Hi all. New to the forum, looking for advice. Couple of months ago I bought my first Triumph. a V-plate T509 Speed Triple. Mostly, I love it, but a few niggles have developed that I'm worrying may be expensive. After I fire it up from cold, it won't idle lower than about 3000 revs. After I turn it off and re-start it, it's better, but still won't idle below 1500-2000 revs. This happens every time I ride it. Also, when I turn it off, the cooling fan stays on for a good minute to 90 seconds or so. Does this sound like a ECU issue? Maybe just a sensor? Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.
Hi Rich and welcome in to the Triumph Asylum. Re your issues, when cold the bike is designed to tick over at a higher engine speed, so on the face of it, nothing very unusual about that. Do you start the motor and ride straight off, or do you leave it ticking over while you get your gear on? Re the fan business, these engines have a tendency to run warm, so again nothing very unusual about it staying on after you've turned the engine off - 90 secs is a bit long though. Have you checked the quality and level of the coolant?
Hi. Thanks for the welcome. Usually, I'll fire up the bike, put my gloves and lid on, then ride off. Nothing seems unusual until I pull up to stop at a junction. Then, it won't drop below 3000 revs. I'll pull over, turn the bike off, start up again and it will drop a bit lower at idle but still not as low as it should be. There's plenty of coolant in it, but I'm not sure of the quality. I haven't changed it in the couple of months I've had the bike. If I'm bimbling around in traffic, the temp gauge might go to halfway, but on the open road, it will barely make it a quarter way round. It just seems weird that the fan stays on as long as it does. I'm starting to think it's a sensor because - I'm guessing - if the ECU was knackered, the bike just wouldn't run.
Welcome to the forum Rich. Could it be a sticking throttle cable ? I don't know about the ST but my Bonnie EFI has a manual 'choke' although it's not a choke, if this was sticking it would raise the revs ?
Sounds like it could do with a good service, plugs, air filter, throttle cable adjusted, carbs balanced, or has it got a good service history?
Sticking throttle cable was my first thought but lubing it made little if any difference. It's fuel injected not carbed, but I suspect you're right about it needing a good service. There was no service history with it, and I think the last owner lost interest in it long before I picked it up. I shall do plugs, oil, filters etc, and report back. Thanks for your suggestions
sounds like there is a pipe to the throttle bodies may be split or off sucking in unmetered air flow causing the 3k fast idle
Do these bikes have an IACV (Idle Air Control Valve) if they do, then a sticking one will cause the high idle.
Apparently, worn idle air hoses are a common cause of high idle, but when I managed to get the airbox off to check, they looked brand new. This year of T509 does have an IACV, but I was thinking that if it's sticking, turning the engine off then on again wouldn't make the difference it does. I have a lot experience in being wrong though...
I have had my T509 for 20 years and 63000 miles. I haven't used it for three years, and even then it had become the spare bike. the last few years I was running it I had similar problems with idle speed, tick over was controlled by blocking the hose to the IACV but it ran rough and stalled a lot. I did all the stuff above, dismantle and clean and test IACV, new hoses ( its the little loose ball non return valve that needs checking. new gaskets on the intakes, fuel injectors sent off for clean and testing . I put off doing a TPS reset (throttle position sensor) because I was frightened of mucking up the ECU. Times change and I hooked up the laptop and was amazed at the transformation. the software is free and a lead is cheep and can be used on lots of other vehicles. I am now having a different but associated problem. over the past year the fuel has gone rotten. everything was choked up with rusty slimey gunk. I fitted new fuel rubber hoses inside the tank as they have swollen and popped off the fittings. I cleaned everything again. it was running like new! But I left it a few months again and the fuel went off again blocking the fuel pump. I dismantled it again ( getting quick at that now) fuel is flowing engine starts but itis running at 6 to 7000 revs, while fiddling I found that wobbling the handlebars affects the speed of the engine. This is not a throttle cable issue. Does anyone know how a wiring fault in the handlebar wiring can control the engine speed?.
