2004 Tiger Idle erratic, dies in traffic

[Snowcat73]

As some of you know I picked up a tiger last week, needed bits and pieces doing but seems a sound buy for the money, my mate ride it home for me and I've been tinkering in the workshop with it all week, new clutch cable, front and rear pads, oil and filter change.. Anyway today is the first time I've had chance to ride it, it starts well from cold, idles well and I set off no problem, stopped at lights and the idle dropped to 500, bobbled around a bit then just died, restarted no problem but it seems every time I pull the clutch in the idle seems to settle at around 1000 commence the dying procedure, sometimes it pulls it back but more often than not it dies.

This is my first tiger and I'm still a bit clueless about it at the moment but wondered if anyone has any knowledge of what this could be?

Thanks in advance.

[Chris Canning]

Hit the search button there's War and Piece on here about such.

[motoOzarks]

Don't get too worked up.

ride the bike through a tank of fuel or two.

Make sure you have a good battery with no loss in volts to the computer when starting.

do the above

if it persists then down the alley of checking for vacuum leaks and balancing throttle bodies and at some point the stepper motor will find its way into the conversation.

[Fentible]

Couple of things spring to mind.

Did it do that when your mate first rode it home for you?

Does it only happen on the move and when you stop at lights or a junction with the clutch pulled in?

If you snick the bike into neutral and let the clutch out, does the idle rise again?

[Snowcat73]

Couple of things spring to mind.

Did it do that when your mate first rode it home for you?

Does it only happen on the move and when you stop at lights or a junction with the clutch pulled in?

If you snick the bike into neutral and let the clutch out, does the idle rise again?

Mate said he had no issues at all riding it home (150 miles with a few stops), only gets erratic/dies at junctions and lights regardless of whether clutch pulled or if I get it into neutral.

Only possible thing I can think of that is different is I filled up at Esso, wonder if I've just copped a batch of dodgy fuel?

I'll keep riding it and see what happens.

[John Stenhouse]

May have a leaking vacumn pipe, take the tank off and have a look see. It's the one thing you have to learn to do with a Tigger, get it off slowly and carefully the first time after that you'll do it in 15 minutes and it wont faze you, all the service items are then easy to get to.

[Fentible]

May have a leaking vacumn pipe, take the tank off and have a look see. It's the one thing you have to learn to do with a Tigger, get it off slowly and carefully the first time after that you'll do it in 15 minutes and it wont faze you, all the service items are then easy to get to.

That would have been my next question, did you take the tank off?? I had similar symptoms after buying a T595 Daytona. I rode it up to Gateshead from St Albans with the idling issue, only to discover that the seller  had removed the Scottoiler but left the vacuum feed from the throttle bodies uncapped. I re-sealed it and got instant proper idle.

If you didn't remove the tank , as JS suggests, the vacuum tubes are still worth checking, as does riding to see if the matter improves with use in case it is just something as basic as a batch of dodgy fuel.

[Chris Canning]

With all the info at the touch of a search button I can't believe this thread has got this far.

http://www.tigertriple.com/forum/index.php/topic,13841.0.html

http://www.tigertriple.com/forum/index.php/topic,10903.0.html

http://www.tigertriple.com/forum/index.php/topic,14534.0.html

http://www.tigertriple.com/forum/index.php/topic,14421.0.html

And that is just the tip of the iceberg 

[Snowcat73]

With all the info at the touch of a search button I can't believe this thread has got this far.

http://www.tigertriple.com/forum/index.php/topic,13841.0.html

http://www.tigertriple.com/forum/index.php/topic,10903.0.html

http://www.tigertriple.com/forum/index.php/topic,14534.0.html

http://www.tigertriple.com/forum/index.php/topic,14421.0.html

And that is just the tip of the iceberg 

Thanks for the info Chris, that's the sort of information I was after, I suppose it's easier when you actually know what you're looking for, I tried several different ways of wording the issue but because I don't know what the actual problem was, hence the question, it was difficult to search for anything and lumpy idle in the search just brought up pictures of Wayne Rooney!!

Thanks again  :icon_wink:

[Fentible]

I agree, lots of information about what it might be  , It just might be easier to diagnose from what's actually happened since it was last running well rather than wade through hods of 'what ifs'.

Back in the eighties, I ruined a perfectly good Triumph Stag engine trying to diagnose a problem by reading about its design flaws instead of thinking about what I had been doing prior to the fault.   

[Chris Canning]

It's not a case of if's and buts dodgy tick over always takes you back to either the stepper or iffy coil and just to complicate things there's thread of mine somewhere when I thought it was a charging problem and there's plenty on that as well.

But the bottom line is the lad needs to get his train of thought in the right direction the good thing about these bikes they are predictable which is more than can be said for some of Triumphs earlier injected efforts.

[Snowcat73]

Cheers lads, I think next plan of action is whip off the tank to do the plugs and air filter (which was on the agenda anyways) while I'm at it I will check the valve clearances along with balancing the throttle bodies. While I'm there I will check all the pipes for breaks, cracks, just plain missing etc). I've also ordered the cable and will download the TuneECU as I believe there is a program to check the cycle of the Stepper.

I'm no expert when it comes to diagnostics and am aware I can quickly kill the engine if I'm not careful so won't be doing anything without good advice apart from absolute basics!!

[Chris Canning]

Tune ECU!!! That'll be smarter folks than me on here then 

[Bixxer Bob]

Some good advice, especially as a few recent issues have been down to "What I did last".  think hard about whether you did anything to trigger this, but be aware: I more or less know what I'm doing with these old gals but even mine does stuff like this from time to time and I rarely find anything conclusive.

My quick checks are:

When did I fit the battery and is it in good fettle?

Is it charging ok?

If both of those are positive then I check for leaks, balance the TBs, reflash the map and do the "Adaptation".

Normally that sorts it out.  For a while anyway....

[Snowcat73]

Thanks for the info, with the exception of refuelling (which I'm not ruling out as the issue) everything I've done so far has been mechanical, brake pads, clutch cable, oil and filter change. The garage said the bike had been stood a couple of weeks and they had to charge the battery, thought that was a bit crap, they've either had it more than a couple of weeks or a new battery may be a possible requirement. Either way I'll check the charging system anyway.

Re-flashing maps and adaptations are all new to me Bob so I will no doubt be calling on you for assistance at some point. Going to concentrate on checking as said first before delving into ecu's.

Thanks again for responses, all very helpful.