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Computer help / bike suddenly wont start

4K views 25 replies 11 participants last post by  rgilmore 
#1 ·
Background first. 14400 miles mostly trouble free with some standard replacement parts and I decide to ride 1900 miles round trip to Arizona and back from Reno,Nv.

300 miles into the trip and all is well when we pull over to make some adjustments to the gear and shut off the bike. Try to restart and get the normal dash sequence and then just a click when I hit the starter button. I turn off the key and try again to have the same problem and watch the temp bar go up to 10 and then back down to 5. I think it is too hot and wait 5 min to see if it has cooled off. Try again and the same problem, but this time the computer goes thru a louder than normal almost minute long series of sounds, not the normal shut off sounds but louder and more intense like it is registering error codes or something.

Two hours later in the middle of nowhere, we finally get an answer from the tow company it will be $400 to tow it 33 miles to the closest town...still in the middle of nowhere. We end up leaving it and coming back the next day and picking it up, much to my suprise as I fully expected it to be stolen!

I have my laptop with tuneboy but my cable is in Reno and we are in Tucson, Az until friday when we are back in Las Vegas where the bike is currently.

If anybody has any idea what the problem could be or that has possibly heard this sound before, or there is anybody that can lend me a cable next friday the 29th in Vegas so I can try to diognose the problem, or if anybody knows a good Triumph mechanic in Vegas, I can't thank you enough.
 
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#2 ·
1st place to start would be dead or fried battery from regulator failure,
get a multimeter and see what volts u have on the battery before the key is turned on, if it's less than 12v and it drops much lower when the key is turned on and you try to start thats your problem
 
#8 ·
Finally got the bike home and got the battery charged last night. Put on a multi-meter and got 12.6V at the cables to the battery and holding steady. After starting, voltage dropped to 12.2 and held there until revving to 5K rpm when voltage was up to 12.5 and never got an higher. After returning to idle the voltage dropped to 12 and stayed there until revving again. I shut off the bike and voltage at the battery leveled off at 12.6V after the computer cycled. I am not sure if it is the regulator/rectifer or the stator? Is there any other way to tell what the problem is?
 
#9 ·
You have a charging issue, I don't remember the exact numbers but when the bike is running it should read around 14V, I can check my service manual later to see if it's in there. I would guess the regulator/rectifier based on the problems everybody else has had, I'll see what the service manual says for testing.

I had a similar problem on my old bike (1978 Suzuki GS1000), I was riding home one night and my lights died by the time I got home and it didn't want to idle. Battery was dead so I charged it and it ran fine, I think it was reading somewhere around 13V when it was running, it ended up being a fried rectifier.
 
#11 ·
Got the multimeter hooked up to wires that lead from the stator to the wire loom and the max voltage from any of the wires was 3 volts. From what I know of electrical systems, its shot...but is it the stator or the rotor?
 
#12 ·
If you were measuring the voltage between the any of the 3 stator wires and ground with the meter in DC mode it won't tell you anything.

The rotor is just a bunch of permanent magnets, nothing much to go wrong, try measuring the resistance between any 2 of the 3 stator wires
you should get somewhere between 0.2 ~ 2 ohm (im just guessing here as there is no specs for this in the manual) if it is open circuit you have a burnt out coil/s,
all of the above is done with the MOTOR OFF

Try measuring the voltage between any 2 of the 3 stator wires with the meter in AC mode, be careful as it would be putting out anything between 15~100volts.
(motor running)

There is an after market reg/rectifier unit for the 675 which is supposed to better quality and cheaper than oem (can't find the post which mentioned it atm, sorry)
 
#15 ·
I tested the Ohms and after an initial spike, I get a reading of .002
When I test the Ac with the motor running the reading is 9.8 acv and revving to 5000rpm I get 11 acv. I hope this means the stator is still good as I purchased a new regulator / rectifier from the link above...should have it in a few days and REALLY hope it will fix it as I have track days soon!!!!
 
#13 · (Edited)
is it normal for the recitifier to be 165F/73C after a ride ??? could someone go check their bike with a laser thermometer and report back?

DON'T want to fry another!!!

done some searching........

