Hi lads n lasses... acquired a highish mileage t100 a year ago, as a replacement for a 1200s sportster, which was never really my cup of tea. Much prefer the triumph, but wondered if anyone had experience of a starting issue i had recently. Bike not run for over a week. Starter turned engine over well , bike not firing up. Tried spare plug to earth.... no sparks on either side. Spent next 1/2 hour checking connections and wiggling harnesses; no spark. Finally tried jumping the battery ( which was still turning the engine well; fired up straight away. Normally a very good starter. S.s. switch is isolated. Later checked battery...12.3 v with lights on..14.6v when running. Recently gapped the ign coil. Hmmmmm.... Any thoughts?
Great description of your problem. Walking through your write-up, and the sequence, it appears that the extra amperage from the jump may be the difference between starting an not starting. Hmmmmmmm..... is right Just thinking out loud - Can you load test your battery to see if the volts are OK, but the amps are low? Also, could there be any corrosion on the battery terminals or a broken terminal that responded well to the jump? Even though you wiggled the wires, you might still have an intermittent short or ground to track down. If you have a wiring diagram, it would be good to pay special attention to the ignition circuits. I would also try to get Tune ECU or Dealer Tool to see if there are any error codes stored in the system. If there are, they might lead you right to the problem. Good luck with your gremlins.
Carbs or EFI? The difference is igniter or ECU but hopefully irrelevant. I assume kill switch not thumbed and ignition switch given an occasional squirt of cleaner or WD40 to assure terminals kept sound. They can corrode but that would likely result in no starter as well as no ignition. It is slightly odd that your battery is turning it over and that it then fired when jumped. That suggests a dodgy connection in the ignition circuit. Multiplug in the headlamp shell and one in the harness under the tank. Your main earth strap connects to the motor via a bolt on the underside at the rear of the gearbox. A slacken, wiggle/clean, re-tighten would not hurt. .....but that would likely have inhibited the starter motor and sidestand switch and clutch lockout would also prevent any turnover. So........switch on ignition and check for battery voltage from the +ve side of the coil to the frame.....or direct to battery -ve if Earth not proved. If you have power there you know it is either Igniter/ECU (expensive and least likely) or one of the coils I.e. the ignition coil that can go intermittent as it dies or the crank position sensor coil that fires the ignition. If you have a multimeter you can check resistance readings for the coils.....something like 16-18000 ohms across the main HT windings and just under 600 ohms for the pickup coil (easiest measured where it plugs in adjacent to the battery) Let us know what you find.....
Thanks for the ideas chaps....bike is a carb...off to work now but will try battery load test asap and let you know...talking of earth straps; when the bike was jumped, the earth jump lead was connected to the frame, so will also check earth strap as a matter of course. Will report back.
Some years ago when I had a Ducati 900GTS I started getting exactly the same problem, starter would spin the engine fine but no sign of it firing at all but if I then tried the kickstarter it would fire up straight away, cured it on that simply by fitting a new battery.
I have one additional suggestion. If a new coil was fitted 'recently' don't start with the assumption that it is working properly. Most of us would start with that assumption and then start looking at everything else first. Occasionally, you do get new parts that are 'bad' right out of the box. How recently was it put on, in relation to the problem showing-up?
Cheers for that...Just tested voltage on battery while starting the bike...dropped to around 10v from 12.4 whilst engine was turning over. Bike started fine (I am not an electrics expert!) Had shift cancelled so will examine and clean all ignition related connections.
Ive read about this on forums already... but has often been unclear as to whether it means wont crank or wont fire up. Also my voltmeter scale is on the small side which leads to slightly vague readings..
Hence my question about carb or efi but if it spins it SHOULD start. I would be for checking all the coil and leads are in spec. LT .7 ohms HT 15-16,000 ohms Leads 5,000 ohms (actually the cap suppression - leads themselves negligible) If they all check out the problem is the trigger mechanism to collapse the magnetic field I.e. pickup coil or igniter. Additional thought is seat base pressing on igniter....a known failure problem.
Agree with what you say.. replaced about two months ago; no other glitches noticed. Have done about 170 miles since the odd starting issue with no further problems.
All have checked out and within spec, was not sitting on bike when problem arose, all seat rubbers sound. At least i am in the AA ☺ Dont like glitches that apparently dissapear....my sportster had an occasional habit of cutting out momentarily. Could not find any cause, and had a trouble free camping tour of France on it. On return, at an AJS/Matchless rally, the bugger wouldn't start. .... the +ve lead had fractured within the insulation and had decided to embarrass me in front of a crowd of 60 yr old thumpers (the bikes☺). Took quite a bit of head scratching (and wiggling) did that.
Yeah, was thinking this... not sure how old the battery is...according to the seller its about 18 months, however my rudimentary tests do not point to it being at fault, although i will keep an open mind on this.
Take your point there...I charge the battery on a fairly regular basis through the winter. Must say, its never been an issue on the 30+ bikes ive had in the past! Sounds like Triumph skimped in this area.
