Hi all, New to the forum. Got an 03 Speedmaster, had it for 5 years now and never had a problem..... Until a couple of weeks ago. Got an issue with it not firing, no spark to the plugs. Couldn't start it for 2 days then it fired up fine and ran fine. Next day same problem. I've check all cables and fuses i can find, its got a new battery with optima charger. Took it to a bike shop here in kings lynn. They said it started a ran fine so couldn't find a fault, only a £300 bill for its mot and checking it. Got it home. First day it ran fine then the second day no spark all day. Before i went to bed i went out to check it and it fired up first time. I let it run for 5 minutes didn't move it at all, next morning went to start it but no spark. Its turns over fine. Triumph have said they can look at it at the cost of £80 and hour but said they might not find the fault! So i'm a little reluctant to go to them. Any help or advice would be most welcome. I live just out of Kings Lynn, Norfolk. To be hunest I'm ok with diesel engines and a bit useless with petrol and bike motors. Cheers. Patrick
Sounds like the ignition pickup is acting up ( common problem ), a straight forward replacement remove the cover fit up the new part and check the gap plug it in and refit the cover with a new gasket ...... sorted. Welcome to the forum
Someone else just said the something to me today! When i took all holding bolts off from the cover I'm still having trouble removing it.. Do i give it a tap or is there something I'm missing still holding the cover on?
Welcome aboard Pat. No expertise to help here mate, but good luck with finding the fault. It''s almost bound to be something simple.
You could always ask Jess ! Maybe go into bike specific area of the forum and ask. Often yields good results. Not all the regulars read newbie section posts.
The Gill electrics on these bikes don’t exactly command a 5* rating! You describe classic pick up coil failure. Under the seat you have an igniter which is a solid state gizmo with an ignition map. It is in turn triggered by a pick up coil which sends a pulse on each rotation of the crankshaft to the igniter. Your 270 degree motor has a coil for each cylinder unlike the 360s. The igniter cuts power to the energised coil, its magnetic field collapses and induces the current surge that sparks the plug. So, basically you have 3 components to check: igniter, pick up and ignition coils (2) and the wiring that connects them. Having 2 ignition coils narrows things down because it is improbable both would go on the blink simultaneously. The intermittent nature of the problem suggests a coil failure as the very fine wires in the winding break and randomly make or break connection. The pick up coil plugs into the igniter loom high behind the RH side cover adjacent to the battery box via a small 2 pin connector. The resistance reading of the pick up coil should be about 570 ohms but is not conclusive.......if it is in ‘working’ mode it will pretend to be healthy. Like the igniter you can really only check it by substitution and a new one is about £40. Your side cover is hanging on by dowels and gasket cement. Soft mallet tap should free it off. A .8mm gap coil head to reluctor node is recommended. Keep us posted. Irritating but curable!
Thanks for all the welcomes and help everyone. I'm working away at the moment and often do making this problem quite frustrating to get sorted.... Just want to get home and ride!!.... Anyways i have ordered a new ignition coil and am hoping to get it fitted Tuesday. Will keep you posted.
Well.... Changed the pickup coil and still no spark on either plug. I've read a couple of other threads with simular problems and my Haynes book also says it could now be the ignition control unit under the tank. I've found a Procom one on squaredeals.com for £280. Any thoughts?
To be honest I would expect the ignitor unit to be the most reliable part of the electrics. Did you remove the tank to replace the ignition pick up coil ? if so I would retrace your steps and check all the wiring and connections that you have touched / disturbed during the replacement process. Always suspect the last thing you touched / did, and recheck ...... What gap did you set the pickup coil to ?
Didn't remove the tank to change the ignition coil only the seat. Tried .8mm gap to start with and every other gap when it didn't fire from .7mm to 1.1mm. Took the tank off only to look at igniter unit and connections after. I'm not saying it not a faulty connection or loose wire somewhere.... But if it is i can't find it.
You have two yellow dashed wires exiting your igniter. Yellow/black and yellow/purple I think. You need a sewing pin and some insulation tape plus a multimeter. Stick the pin through each/either wire and check for battery voltage to earth with the ignition switched on (headlight lit). If voltage is present it suggests the problem IS the pick up. If absent you almost certainly have an igniter internal issue. Tape up the hole in the wire. Triumph Twin Power at £234 is probably the cheapest source of a replacement with the option of tweaking the map too. https://www.triumphtwinpower.com/fire-starter-performance-igniter-unit.php
I had a similar issue on my 09 speedmaster. Intermittent spark. Sometimes would sometimes wouldn't. Checked the wires back to the coils and had a wire half off a terminal. No idea how it got so loose but i cramped it tight, re fitted and not (touch wood) had a problem since. Hopefully your problem is something simple like that.
Trouble is i work away a lot and am away now... Wont be back home for a couple of weeks this time. Every time i get home i go through all the cables ht leads fuses. Cleaned them all off checked for loose connections. I'm really stumped. Just seen another Speedmaster on ebay for sale because hes got the same issues. Could be my bike same year millage!! Right now its spend another £230 on a new igniter unit/ecu or cut my losses