As for moving the regulator/rectifier, Triumph did on the '09 model. It's under the infill panel on the left fairing. From what I've read on here it's attached to the left front turn signal. There's a post about the differences on the '09 in the polls section of the site. You would definitely need to extend the wiring.
Heres the aftermarket RR i just installed.
http://www.regulatorrectifier.com/c...ona-675-Regulator-Rectifier/product_info.html
 
#14 · (Edited)
On my 2009, I measured between 13.68 V and 13.81 V across the battery terminals with engine running. The variations weren't correlated with RPM in any noticeable way.

This is probably not the OP's problem, but maybe it will help someone else:

I was measuring this last night because I just began having intermittent problems starting the bike. Sometimes I would get a click and an ECU reboot, sometimes a weak engine turnover, and usually some changes in the fuel pump/servo noise pattern. With engine running, I also had a flickering display backlight and some headlight dimming that was intermittent.

I noticed some scorching on the positive battery terminal boot. The cable, bolt, and terminal looked ok. Battery was secure and I didn't see anything that could have been grounding out the terminal.

I noticed that the terminals seemed bone dry. So, I took the cables off (which weren't loose, but were not as tight as they could have been), wire brushed everything until shiny, slathered a bunch of silicone grease on it all, and screwed it back in snugly. Everything sounds/looks normal and it starts right up.
 
#16 ·
Those readings sound encouraging,
(the average generic multi-meter isn't very good at measuring low ohms, also the displayed low ac values are due to the rapidly varying frequency it's trying to catch, budget A to D chip sampling rate etc.
meggers & quality hand held oscilloscopes cost big $$)...anyway

It looks like your stator windings are ok and the new reg will fix it.
Can you give us some feedback on the delivery time from www.regulatorrectifier.com
 
#17 ·
I spoke to the someone at Reg/Rec yesterday and should get the new part within 3 days. They said they had both parts (reg/rec and stator) in stock and could ship immediately. The new reg/rec was $124.68 USD with shipping and a 6 month warranty...
 
#18 ·
Well, after getting the new Reg/Rec in only 2 days I got it installed...only to find it still did not work! I pulled the engine case cover and found this. I am pretty sure this is my lack of charging issue and will order a new stator tomorrow. Hopefully THAT fixes the problem!:1banghead:
 

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#24 ·
See this is why people should diagnose their problems fully rather than assume it always the reg/rec which is ALWAYS the advice given on here with regards to any battery/charging issue.

It's like if anyone has any engine noise..... 10 posts straight away on swapping you cam chain tensioner out of a manual one.
 
#19 ·
Well that's bad news, I eat my words from my last post.
I'll measure the coil ohms and AC output from my healthy (touch wood) 07 system so there's a reference for others in the future.

At least www.regulatorrectifier.com seem to be reliable, maybe you could offer them your old stator for a bit of a discount? they must be getting the
coil formers from write off bikes and re-winding them.
 
#20 ·
Not sure what they are doing to get the stators, but I did just get an email ask me to measure the stator in mm...so at least they are measuring in the correct units! Will see what they say about my dimensions and hopefully their '07 stator will fit my '06 door stop.
 
#23 ·
OK



I may have to take you up on that, should that turn out to be the real source. I may take it to a local shop tomorrow to look at it, or wait until the dealership re-opens Tues to let them see it. I had my 6k service done a couple of weeks ago, it would've been convenient then.
 
#25 ·
Actually, it was the easier and cheaper of the two parts to replace. That and there are no specs on what the ohm reading or voltage coming out of the stator should be in the shop manual to tell me if it was charging correctly or not. Parts are in, just need to reassemble and test.
 
#26 ·
IT LIVES!!!!!!!!! I've got 14.40 volts at idle, 14.53 volts at 5K rpm. Even with everything on, I have 14.25 volts, at idle! Now I don't have to find a way to get rid of it... The install of the aftermarket stator was a little more involved than OEM, but for saving over $300 it is more than worth splicing in three wires. We shall see how long these parts last, but since you can't return OEM electric parts either, I'm not real worried.

www.regulatorrectifier.com was great about making sure the parts would fit (stator was listed for '07) and I would recommend them to anybody who needs either a rectifier or stator for their bike if it can't be fixed under warranty.
 
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