Triumph 955i Stalling Issues.... Fixed!?!

 Facebook slapped me in the face with this this morning:

...so I went on a mission.

I pulled the tank (for the millionth time?) and set up the 955i Triumph Tiger so I could try many different things to test if the idle was working. Previously I'd followed the manual, but no longer!

I did the usual checks for vacuum leaks and I continue to suspect the overly complicated and no longer supported idle control system. After trying everything I'd tried before, I decided to go OFF BOOK.

If I can't fix this @*&%ing thing perhaps I can hack it! With the bike in test mode (plugged in and ready to run with all sensors attached), now is the moment to try some alternatives, so I pulled the entire idle control system and tried variations without it.

I plugged the servo back in because I figured leaving it unplugged might piss off the computer. I also removed the end of the servo so it wouldn't interfere with the airbox and then blocked off the airbox with Gorilla Tape.

I'd also done my due diligence by balancing the throttle bodies and making sure everything else was plugged in as normal. I also reflashed the computer through Tuneboy with the South African map I found a few years ago.

 So what happens when you remove the entire (problematic) idle control system in a Triumph 955i engine and simply connect the vacuum tubes out of the throttle body to each other?

Well, it seems to have fixed everything. The bike idles right where the computer sets it, the backfiring problem is gone and the motor fuels smoothly (though this is probably in large part due to that fantastic South African fuel map). Best of all, no more stalling.

That's the work around. I got some silicon tubing from Amazon along with some T connectors (maybe $30 all in?). The last round of Triumph replacement parts cost me north of $200 and when I had to start buying used parts (because Triumph has stopped supporting their own bikes) and getting them shipped over to Canada it cost even more... but this hack is thirty bucks in parts and I also have a pile of unused silicon tubing and T connectors left over. I attached the silicon hoses to the T connector and then into each of the throttle bodies, so it's a closed loop with no chance of leaks.

In the pic you can see the idle control servo (black object above the intakes on the left side). That's what it looks like with the plunger removed. It still moves up and down but has nothing to do with moderating vacuum between the airbox and the throttle bodies which is what has caused me years of headaches.

I'm so jumpy about the motor falling through idle and stalling (it's a perilous place to be when you're on the road on a bike that keeps cutting out), but this hack hasn't just solved the idle problem, it has also resolved all of the other issues. The bike idles steady right where I set it in Tuneboy, but more surprising is that the backfiring that had crept in is completely gone. The bike feels tight, full powered and like it did years ago. My only thought now is that it might hurt the gas mileage, but I'll keep an eye on that as I get some miles under me this summer.

It still starts like normal. I'm occasionally getting a high idle (3-4 thousand RPM), but as I rode it that happened less - like the computer was figuring out the new normal. I'm curious to see if not having that system in affects cold starting but that's not going to be an issue for the next four months, and I don't mind being my own choke if it means a steady idle.

That Darned Tiger: Stalling issues on a Triumph Tiger 955i

The Tiger worked for a couple of months this spring but started recently stalling again.  The engine was getting rougher and any time I came off throttle quickly, such as downshifting, the engine would 'fall' right through where it normally idled and stall.  If I didn't downshift and let it drop to idle on the clutch it wouldn't stall.

If you're familiar with the blog then you know this isn't my first dance with Triumph's early fuel injection systems.  I've replaced the vacuum housing for the idle control system (a plastic piece that looks a bit under-engineered) and all the hoses and gaskets last year when chasing this thing, but looking over the deep winter maintenance I did I don't think I rebalanced the fuel injection after taking it all apart to clean it.

Balancing the FI on these 955i Triumphs is tricky because you have to take apart a lot of the bike just to get at the adjusters.  I've been in and out of this so many times that I'm quick - I don't even have to keep the fasteners sorted because I know where they all go.

To balance the fuel injection on a 955i Triumph engine, take the fuel tank and airbox off.  On the Tiger, if I put the fuel tank next to the bike the fuel lines are just long enough to connect so I can run the engine with the tank attached but off the bike.

I was going to use the Tuneboy to balance the injectors this time but couldn't figure out how to do it so just went back to good old-fashioned vacuum balancing.

