key switch ignition issue

Hey all, had an interesting ignition issue this morning. Fired up the bike rode out the drive on to the street and when I straightened out the bars the engine shut off and I lost all power to the lights and intstruments. When I put the bike on the stand and turned the bars to the left powe returned to the instruments so I fired it up again, but when I straightened the bars all the powe went out.

After I cursed and then chuckled following the second time I pushed her back into the garage until this evening. Onc home tonight I removed the bug screen, headlamps, key cover and right side cove to diagnose. In short order I discovered adjusting the wires at the base of the key switchresolved the power loss. Small movements in various direction both caused and resolved the issue.

First - is it necessary to remove the triple tree to remove the key switch?

Second - has anyone reworked the wiring in the key switch successfully?

I have very successfully isolated the cause of the loss of power so my real questions are directed toward the realistic value of attempting torepair the existing key switch or simply replace it.

Either way I must have it done before Aug 11, 2016 as Im headed to the maggie valley, boone and deals gap region for a few days.

You are a victim of the very common failure of the key-switch in the std/classic models
The solder melts because of poor contact resistance and high current. (that model is pulling about 16A through there)
It will almost certainly be the white wire that has become disconnected from the pad (see image below)
If the pad itself is not damaged you can likely re-solder it - if the pad is damaged, your switch may become a throw-away.
If you successfully repair then to prevent recurrence you need a relay bypass circuit for the headlights or it WILL happen again



As far as removing the switch - you don't actually have to - in fact its a pain, because it is secured to the triple with shear bolts. You can access the switch plate by remove the bottom cover; however you will find it impossible to work on in situ like that. So the best way forward is to unbolt the top triple and invert it, leaving the switch still secured to the triple.

OR - just unplug it and go key-less!

Same thing on my 06 Classic. Go keyless, I did. Triumph still ignores the problem and it is a safety issue. Good luck.

JoseyR3Wales said:

... Triumph still ignores the problem and it is a safety issue....

Click to expand...

Well not entirely true - they changed the scheme on the Roadster so it is no longer an issue on those bikes. i.e. from 2010 forward
But yes, there is no factory fix (or replacement) for the std/classic if it fails. But also recognize the 'youngest' std/classic is at least 7 yrs old at this point.

Yeah seems like a bigger PIA to get to than to repair. That said, when you say "just unplug it and go keyless" tell me more. Not being very familiar with ignition systems, especially the triumph system, whats involved?

click on my signature link

There are no statute of limitations for safety issues. I was speaking of the older Classics and Standards. If there was no problem, why change the design ? Guilty as charged.

I think (personally - your opinion clearly different) it is a stretch to designate this as a safety issue.
How many reported accidents have occurred as a consequence of the ignition turning off?
We also have seen the low fuel light to be questionable - if you run out of gas and engine dies, does that make THAT a safety issue?

Continuous improvement of ANY feature is not necessarily an acknowledgement of something that is deserving of retrofit to the latest design.
That being said, Triumph did issue a retrofit to 2010 Roadsters to bring them up to 2011 spec in that particular area and begs the question, why upgrade those models, but not the earlier ones?
(the exact same retrofit could have been applied to the pre-Roadsters)
But at what point does 'poor' reliability become 'unacceptable' and deserving of either a wholesale recall, or even a 'goodwill" upgrade on request? (the latter might have been a good option for Triumph to take)
just outside of Warranty? 4 yrs? 5 yrs? 10?
What % of bikes failing within that 'catchment' period then makes it worthy of a 'free' upgrade?
Remember also there is no such thing as free lunch - somewhere costs must be recovered otherwise companies go out of business.
For me, if it fails within a short period after warranty has expired, that is a reasonable grievance and you would be right to appeal to Triumph; a year out of warranty or longer and I think well, that sucks but what can I do to make the situation better.

Incidentally this is not a uniquely Rocket 3 issue - the same scheme exists on many, many more Speed Triples, Daytonas, Sprints, Tigers from 1997 through about 2010 which all utilize the same switch and the same current feeding twin headlights (although some of those models would not have the additional Fuel Pump current).

Some rave about Japanese electrical reliability as a beacon - I can honestly say the electrical system on my Suzuki TL1000 is one of the worst I have come across - no relays, woefully under-sized wiring and connectors, resulting in burned connectors; same on my SV650 - a burned connector on the headlight circuit there is also a well recognized issue.

Look - I'm NOT saying this is a non-issue - I would definitely recommend a bypass of some sort to minimize the possibility of failure.
The simplest and least expensive is addition of a single relay, essentially emulating the same scheme employed in the 2010 Roadster retrofit.

I didn't like the ignition up there, so now I rewired and placed it down below the seat on the left, works well and easy to reach and looks standard.

The switch on my 2005std went out and the bike was five years out off warranty, my local dealer called Triumph and they sent a new switch new gas cap and new seat mechanism so the same key would fit all, this was all free of charge all I had to do was install the items which was no problem,