Dying/dead TPS?

[nik_the_brief]

Not the most auspicious of starts I'm afraid but I'm very hopeful this is just my new bike testing my commitment to her!  It's an '05 955i which I picked up last Saturday from a dealer in Redhill.

I only had the chance to run her about 60 miles from the dealers last weekend during which I had no problems but the battery was so low that she wouldn't restart after a quick fuel stop because she was so low on juice in the battery.  The dealers came out with a portable charger and got it fired up without trouble and I had a good run home and no further charging/starting issues.  I put it down to her sitting in the dealers for a while and then being started a few times in quick succession without time to recharge with a half decent run so thought no more of it.

I took her out for two or three very short trips (5 miles or less) without trouble.  However on Wednesday I took her for a short run to the local town, only about 15 miles each way. After about 8 miles I was doing a steady 60-70mph in 6th when it 'hiccoughed' a bit, like a short fuelling issue then picked up again but the engine light lit up.  Not being used to all this electrickery stuff I panicked a touch and called the dealers who told me that it wasn't too much to worry about and to take it into them and they'd hook it up to their diagnostic computer and sort it out.  They told me it would be fine to ride in the meantime so I did with little apparent probems - though looking back theer may have been a couple of those almost imperceptible judders in how smoothly she laid down the power.

I set off first thing this morning to take it to the dealers and made it about the same distance - 8 miles or so.  Everything seemed fine at first until it started to lose power quite dramatically, it felt just like a fuel starvation or dirty fuel issue.  I throttled back and opened it up again and it seemed to clear itself and run fine for another mile or so and then the symptoms reappeared forcing me to pull over onto the hard shoulder.  Fortunately my insurance policy bundled in RAC membership so they sent a man and van who hooked up his laptop which diagnosed a fuel pump circuit fault, another non-specified fault with a number and a TPS fault.  I got it transported to the dealers who couldn't find any fault at all save for the 'historic' faults which the RAC had found. They reset the system and suggested I gave it a good run to see if the fault re-occured or if the problem was just an ECU brain fart arising from the previous incident when the battery nearly flattened itself.  Again for about 5-6 miles all seemed fine and it pulled like a train, no engine light or owt but then it re-occurred.  Exactly the same symptoms of an almost total loss of power gradually going rather than instantaneously and the old orange engine light popped up again. 

I stopped by the side of the road, re-started after a minute and it ran well enough again for a mile or two then the same again.  I stopped once again, gave it another short break then started her up and was able to limp it back to the garage.  A very nerve racking journey as I was on the M23 with no hard shouder in parts but was lucky as she kept going without any obvious symptoms, though it may have been my paranoid imagination but she did judder once or twice I think!

When I finally got to the garage the machine diagnosed a TPS fault again so I had to leave it with them to order one in as they'd none in stock and borrow a loan bike to get home - argh a Honda CB500 what a horrible bit of kit but in fairness it got me home without trouble.  I've no idea how long it'll be before they can sort it but I'm sure they'll want to do it asap as they will want their bike back.

Does their diagnosis of a fecked TPS sound about right?  Presumably the other faults logged and found by the RAC diagnostics machine were the result of the the nearly flattened battery last Saturday.  This ECU, fuel injection stuff is all brand new to me and a bit confusing so I thought I'd ask here at the fount of all Tiger knowledge.

Cheers in advance.

Nik

[Bixxer Bob]

TPS isn't a common fault, but isn't unknown either.  Hopefully the TPS change will sort it for you, but bear in mind a blocked fuel cap vent will give similar symptoms (except the fault code, obviously).

The ECU settles down as soon as the battery is replaced - or fully charged - so once the fault is cleared it shouldn't re-occur. In extreme circumstances it needs a re-flash of the map to completely sort it, but you say it ran well other than the cutting out so it's probably fine.  As yours has, (run ok) the TPS has probably had it.

Manual says test wiring, if no fault found replace sensor.  Replacing sensor involves removing the throttle bodies so a new gasket will be fitted at the same time; expect to be billed for that or ask why not.

[nik_the_brief]

Thanks so much for that Bixxer Bob.  I hope though that they don't charge me for owt as they gave me a 3 month warranty when the flogged it to me a week ago, I will ask them to confirm that they repalce the gasket at the same time though.

[Bixxer Bob]

Once your warranty runs out, you might like to befriend another member on here: Metal Guru.  He's in the trade, well up on 955s and lives in Kent.

[nik_the_brief]

Fantastic, it was indeeed the TPS on the fritz, a replacement one and she pulls like a train again. 

I've been pacing up and down waiting for the part to arrive and be fitted (11 fecking days) but I picked her up this afternoon and she's all fine and dandy and back with me where she belongs.

[Bixxer Bob]

 

[metalguru]

Just curious,
Has the battery held up since?
Low voltage can cause a multitude of maladies.

[nik_the_brief]

It has indeed, not missed a beat and turns over every time.

The clutch remains worrying to me.  I'm still unsure whether it's me still not sufficiently competent in the ways of the Tiger gearchange or the bike.  Dealer assures me that it 'rides like any other good Tiger he's ridden' but I am still encountering a grabbing clutch when hot.

It starts off fine but when properly warmed up she's a biatch to get into neutral and I have to resort to the old switch off the ignition, find neutral and fire her up again trick.  It's worse when stuck in heavy traffic as she eventually, when sufficiently hot, starts to creep forward with clutch fully in whilst in stationary traffic. 

My chain is so slack that it's almost too slack so don't think it's that.  Not sure what oil is in there but perhaps a change to fully synth is necessary?  I've done some reserach here and it seems that opening her up, removing the plates and giving them a fine wet and dry before an overnight soaking in oil might sort it out.  Not summat I've done before though as my last bike had the massive benefit of a dry clutch so I could bugger about with it to my heart's content.

Any ideas?  Cheers for raising the question though.

[Bixxer Bob]

Nick,  it SHOULD be running fully synth; Triumph used to recommend Mobil One, but more recently they've switched to Castrol.  Either way, use oil meant for bikes.  (To whom it may concern,,,, No, I don't want to open yet another debate about whether bike oil vs car oil is ok.  It might be, but right here we're trying to eliminate the cause of the clutch issue).

Be aware, if it's been running the wrong oil, it'll take ages to sort it self out (I accidentally put a drop (maybe 10cc) of car oil in my Blackbird once and the clutch screeched a bit for weeks) so you might have to sort the plates as you described.

[Sin_Tiger]

Washing the friction plates with brake cleaner will get rid of most of it. Do Not leave them soaking for more than a couple of minutes though