Evidently you can balance throttle bodies off this but it jumps around so much I found it easier to use the vacuum balance I use for carburetors instead.  Perhaps the Inj #1, 2 & 3 P/W can be used to balance?

The Triumph triple is quite easy to balance once you've pulled it all apart.  The left side throttle (#1) isn't adjustable so you use it as your reference.  With that hose plugged in I balance the one next to it to #1 and then did the same with the far one.

I got this TecMate Carbmate Synchronizer from Fortnine last year and it makes the job quick, accurate and easy.  Just keep adjusting the screws between the throttle bodies until you have equal vacuum between them.

Don't balance two to three, just two to one and then three to one, so you don't need a non-existent three cylinder vacuum synchronizer.  I ended up buying the extender so I can do up to four carbs, but it isn't necessary for the Tiger, though it did come in handy on the Fireblade.

It took me about ten minutes to get everything from way out of whack to right on the green balanced light on the CarbMate.  Once I had it done the engine sounded less rough even with no airbox and missing sensors.

Running it like this pisses off the computer and throws up a whole bunch of warnings because you're not getting readings from the airbox sensor or the vacuum to engine management computer.  If you don't have a Tuneboy to clear the computer errors it takes a few runnings for the ECU to reset itself.  I just reset the errors in the Tuneboy system and then put it all back together again.

The bike immediately felt smoother and there were less backfires and hesitation when turning the throttle.  I took it out today and went for an extended ride and couldn't get it to stall even when doing things that caused frequent stalls last week, like down shifting to a stop and pulling the clutch as the engine was dropping in RPM.

If you're having stalling issues with a Triumph 955i fuel injected triple, balance the throttle bodies before you start chasing other issues.  Unbalanced throttle bodies cause stalling once the engine is hot.

I put some LockTite on the throttle body adjusters this time so hopefully it won't 'fall' out of adjustment again this riding season.  I'm still very concious of rubber parts perishing on this nearly twenty year old high-mileage bike.  Last summer's issues revolved around vacuum leaks in the idle control system so I'm going to keep a close eye on other rubber bits if I run into stalling issues again, but this time around it was just throttle body synchronization that seems to have done the trick.  Maybe next time I can work out how to do it with the Tuneboy so I can get it even more precise, though the CarbMate seems to have done the job with high fidelity.

NOTES & RESEARCH

955i Triumphs stalling links:

http://tkmotorcyclediaries.blogspot.com/2020/06/throttle-control-sensor-system-on-2003.html
http://tkmotorcyclediaries.blogspot.com/2020/07/triumph-955i-engine-stalling-next-steps.html
http://tkmotorcyclediaries.blogspot.com/2020/07/triumph-955i-stalling-issues-part-3.html
http://tkmotorcyclediaries.blogspot.com/2021/01/triumph-tiger-955i-old-rubbers.html

https://www.triumphrat.net/threads/955i-engine-stalls-need-help.16567/

Throttle balance?

https://www.thetriumphforum.com/threads/955i-stalls-and-wont-start-until-cold.27123/

https://www.thespeedtriple.com/threads/my04-speed-triple-stalls-the-engine.26192/

https://www.reddit.com/r/Triumph/comments/b45o3s/rough_idle_and_stall_out_problems/

Throttle balance (again) - do it with TUNEBOY this time!

Check rubber parts for perishing:

https://www.triumphrat.net/threads/stalling-and-fuel-adaption-problems.973460/

Tiger Triage

I sometimes find myself embroiled in politics. I hate politics. It's one of those things that even when you do it really well the results are always a disappointment. Working with people is frustrating and exhausting. My wife suggested that if I wasn't enjoying it that I should stop and do something else, so I did.

Out in the garage I flipped on the tunes, got the Tiger up on a 2x4 on its centre stand so it's a bit higher up and put a car battery on the back so the front tire tipped up in the air well clear of the floor. The speedometer wasn't reading anything so I slipped the front wheel forward off the axle bolt and double checked everything.

