Sigh. Electrical problem?

[B.Curvin]

Wouldn't you know it. I take the Tiger out today just to run around town and

while out I said to an acquaintance at a bike shop "This things great, fun to ride blah blah blah, I think I will keep it".

He used to be a Triumph tech and says "those thing are bullet proof blah blah, years of service blah blah blah".

It started cutting out on the way home.  

Here's the bike details and a description of the problem. Maybe someone can help.

98 Tiger, 52,000 miles, just adjusted the valves, replaced the air filter and cleaned the carbs.

The coils (and I bet everything else) are factory original.

It has done this before but to such a small extent I thought I was imagining it.

Today I'm on the interstate running an indicated 75 or 80 at steady throttle and I felt a "bump".

It missed for a split second.

I continue at steady throttle and it starts doing it often enough that I can look at the tach

as it happens. I'm at 5,500 RPM and everytime it does it the RPMs drop by 500.

Only for a fraction of a second though. Sometimes I could snap it partially open

from that steady throttle setting and it would "bomp bomp bomp bomp" maybe 5 times.

I tried switching to reserve to see if it helped and it didn't. I stopped and threw

in 3 more gallons for giggles and it made no difference.

Does this sound like the coil problem that I hear about?

I'm thinking either:
coils
CDI
tank vaccum
dirty carbs
ignition pick up
or evil spirits

any suggestions?
Thanks.

[Mustang]

start with the easy stuff ....does it go whoosh with a rush of air when you open the gas cap , try riding it with the cap open and see if it makes a difference , if no joy you can rule out a vent problem to the tank .

did you put the carbs back together right when you cleaned them  ?
how are the pilot jets , did you take them out and hold em up to a light or the sun and see if they are open or clogged .?

If this stuff checks out ok do you have the cap over the right hand snorkel ? cuz if it aint there you will have issues like you describe ?
Do you have all the air boots from the filter secured good to the carb bodys ?

now if this stuff checks out good I would seriously be looking at the coils if it's a 98 they have GILL's which are the biggest POS there is time for some coils .

simple stuff again  is the filter in the gas inlet clean or dirty its right inside the plastic fuel inlet between the carbs .

your description sounds electrical fault though
so it could be the ignition sensor but that is usually not how they fail , they get hot the tach drops to zero and you can't start it again until it's cold is the usual symptom

the electrics (coils and pick up sensor) should ohm out at .6 ohms or so like .57-.62 is acceptable .

dropping 500 rpm and then coming back again sounds like coils to me .but it's hard to diagnose from my desk .LOL

[B.Curvin]

Thanks Mustang. What are the recommended replacement coils?

[Mustang]

ask ten people what coils are best and you will get ten answers ....kinda like which oil is best , but from experience you can't go wrong with nologys
they are direct replacements , no mods needed and they work awesome smoother idle and better throttle response  blah blah blah.............

http://store.newlevelmotorsports.com/noprigcofort.html

you need three of the single outlet ones
70 bucks apiece
best money I ever spent on tigger

[B.Curvin]

I just bought 4 Daytona 600 coil sticks for a grand total of $15.00.

Woot Woot!

 

When they're that freakin cheap it can't hurt to try, right?

[Mustang]

whatever works is a good thing !

[MtheTiger]

Hi B. Curvin

You bought Daytona 600 coil sticks.
From which model years or doesn't this matter because they all fit a steamer?
Nice to have some cheap spares at hand....

Thx

Markus

[B.Curvin]

Hi B. Curvin

You bought Daytona 600 coil sticks.
From which model years or doesn't this matter because they all fit a steamer?
Nice to have some cheap spares at hand....

Thx

Markus

I've found posts where people have used TT600 and Daytona 600 coils with success.

I may have seen where someone used Daytona 675 too but don't quote me on that.

From what I've read any TT600 or Daytona 600 should work.

[nightrunner]

There are two schools of thought.  The Nologys and the TT600.  I went with the TT600 coils.  Triumph only used three different kinds of coils as far as I know, and two of those are the 'coil-sits-on-the-plug' type.  Look on ebay.   If they have a flat top with mounting ears (from a Daytona 900 and ???), they will not fit.  The very shinny ones with no mounting ears are the ones you want.  

You can try and buy an old wiring loom to get the connectors and splice those into your harness.  Or you can make jumper wires from your existing connectors over to the coils.   You'll need the narrow female crimp-type spade connectors (aka flag connectors).  These are smaller than the common 1/4" automotive spades so you have to go to electronics store to get them.  I think Radio Shack has them or you can mail order from an electronics supply house.  I think they are 0.187" width but don't quote me.   Also the plugs are not polarized as far as I know.

[BR]

I got my "coil sticks" from ebay for about $35...got 4 of them from a Daytona I think.  Regardless, here they are.  They are not polarized and I added a rubber ring to close up the gap between the stick and and spark plug well opening.  I used simple connectors from Radio Shack as well.  Been working great ever since.

[B.Curvin]

That looks nice BR. I think I'm getting the exact same ones. They'll be here Tues.

I just ran the Tigger out to the gas station. Ran great. Hmmm.

When the coils are going out, does heat make the problem worse? The engine got

warm but it's very cold outside ~32* and I'm certain it didn't run long enough

to get the coils hot. I know heat can sometimes make coils "break down" and

cooling off will help.

Either way I'll stick the coils on when I get them and do a ride to replicate the ride this

week when it started missing.  Fingers crossed.