Triumphrat

bendavanza · 10-29-2007

I brought home a 2001 bonneville today. It was running when I looked at it, and when I test rode it, it died. It has plenty of gas (too much, in fact), I see spark when the plugs are removed, the battery is kinda weak but I used another battery to jump it when it was tired of turning the motor. I tried swapping igniters from my other 01 bonnie, and it made no difference. I noticed that if I had one plug wire removed and hooked up to an external spark plug, resting on ground, that I would get an occasional backfire from the other cylinder. The bike has compression, 10k miles, was running strong except for right off idle before the mystery death. The only thing bad about this bike was that it was in a flood, but has had the fluids changed twice since then and about 40 miles have been clocked since the flood.
Any ideas?
-Ben

Geoff · 10-29-2007

the crank sensor may have went kaflooie
G

bendavanza · 10-29-2007

I forgot to mention that I am getting spark when testing them out of the cylinder, and that I also drained quite a bit of gas through each carb's bowl to make sure it was okay.
Where is the crank sensor located?
-Ben

bendavanza · 10-29-2007

I checked the air filter and it was new looking UNI with red oil.
The battery is a bit weak but i had another motorcycle battery jumped to it so it had full cranking power.
I get no "bang" other than a very rare back fire. As if there were no spark or no fuel. Just the rrr rrr rrr of the starter turning everything around. I am going to try swapping coils and plug wires with the other bike tomorrow, the bike is on a battery tender for the night.
Thanks for all the suggestions, it's great to have other minds working on the solution. I'm open to any ideas.
-Ben

sweatmachine · 10-29-2007

hey congrats on the new bike! You'll (we'll) get it going!

bonnieblackinfl · 10-30-2007

You mentioned that the plugs are firing, but are they getting fuel? Try pulling the plugs immediatley after trying the start it with the enrichment engaged. The plugs should be fuel soaked.

Greg

Geoff · 10-30-2007

one other thing, you mention cranking for a long time with no start. this may have fouled the plugs with gas, in which case they will never fire. See about new plugs, and try to start with full choke no throttle
G

bendavanza · 10-30-2007

Greg
I have been reading your thread about the dead pickup, and I will be very interested in how yours turns out. And to see the pictures. Having 2 01's in the stable (for now) has got me learning a lot. The one I picked up will most likely go to a friend. I'm starting my own new bonneville army around here. My old brit bike army is fully in place now, and getting stronger by the moment, but I am spreading the "newer" bike affliction now, too.
-Ben

Skyblue62 · 10-30-2007

I'd strip carbs, give em a good clean, check all orifices being clear etc and check enrichener mechanism. Drain tank completely, remove petcock and clean to make sure there is no chance of water being in the system.

bendavanza · 10-30-2007

One other possibility- kind of a long shot but worth mentioning.
The PO had just filled up the tank, and to the brim I should add. I thought that it did not smell like good gasoline does, when it was spilling from the overflow/vent thing, and the amount of time that the bike ran successfully was about the distance that I can get when I forget to turn the gas on.
Now the new 10% ethanol gas does smell milder that the good ol' petrol, but my idea is that it could be deisel? Could the old guy have grabbed the wrong pump? May be he did not have his glasses on? I am going to try a squirt of starter fluid, and then some different gas and flush the carbs...
-Ben