The speedo mechanism (#15 in the pic) has that spacer (#14) facing in from the outside.  That diagram isn't great (the speedo unit is shown as backwards on there (the wider side goes in, not out as that picture suggests).

#14 spacer was in backwards but more importantly the speedometer unit wasn't mounted on the splines sticking out #7 in the diagram.  Those splines fit into gaps in the speedo housing and I'd missed them when I installed it.

With the speedometer unit lined up on the splines properly and the spacer in the right way around the whole thing went back together and I immediately had responsive speedometer again.

The engine light was still on so I threw the exhaust hose on (it's a bit of aluminum duct), plugged in the TuneBoy engine management system and ran the engine for a few minutes to see what codes it picked up.

TuneBoy is a plug in and see what's going on in your bike's computer tool that I've found very easy to use.  It comes with the adapter head that fits on to the output plug under the seat on the bike.  Plug that in and the other end into USB on a computer (I have one wall mounted in the garage) and then open up the software and you can see what your computer sees.  Lots of people get anxious about working with computerized bikes but TuneBoy makes it accessible.

The opening 'screen' is pretty disco (in a 1990s/early 2k kind of app design way).

The computer had collected a pile of errors.  These old Triumph computers will eventually dump the codes if they don't keep seeing an error, but it takes a while.

I took the gas tank off for the thousandth time (I'm WIlliams F1 Team pitstop fast at it now) and cleaned and checked all the connections.  I also pulled the air temperature sensor and cleaned it up in case it was clogged.

With all the connections cleaned the computer still had the errors in memory so I reset it (you can do that in the TuneBoy program) and then reset everything and fired it up again.

With the computer reset I let it idle for a few minutes and it threw no new errors up, and the engine light had gone off!  I took it out for another spin around the road in front of the house and it's now error free.  The engine light is off, the brakes have sharpened up and the speedometer works.  The Tiger is now five by five.  All the new parts are making it work better than it did and all the teething issues from the BIG COVID WINTER MAINTENANCE OF 20/21 are resolved.

It's a glorious thing!  Engine feels strong and certain with none of the stalling issues or hesitancy from last year.  All the cosmetic work makes the bike look much younger than its 18 years and over eight-thousand kilometers.

We're supposed to have a couple of sunny but cool days coming up.  I'm hoping I can get out and rediscover this wonderfully versatile and increasingly unique machine.

Tiger Testing After A Winter of Deep Maintenance

Road testing the Tiger on a cold (-3°C) day after a winter of deep maintenance.

The Good Stuff:

• the swingarm maintenance has transformed the rear suspension!  Unseized bearings mean the back end is supple and responsive now
• the front forks and steering feel brand new thanks to fork servicing and pulling the steering apart and re-greasing everything
• the new tires are spectacular! The old Michelins still looked ok but they were badly squared off and made the bike hesitant to turn - it drops into turns like a gymnast now!
• the deep cleaning on the fuel injection system has worked a charm.  It idles well and the fueling is excellent.
• the cosmetic touch-ups make the bike look much younger than it's 18 years and over 80k kms
• the new indicators suit the bike way better and work perfectly
• new horn is loud and works well

The Bad Stuff:

• I've bled the front brakes and they're tight now, but after repeatedly bleeding the rears they're still not what they were, though they do now produce some stopping power.  I need to check for any leaks and bleed again.
• The speedo doesn't show speed!  This has never been a problem before.  I'm going to check the connection to the gauge because I was knocking it around and might have knocked it loose
• speedo step two will be to raise the front end, remove the front tire and check how I installed the speedo unit - it only goes on one way so I'm not sure how that could be wrong but if the gauge check doesn't do anything that's the next step
• The engine light is on!  Though the engine feels fantastic, sounds great and the fuel injection which was problematic last year idles steady and fuels very smoothly.  The simple computer in the bike sometimes needs a few runnings to clear an error after a long time unpowered (like the 99 day Canadian winter break we had this long, cold, COVID-winter)
• engine light step two if it doesn't go off by itself is to connect the TuneBoy engine management system I've got and see what errors it's throwing up.

