New Member Needing Help, Please! (thruxton R)

Hi all,

I've just bought a Thruxton R (hurrah!) but it's broken down (boo!).

I was recovered home after the breakdown (hurrah!), but the bike's still dead as a doornail (boo!)

The bike ran rough for a few miles, and then stalled, and it won't re-start. The fuel pump primes, and the engine turns over strongly but there's no sign of anything else. Engine management light is on, but goes out when the starter is pressed and the engine turns over. I haven't checked for spark yet...

The recovery man said that he reckons it's the ECU, but the selling dealer says that they've never experienced this, so they doubt is strongly. They're a long way away, so it's not really feasible to take the bike to them directly. They bought for me a warranty insurance, but as it's summer, it's almost impossible to get an appointment with a local workshop.

So - I thought I'd look into seeing whether I could download any fault codes to give me some clues. I found out about TuneECU, but on their web site they say that it's not compatible with the 'R'. Does anybody know, please, whether it's feasible to use TuneECU just to download the fault codes? It does seem unlikely to me that just reading fault codes should cause issues, but I don't want to make an already bad situation worse...

Or is there an alternative to TuneECU that would be safe for this?

Thanks, in anticipation.

Nick

 

OK - thanks, both.

The bike is 3 months out of the Triumph warranty (so about 27 months old), and has just under 2,500 miles on the clock. I've had it only a week.

Why did it stall? I really don't know. It was running roughly, and then when I had to stop (at the top of a motorway exit ramp) it stalled and it won't re-start. I'd refuelled immediately before the rough running and so was suspicious about the fuel, but the recovery engineer said that it was definitely NOT the fuel. And no, I didn't put diesel in it - I'm certain of that.

I'm quite sure that the seller wants to help, but as I said, they're just too far away. The terms of the warranty (as is the case with even the Triumph original warranty) doesn't cover the cost of recovery to the dealership. I'm torn between three possible ways ahead:

1. Get the bike to Fowlers in Bristol - but they are all booked up until the middle of August
2. Get the bike back to the seller - but this will be very expensive indeed.
3. Use a local independent Triumph specialist.

I'd thought it a reasonable thing to try and get the fault code just to be able to get some insight into the problem.

Nick

 

Thanks for all of this; much appreciated. Yes, I'm looking at options to get the machine back to the selling dealer - but it seems ruinously expensive if I try one of the mainstream carriers. I suppose it's what you suffer for not using a local dealer (sigh). Enquiring around friends and neighbours now!
Nick

 

To be fair, the selling dealer is in a difficult place - they don't seem to be playing hard to get and seem to be trying to be helpful.

They're on the Isle of Wight, so recovery is complicated/expensive.

My bike insurance will recover the machine to a local company... but every Triumph franchise seems to be overwhelemed with work at the moment.

What isn't clear to me is whether the selling dealer has an obligation to collect the bike if I reject it under the Sale of Goods Act provision. I'm hoping that it never gets that far, mond you!

Anyway, I'll keep you posted with progress (when I get some!)

Nick

 

I'm seriously hoping so! This is very frustrating. This bike is so great to ride, and it's such a lovely machine. I need to be out on the road, really.

 

Hi all – end of drama, thank heavens!

Firstly, thanks for all of your helpful comments. It’s good to know that we’re not alone when bad things happen.

I really hesitate to write this post, as it really just shows for all to see that I’m stupid…

… but if it helps someone else one day, then I suppose it’s worth it.

Cutting to the chase - the problem was that I’d filled the bike with diesel. Mea culpa. But the solution was a bit of a drama. Whole story…

I filled up at a motorway service station. Fuel nozzle arrangement was Diesel, Unleaded, Diesel Ultimate (BP service station). I had meant to fill with super unleaded. Tank was full, but 80 – 90% diesel. Bollocks. (but HTF do they justify that arrangement of nozzles?)

LESSON 1. Check, re-check, and check again if you’re not in a familiar place. D’oh…

The bike started immediately but ran increasingly roughly. But it did run – for the next 15 miles. Then it stalled at the top of the motorway slip road and wouldn’t start again. I pushed it to the next layby and called for help. Luckily my insurance includes breakdown cover. But really horrid to be stuck in a layby that stinks of piss for over an hour.

LESSON 2. If you fill with diesel, you’ll still run (unhappily) for a while.

Recovery guy seemed very knowledgeable – took off the fuel cap and declared that there was definitely no diesel. Then he tried several things to start the bike. Nothing doing, so eventually he took me home (all too late to go to a repair shop). Said that in his opinion it was a fried ECU.

LESSON 3. (glorious hindsight!) Even people who sound as though they know what they’re about might not have a scooby.

That’s when I first posted here (well, the next morning)

If you’re reading this, you know the interim drama of trying to engage with dealerships, insurances and so on. Cut to today…

Eventually, I spoke to John, the service manager at Blade Triumph in Swindon. Top bloke. He, quite rightly, thought it highly suspicious that everything kicked off with the re-fuel. Told me to dip my finger into the fuel tank and how to tell (without the smell) whether it’s petrol or diesel.

LESSON 4. If you dip your finger into petrol, it evaporates almost immediately and strips the oils from your skin. If it’s diesel, it doesn’t evaporate and it feels oily.

LESSON 5. Diesel doesn’t necessarily smell strong! Petrol floats on top, so when you smell it, all you get is the petrol smell. You need to get into the body of the fuel to tell. I suspect that premium diesel also has a weaker diesel odour.

John advised me to syphon out the diesel, to pop 5l of unleaded in and then start up. Slightly easier said than done, but essentially, that’s just what I did. Bought 20 litre Screwfix jerry can (£20). Syphoning isn’t easy from the Thruxton tank but luckily, I have a little electric pump designed for refuelling model aircraft, and I used that once the main syphon was done to get out the last bit - all but (I guess) a few ccs. Starting took maybe 30 – 40 attempts (and drained the battery in the process so that the starter wouldn’t engage – but it’s healthy, so it re-charged fairly quickly) and then, when it did start there were clouds and clouds of stinky diesel smoke. I must have done a reasonable job of de-fuelling thought, as it only ran roughly and smoked for 30 – 40 seconds. Phew!

I’m very glad that I didn’t’ just wait for my local dealership to be available to do something (I’d be waiting about another month), and I’m very glad that I stuck with working on the problem.

Had a quick ride, so all working OK. Tank now full with unleaded and although I feel a complete fool, it's good that it hasn't cost a fortune and I've not fallen out with anone.

Shout out to John at Blade Triumph for his wise advice (which was really that even if it wasn’t diesel, spending a bit of time and money syphoning out the dodgy fuel wouldn't be a waste).

Cheers – now let’s get some miles on this beast.

Nick