Has anyone had this happen?

[wilbur-t]

I agree with Tomo. Since you seem to have this problem on cold starts, then after some warm up time and a restart it goes away, it sounds like some high resistance to me. Don't neglect to check all your grounds, they can cause some wild stuff to happen.

The R3 ecm is very primitive compared to what the cars are running these days.

 

[busajack]

Wilbur Silver Bullit.I just used my old OBD 2 scan tool to tell me why my light was on, because I had spikes ign.all disconected when I cranked it over to get oil pressure after the cam chain sprocket repair.The Triumph manual did not have the code but the scan tool book did. Just might be worth a try..Jack

 

[Sidecar Flip]

I'm glad I done what I done........

When I first got the bike, the first thing I did was go over all the electrical connectors, take them apart and check the little prong things to make sure they were spread out. Then I got out my tube of trusty di-electric grease and filled the cavities and plugged them back together. I learned my lesson on the Bonnie. I had high resistance connection problems with that bike. You'd think that triumph would use high grade Molex connectors with sealing boots but that's not the case.

My T100 had a case of 'Prince of darkness' without being Lucas.

 

[Silver Bullet]

Sound advise...

Tomo, Wilbur T, Busa, Flip...

With regard to TuneBoy...I am currently waiting for Wayne to examine a TuneBoy .trc file sent to him (at his request) from the latest V3.5.0 TuneBoy software from his web site. The new version didn't work either. He instructed me not to try opening the program until he contacts me.

Now...having said that. I have some time on my hands due to the wait period and the fact it is snowing outside adn promises to keep me inside the shop this weekend. I will do as suggested and pull the tank again to get to all the wire connectors with the intent of cleaning and treating them with di-electric grease. At this point I have nothing to loose. While I'm at it I will clean all grounds and make sure that there are no loose connections on or around the ECU itself.

(JACK) Thanks for the suggestion with the OBD II hand tool. I didn't think of that! I will bring one home from the shop this weekend and see what it says. Who knows...maybe it will do the same thing SPIKE did and give me a code to work with or some sort of direction to take.

With regard to the problem being electrical (TOMO/Wilbur) I agree and have wondered if that could be part of the issue. Your comments did get me to thinking that maybe there is some moisture somewhere or..... that the less than desireable connectors (FLIP) that Triumph uses may be failing and I just haven't looked hard enough to find the connector with a problem. That could also be part of the issue with TuneBoy not working on the diagnostic side of the program...HMMM.

Thanks Guys..some real food for thought and some work to do this weekend..Thanks SB.

 

[HeR3tic]

this has become QUITE informative.
di-electric grease will be my next application.
THANKS, ALL.

 

[Shadow_69]

I have had the same type of problems since October, Been the shop 3 times and I finally think that they got it fixed this time, I had contacted the shop owner after the 2nd time in and still having the same issue they kept reloading the tune, It was missing and backfiring at startup running really rough with a flat spot in lower RPM around 2500 the problem came back every time within a day of getting it out and I would have to do the reset thing to get to run right but it wouldn't keep.

He had them really look into the issue. they hooked up the computer to it and started pulling the data down on it and running tests ... they started noting some stuff that wasn't right but it didn't get any error codes, ended up I had a vacuum hose or air line pinched by the air box that cause the ECU to get incorrect readings in the front cylinder and the ECU would try to correct the issue making it worse. They replaced it and rerouted it. I have my powerback in all gears and RPM ranges again and the backfiring and rough idle and missing seems to be gone now.

I don't know if this is your issue or not but your issue sound the same as what I was having..... it worth taking a look, I still want to get some more riding in to be sure its gone but this has been the best its run in months.

 

[RockIIIt]

I had the dreded lumpy at start and black smoke on a couple of cold starts and thought it was because I took the bike out from a warm garage to the cold windy day, with the wind blowing up the exhausts.

Everything was fine then for a while ( a couple of rides) then it started to miss upon heavy acceleration ( overtaking).

Dealer had trouble locating cause, ended up fitting new plugs and sent me on my way.
Went on another ride to see if fixed and after 200 klms centre cylinder cut out alltogether.

Trucked back to dealer, found coil lead connection at fault, found in 10 mins of looking.

I insisted they change that coil also in case it became damed due to miss, no problems since.

 

[Silver Bullet]

Latest Information

I have gone over the bike with a tube of di-electric grease and am now sure that all the electrical connectors have been cleaned and sealed up with grease including the connectors on the ECU. I have also checked and cleaned the grounds.

This morning I started the bike and it seemed to run OK with no ill effects. I also downloaded the tuneup again just to make sure the ECU had the tune-up I wanted in the bike.

Wayne and I were successful in getting my TuneBoy to work on the diagnostics as of this morning. This process has been laborious and taken several weeks in time. The final fix was to uninstall the version I had and install the new 3.5.0.0 version (3 times) to get all the drivers working. I should also mention to any of you who have problems with your tuneboy that requires changing versions, that Wayne has a Regclean program on his website that should be used in conjuntion with any effort to uninstall an old version and its files before installing a new version. Seems my computer remembered things in the registry that interfered with future attempts at downloading new files.

It's snowing and the weather may not allow it for a few days but I am ready to get the bike out and see how it runs now that I know there are no codes or engine gremlins (hopefully) causing problems. I'll keep you posted. Thanks for all the suggestions...they did pay off...SB...

 

[Sidecar Flip]

I'm a firm believer in Di-Electric grease. I neven put it on my Christmas list and my wife got me an extra tube. It works really well for recessed ceiling fixtures that take the halogen bulbs (like above your sink)(in the house). We used to go through a bulb a month but after coating the base with a smear of grease, the bulbs last a couple of months. For what reason I don't know. I also use it on my outside service outlets on the barn. Keeps the plugs working freely.

 

[Silver Bullet]

Preventative Measure

Flip:
I would not say at this time that di-electric grease definately helped or not. I can say that it was easy to clean the terminals and apply some grease which is a pretty cheap and a no brainer thing to use if one has any doubts about connectors and has the wiring loom apart.

In my case and the gremlins I had with the engine light and TuneBoy acting up at the same time, (at least two things showing symptoms of failure)...TuneBoy was not working on my computer as it should have (a non-bike fix) and an electrical problem of somekind with the engine light was driving me crazy in that, it was not flashing a code on the ECU and yet the engine was running like crap sporadically. To my knowledge the engine has not set a code to this day.

One thing I did note was when I did get TuneBoy running properly on the diagnostics...it showed no codes......go figure...nor could I recover any "recent" codes.

I should have the answer as to the engine's running condition when the weather improves in a month or so.

SB.