The bike goes and works better than it did in many regards before the winter-maintenance.  A couple of details and it seems ready to take on another short Canadian riding season.  I'm still hoping to hit 100k the year the bike turns 20 years old (2023).

Photos are all taken with a Ricoh ThetaV 360 camera wrapped around the wing mirror with a flexible tripod.  The camera is set to take a photo every four seconds then I just go for a ride and see what I caught when I get back.  Photos were edited in the Ricoh software and then touched up in Adobe Lightroom.

Triumph Tiger 955i Winter Maintenance List

2003 Triumph Tiger 955i winter maintenance list

Chassis Maintenance

Swingarm remove and check/lubricate, replace bearings if necessary.

That's a tricky job because removing the bearing destroys them, so if things get that far along I need to make sure I can get new needle bearings... and a press?

Parts List (that I hope I don't need)

• Triumph BEARING NEEDLE 2526 Part # T3800014
• Triumph SEAL, SD 25 32 04 Part # T3600170
• Triumph SPINDLE, SWINGARM Part # T2056007
• Parts List

Front fork oil change and refresh.
Steering hub check, clean, replace if necessary

• Forks & hub parts list
• Triumph FORK SEAL Part # T2040283
• Triumph 'O' RING Part # 2040081-T0301
• Triumph GAITOR,FORK Part # T2040288

Triumph FUEL INJECTOR, F-TYPE, LONG
Part # T1240891 

Fuel System Maintenance

• clean fuel injectors?
• how to do that except the first comment is not to backflush a fuel injector as they almost never go bad and this can wreck them
• Royal Purple FI PEA Cleaner
• I think I'm going to go with the SeaFoam I've been using if they aren't showing any signs of leaking
• Motion Pro makes a clamp that lets you force cleaner through injectors, but it's expensive (for a clamp) and I'm not sure it's necessary
• Another FI cleaning how to
• And another is removing and cleaning injectors necessary?  Evidently. 
• I think I'm going to draw some PEA cleaner through with a vacuum pump and let it soak rather than trying to pressure force cleaner through the system
• I balanced the injectors in the spring with an FI vacuum/mercury system, but I'm going to try it again using the TUNEboy diagnostic system I've got.

LED Indicator Light Upgrade

• replace existing LEDs with heavy metal update
• got the parts in
• kept the original flasher relay so if these aren't LED they'll still work
• put LEDs on it aside

Tire Change

• change tires and inner tubes (either through Lloyd or DIY?)
• https://www.cycleworld.com/how-to-change-a-motorcycle-tire/
• looks pretty straight forward - where can I get tire irons?  Tire spoons aren't expensive and are available on Amazon.
• Already got the tires in from REVCO.
• Also have new inner tubes with Counter Balance balancing beads already in them
• chatted with our auto teacher at school, I'm going to have a go at this DIY next week in the shop

Brake Fluid Flush And Fill

• Read the BIKE article on braided brake lines
• done this before on the Concours
• Tiger needs new fluid anyway (3 yrs since last flush)
• Get DOT4 fluid
• replace lines with DISCO HEL lines

Other

Touch up work on body panels (I have Lucifer Orange touch up paint)

Triumph Tiger 955i Engine Remapping

There are a number of posts on this blog about working out the kinks in my 2003 Triumph Tiger 955i,

and this is another one.  I've been playing with the Tuneboy engine management software that came with the bike, which works well, is put together well and is easy to use.  In working with the Tuneboy kit I discovered TUNEECU, a more open-source option for programming your own engine maps.

If you've never wrapped your head around engine maps, they're not very complicated.  Tuneboy does a good job of explaining how it works in their primer that comes with their software.

Back in the day you had a carburetor that used screws and jets to set the amount of fuel that got metered into the engine.   If you changed altitude you had to start swapping hard parts (usually the jets that sprayed fuel) to keep the bike running right, and sooner than later you had to manually trim the whole thing to keep it running right.  Electronic fuel injection took that all away.  A computer under the passenger seat on the Tiger takes inputs from sensors in the air-box (barometric pressure), in each of the three injectors , the fuel pump, radiator (engine temperature) and a crankcase sensor to constantly adjust things to use the most effective amount of fuel to make the bike go.  Put another way, carburetors are a mechanical, low resolution solution to feeding fuel into an engine.  Electronic fuel injection is a responsive, high resolution fix to the problem of delivering the right amount of fuel to a motor.

