Triumph down on two

[pickles]

Hi Guys

Have any of you guys come across this problem before. I have a 1995 Triumph Trident Sprint 900 and it was running on 3 cylinders as normal but has now lost alot of power and sounds like its only running on 2 cylinders. I have just renewed the plugs but has made no difference. Any thought please.

Thanks pickles

[steven_191]

could be anything.

first things to check, does it have a spark? put a plug in the lead and touch the electrode the the engine casing and run the engine, see if it sparks on all leads.

if so do a compression test.

if all is good, make sure you have fuel/air supply

check you got the plugs gapped properly because they can make a difference and even affect wheather of not they spark.

thats just basics to looks for as the problem really could be anything.

[pickles]

Cheers Steve , will do.

thanks

[Poseidon]

Sounds like you've got the same problem I had. My bike is a '94 Triumph Trident, so basically the same 3 cylinder engine. It'd run fine, then suddenly drop bags of power and sound dog rough. Does the rev counter go crazy when the power drop occurs? As that was another symptom of mine.

Turns out it was the ignition coil on the number 1 cylinder. The little metal connector that the low tension cable slides onto was really loose. I found that out by wiggling the wires going into each ignition coils whilst the engine was running and as I wiggled one of them, the problem came and went. I tried fixing the connector, but about a week after "fixing" it, the problem came back again. New ignition coil and it ran sweet as! I seem to think it cost me about £40 for a new one off a German seller on flea-bay. Only one I can find is 2nd hand... CLICKY
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1977 Honda CG125
2002 Ducati Monster S4 (currently restoring)

[Bishbash]

Have you tested the HT leads? Swap a working HT lead off one of the other cylinders with the non working cylinder. Same goes for the coils.


Other than that, as suggested above.
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My current bikes are - YZF-R1 & GS 500 E

Trackday videos - https://www.youtube.com/user/bishbash13

[Ant132]

As Poseidon says

A known weak point on these T3 Triumphs are the Ignition coils. They recently started to play up on mine (really noticeable at low revs).

Feel the exhaust downpipes (be careful) briefly or better still, squirt water on them and wait for steam, and see which one is cold(or noticeably cooler than the other two) and then swap the coil from that cylinder to another. See if the problem moves cylinder with the coil movement.

If it does, theres your answer

[pickles]

Hi guys

Thanks for the input. I have checked there is a spark at each plug and there is. I have also checked HT leads and connections as well as checking resistance of Ht lead and coils, all seems ok and within the tollarences of the manual. When i start the bike all 3 down pipes get hot together but when i rev the bike, instead of going vroom vroom it goes braaa braaa and sounds as if its running on two cylinders and at the exhaust end its popping and spitting a bit but no smoke. could it be that one of the main jest are blocked because this will be my next option.

Thanks Pickles

[Ant132]

[pickles]

Thanks Ant123

I drained the carbs and guess what, lots of muck and wait for it,here it comes WATER! Where the hell did that come from. I would say from 3 carb bowls full there was about a tea spoon of water. It runs a treat now and lots of lovely torque. Many thanks to you all for your invaluable help.

Pickles

[Ant132]

Nice one mate!