Triumphrat

Copper · 04-30-2006

I have been having a problem lately, thought someone here might have some ideas...

Heres what happens...While the bike is on and running, everything will suddenly die, just like if you turned off the ignition. If I am moving at the time, the tach acts really weird, surgeing up to redline and above, but the engine is not running those rpms....
I pull over, and very quickly (within 30 seconds to a minute) everything is fine again. Starts right back up, and away we go. Usually it only happens once, then everything is fine for several hundred miles.

I had thought it was a bad connection at the battery, but it happened this morning on a road trip. I stopped, cleaned and tightened the terminals, then it happened again about 50 miles later.

There does not seem to be a common denominator for the outages, it has been both rain and shine, moving and stopped, smooth and rough road. No particular speed, it seems random.

I am going to go through all the connections I can find tomorrow and clean/tighten them, then probably run up to the dealer sometime this week. Hopefully its an easy fix somewhere, the weather is just starting to turn nice and I'd hate to have the bike in the shop!

Thanks.

rodburner · 04-30-2006

Sorry,Erik,no answer for you. But I rode in heavy rain yesterday for the first time and will be anxious to see if I become a forum statistic.

Didn`t plan to ride in the rain,but had to.Not dressed for it at all.

riccih46 · 04-30-2006

Sounds like it's grounding out somewhere. Same kind of deal happened on my truck. A wire had lost it's insulation and would intermittenly hit the frame of the truck on the bare wire and kill the whole thing. Took weeks to find the problem.

Ric

Sheepdog · 04-30-2006

Copper,
I had a similar problem after switching my countershaft sprocket. In the process of reassembly, I pinched a ground wire that is routed up toward the front of the cover. This wire connects to the motor on the bottom of the crankcase (the connector is under a small rubber cover). Its a very light guage wire and is vulnerable. I would look there first, particularly if you've had that c/s cover off...

04-30-2006

I just had my wiring harness replaced under warranty because some of the casing rubbed off where the harness runs under the rear fender ( a clearance issue according to the dealer). Now I need to pick up the bike from the dealer, 70 miles away, and go for a ride! Kirk

dave_bee · 04-30-2006

Check for wiring damage, could be nothing more than a loose connector, or a trapped wire somewhere. Just give the bike a check over, its easy to do.

Bonnevilles work just fine in heavy rain, I've been in the most hideous (for the UK) downpours, through inches of standing water and the bike works perfectly. No misfires, no power outage etc. Very nice and comforting really.

thruxtonone · 04-30-2006

A couple thoughts, check out the sidestand switch and the wires in that area. Another comon area is the headlight bucket since all the wires converge in there it is easy to get one pinched or grounded on a sharp surface. good luck-T1

Copper · 04-30-2006

Well, I stripped all the covers and the tank off and looked her over real good...Nothing seemed out of place or damaged, and I couldn't make it cut out no matter what I wiggled or pushed on. I hate intermittent problems!

Guess I'll have to run it by the dealer and see if there is anything he might know about.......

Thanks for the suggestions, guys!