Tuneboy map editor - you can change settings and tell
the ECU (electronic control unit) what to do under
certain circumstances.

A fuel map is a spreadsheet of numbers.  Sensors feed the computer what RPM the engine is turning at and how much throttle is being asked for and based on the number in the fuel map, the computer delivers a set amount of fuel.  The 'fuel map' is literally a map that directs the computer to deliver a set amount of fuel.  If you're at high RPM and have just shut off the throttle, a smart EFI system will cut fuel delivery entirely, saving both fuel and emissions, something a carb couldn't manage.  If you suddenly give the bike a handful of throttle at low RPM, the map will direct the fuel injectors to deliver an optimal amount of fuel as it picks up speed, whereas a carb will always just send a mechanically set amount of fuel based only on how much wrist you're giving it.

In Tuneboy's system, you can change fueling and ignition maps, and modify things like idle speeds. The issue has been that the only maps I can find for Tuneboy are the stock ones from Triumph, which were set up to favour fuel economy and emissions over smoothness and drive-ability.  Meanwhile, TUNEECU (if you can navigate their 90's style web design and atrocious apostrophe use) offers you modified tunes that can smooth out your lumpy OEM map.

Of special interest to me were custom edits that made the list and have been on there for 9 years.  I don't know who Deano from South Africa/SA_Rider is, but they know their stuff.  The map on there does wonders for your Tiger's smoothness and pickup.  It might use a bit more fuel if you're heavy handed, but the difference in motor operation is impressive and worth it.

I was unable to find a digital tool to transpose the HEX files from TuneECU into my Tuneboy DAT format, so I opened up the modified HEX file and transposed the numbers over to the Default Tuneboy 10120 Triumph engine map and resaved it.  You can find that modified Tuneboy DAT file with the TuneECU South African mode here.

Finding this stuff isn't easy, and it's only getting harder as these old bike recede into the past, so I'm hoping this post help you find what you need to get your Tiger purring again.  It did wonders for mine.

Even though the old vacuum pipes held vacuum, I swapped them out for some similarly sized clear fuel line I had (you can see them going from above each injector to the idle stepper motor.  The TUNEboy software also comes with a diagnostics tool (with very cool 90s graphics!) that lets you test the radiator fan, idle stepper motor (which moves up and down modulating the vacuum in that black thing to the left/bottom in the picture) and the RPM gauge.

LINKS

You can find TUNEboy here:  https://www.tuneboy.com.au/

It comes with a cable that'll connect to your Triumph and is easy to get going, and comes with all the stock tunes.  It also lets you tune on a dyno, if you're minted.  It ain't cheap, but the minted guy who bought my bike new was, so he sprung for it and I'm still enjoying his largess over a decade later.

TuneECU can be found here:  https://www.tuneecu.net/TuneECU_En/links.html  Try to get past the out of control apostrophe use - they're better at software than they are at the speaking English goodly.

The older version is free, but finicky with Windows' old serial port drivers.  You can buy the app on the Android store for fifteen bucks, which seems perfectly reasonable.  You can then connect via bluetooth from a phone or Google tablet, though I understand you miss some connectivity that way.

It gets tricky these days finding the On Board Diagnostics (OBD) serial cable you need to connect the bike to the PC.  You can buy 'em from the UK, where people like fixing things.  CJ Designs in Wisconsin will sort you out with one too:  https://cjdesignsllc.com/?s=TuneECU

The modded engine maps for Triumphs on TuneECU can be found here: https://www.tuneecu.net/Custom_Tune_list.html

The TuneECU page goes into detail about how you might use the TUNEboy cable, but it requires so much messing around with knocking default Windows drivers out of the way and forcing others on that I wouldn't bother (I didn't).

