to keep from cutting out and sputtering until she warms up. However, after 15 mins riding it should be warm enough. I once forgot to take the choke off and thought I was having coil problems (again). You may have already thought of each of these, but it's the simple things that seem to give me hell. :-D

narrowminded · 01-07-2007

Face it, she doesn't want to go to work!!!! :-D
Seriously though, the only change in the senario is the elements. My '01 900 needs to have the choke full on to start and then feathered open as she warms up, once she's good and hot she's fine. I don't let her sit and idle for long with the choke on.
Had a new America that acted the same. Full choke, hit the starter, stay off the throttle for a minute or two and then climb aboard. She'll let you know when she needs more air.