Tiger Brains

The other day I was once again going over the details on the Tiger after taking the tank of for the billionth time.  Even though the stock pipes for the vacuum controlled idle system for the electronic fuel injection hold vacuum when I test them, I can't test that when they're on the bike, so they might be leaking where they join.  I happened to have some fuel line in the right size, so I've taken out the Triumph hoses and put these clear ones on instead to isolate another possible point of failure.

Once I got them in I fired up the TUNEBOY software and figured I'd run the idle control system test since it would move the plunger up and down and with everything off I could check to see that it's all working as it should,  except the ECU wouldn't connect to the computer.  I've done dozens of TUNEBOY adjustments now and know how the bike syncs with the PC over the serial port, but it wasn't connecting.  While trying some variations I turned the ignition on on the bike and the ECU made unfamiliar popping noise, and then none of the dash lights would come on (the running lights still do though).  The ECU no longer clicks off when the ignition is switched off either, which suggests it's not coming on either.

The intermittent nature of this failure always made my ass twitch in terms of it being electronic rather than mechanical.  Mechanical failures tend to be more consistent and easier to diagnose, and I've replaced everything around the idle control system now, so unless Triumph sold me a dickey idle control motor, which seems unlikely since the first one lasted 17 years and did over seventy-six thousand hard, Canadian kilometres and survived seventeen -40°C Canadian winters.  Assuming all the new parts are working as they should, an ECU that was losing the plot is as likely a culprit as anything else I've been chasing, and now it seems to have popped entirely.

So what do you do when your old Triumph's bike brain loses the plot?  Get another, I guess.  Used ones seems to be extraordinarily expensive and look to be in rough shape out of US used parts suppliers on eBay.  And for some reason they're charging twice what European suppliers are for shipping.  With that and the fact that The States seem like they're on the edge of a civil war, I think I'll be looking to the dependable Germans who have COVID19 well managed for a replacement Tiger brain.  If I'm thinking that, I wonder how many other people are avoiding business with the US right now.

But before I go that far, I'm a G.D. computer engineering teacher, so I'm hardly going to let an ECU go in the bin without having a go at it first.  If this is a short or something simple, I can solve that easily enough.  If nothing else I can see how the ECU is set up architecturally, but more often than not I'm able to get electronics I have to open up working again.  Time to flex my soldering prowess.

The most frustrating part about this is that I may well have solved the idle problem with replacement hoses, or maybe I didn't.  Maybe I chased down all of these hoses and parts for nothing and it was the ECU losing the plot all along.  Electronic Fuel Injection (EFI) is a wonderful thing, but the early systems were fragile.  There a lots of posts online about early Triumph EFI headaches, and I've added to them.

Guy Martin does a good special called The Last Flight of the Vulcan Bomber.  They grounded the last of these nuclear bombers in 2015 because they no longer had the expertise and technology too keep them safely air worthy.  In the show Guy talks about why there are plenty of older planes like Spitfires still flying when the Vulcan has to be grounded.  He says the Spitfire was made from bicycle parts you could fabricate in a shed, so they're relatively easy to maintain.  The Vulcan was an industrial machine with early electrical and electronic systems that were many times more complicated.  He goes on to talk about how the Vulcan looked like it came from another planet when only seven years earlier an Avro Lancaster was the state of the art.  There are performance advantages in these leaps forward, but there are also maintenance headaches that mean these early jets will never fly again.

Early fuel injected bikes are a lot like that Vulcan - they can do things earlier bikes can't like get better mileage, not need parts changed to ride at altitude and generally require less maintenance.  I just fixed up one of the last carbureted bikes, a 1997 Honda Fireblade, over the winter.  EFI was around then, but Honda wisely went for highly evolved carburettors rather than new, fragile and poor performing EFI systems.  I rebuilt the carbs, which are a complex but highly evolved four-carb set, and the bike runs like a Swiss (or rather Japanese) watch.  The EFI on the Tiger did the job without any attention for 17 years and seventy-six thousand kilometres including two rides into the Rockies - something no carburetor could do, but when it finally broke, boy did it break.  It's things like this that will make these first generation EFI bikes rare in the future.  Like the Vulcan, they're so complicated and difficult to maintain when they go wrong that they'll get retired from service where an older, simpler bike might still be fixable.



RESOURCES FOR CHASING DOWN ECU PROBLEMS ON A TRIUMPH 955i MOTORBIKE:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Triumph-Speed-Triple-955-2000-2004-ECU-Steuergerat-CDI-S1000T3/324154967093?hash=item4b79244435:g:BCEAAOSwZrteryUL

There are early Triumph EFI issues aplenty online:
https://www.triumphrat.net/threads/ecu-repair-refurbishing.525873/
https://www.triumphrat.net/threads/bad-ecu-on-my-2006-speed-triple.159082/
https://www.triumphrat.net/threads/955i-idle-hesitation-porblem.971699/#post-2004081361
https://www.triumphrat.net/threads/ecu-unit.80778/
https://www.thetriumphforum.com/threads/s1000t3-ecu.22000/
https://www.triumphrat.net/threads/1999-955i-ecu-needed.93566/#post-1107942

Used Parts, not of the vintage I'm looking for though:
http://www.rubbersideup.com/triumph/tiger?p=2

https://www.bikebandit.com/oem-parts/detail/triumph/t1291000/b1389042?m=121594&sch=565828
Wahay!  A new ECU is two-grand, AMERICAN!  That's over $2500 Canadian!  The whole bike cost me three grand.  See what I mean about the costs of keeping emerging, fragile old tech active?

Triumph 955i Engine Stalling: next steps

The Tiger continues to stall out on me at the most inopportune times.  It starts from cold and idles high, but once warm the lower idle doesn't seem to hold and the bike will stall, but not all the time, only when I really don't want it to.  Riding back from Haliburton last weekend, the bike stalled at lights and when I got stuck in traffic on a 6 lane highway traffic jam during a rain storm, but when I pulled over later it idled normally.  This kind of intermittent failure is very hard to diagnose.

Looking up the issue online, intermittent stalling on a Triumph 955i engine seems to be an issue.  I've replaced the idle control system and tested the vacuum tubes again (no leaks), so I don't think that's the issue.  It might be a sensor that doesn't return information consistently, but there are a lot of sensors feeding the computer that controls the fuel injection, so unless the bike is showing an error, I don't want to start replacing them willy-nilly.

The bike does occasionally show errors on the Tuneboy Software that came with the bike:

July 1st it showed:
P0113 Intake air temperature sensor
P0230 fuel pump relay fault
P1231 fuel pump relay open

P0462 fuel level sensor input
P0463 fuel level sensor input
P0505 Idle control system malfunction... but then they all seemed to go away and the bike was running well when I left for the long ride last weekend (over 800kms over 2 days), at least until I was riding home at the end of it when the intermittent stalling returned.  It was showing this again this week:





I'm not sure that the air temperature sensor would be enough to stall out the engine, but this at least gives me a couple of things to look into: that air temp sensor and the fuel level sensor (though again, that shouldn't affect the idle).

Some advice people have given (on the internet, so take this advice with a healthy dose of skepticism) is that out of balance throttle bodies might cause the issue, so I got a Carbmate vacuum balancer from Fortnine who have their shit back together as far as filling orders go and got it to me in less than 2 days (use UPS, not Canada Post, who are still not working properly).

I balanced the throttle bodies with it, but the stalling persists.  I'm now looking at the mapping for the bike in addition to keeping an eye on errors that might pop up.  This video uses Easy Tune, which I haven't monkeyed with, but gives the impression that early Triumph electronic fuel injection was a bit of a mess and many dealers don't know how to resolve it:

That's a bit worrying because if I'm still stumped I was going to take the Tiger down to Inglis Cycle and have them resolve this with some factory testing, but if I'm going to pay dealer rates and get the bike back still stalling, that's not cool.

TuneECU was a free Windows software download (it's still available but not supported any more), but now it's an Android app you have to pay for (though fifteen bucks isn't unreasonable if it gives you control over your bike's ECU).  Unfortunately the Tuneboy cable and software I have isn't directly compatible with it without some dark Windows driver mojo (newer windows auto-install a driver that doesn't work with the old chipset on the Tuneboy cable).  Triumph uses the same FTDi FT232RL VAG-COM OBDII/USB cable as VW does, but I think I'm going to try and resolve any mapping issues with the Tuneboy since it came with the bike and works.

I think I'm going to go back and look at the fuel pump relay and the wiring for it as an intermittent fault there would starve the engine and cause stalling.  Less likely are the air temperature sensor and fuel level sensor, which have been a bit whacky with the fuel gauge going from full to empty and back to full again, but I don't see how that could cause a stall.  If there's gas in the tank, the engine will use it.

My order of operations is:
- fuel pump relay (which might have gotten wet at a recent cleaning, so it's on my mind)
- fuel level sensor
- air temperature sensor

If they aren't crazy expensive, I might just get all 3 new rather than paying shipping x3, which would probably cost more than the parts.


NOTES:

https://www.triumphrat.net/threads/955i-engine-stalls-need-help.16567/

"throttle slides were out of balance"

https://fortnine.ca/en/tecmate-carbmate-synchronizer-ts-110
fuel injector/carb syncronizer

https://en.vindecoder.pl/L4PLUMC0662000046
vin looker upper if you're wanting to confirm year and make

https://tuneecu.net/TuneECU_En/install1.html
'free' ECU tuning options for Triumphs - early FI Triumphs seem to have a number of issues

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvHqNeClz2U
video guide to TuneECU (I can't stand online how-to videos, I prefer text. Waiting for 30 second intros each time drives me around the bend, but maybe you like that

https://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/D2XX.htm
chip drivers for FTDI cables

https://www.r3owners.net/threads/tuneecu-with-tuneboy-cable.7856/
Using a Tuneboy cable with TuneECU

https://www.triumphrat.net/threads/cant-get-tune-ecu-app-to-connect-ugh.962476/
connections issue with TuneECU (I found Tuneboy pretty straight forward, but it's a more expensive option that I'm using only because it came with the bike)

https://www.bikebandit.com/oem-parts/2003-triumph-tiger-955i/o/m121594#sch565841
Parts diagram for a 2003 Triumph Tiger 955i focusing on the EFI relay (it's under the seat) Triumph RELAY, EFI Part # T2502109

One Tight, Not Too Tight

Now that the CBR900RR Fireblade project is sorted and on the road, I'm finding myself doing what the original intent was in getting it:  learning from a different type of motorcycle.  Unlike the heavy industry Kawasaki Concours, or the SUV of motorcycling Triumph Tiger, the 'Blade was built to a different design brief. The other bikes were over engineered heavy to last, but the the Honda is a feather.

That philosophy is at odds with the heavy handed git who owned it before me and managed to maintain it into such a state of disrepair that it kept it off the road for years.

From the rear brake cylinder that was assembled backwards and over tightened, to the over tight wheels and the slipping clutch I've just adjusted to actually be at spec rather than over-tightened, I'm finding the Honda was a victim of a heavy hand and unsympathetic mechanical inclination.

When I was a teen my dad was talking me through a head gasket repair on one of my first cars.  We weren't minted, so the only way I was driving was if I could keep an old car on the road; mechanical training was an implicit part of vehicle ownership for me growing up.  As we were tightening the head back on he made a point of talking me through the bolt pattern - always tightening opposite bolts so it would seat evenly, and then said something that I've never forgotten as we started tightening down the head:  "always one tight, not too tight."  I guess the guy who abused this lovely piece of Honda engineering into years in a garage never got such good advice.

Mechanical sympathy is an important part of maintaining any machine, but especially a motorcycle, where if you are cack-handed you can end up seriously hurting yourself when it breaks.  In that way, motorcycle mechanics are a lot like aircraft mechanics, it's a do it right or it can go very wrong kind of situation.

Part of that sympathy is taking the time to understand what the engineers who designed the machine want you to do in terms of looking after it.  In the case of the CBR900RR, Honda would like you to leave 10-20mm of play at the end of the clutch lever - this one was set so you could strum it like a guitar string.  This play is to ensure that the clutch fully disengages when you let go of it.  An over tightened clutch cable means it's always set to be slightly pulling and engaging the clutch.  Making it too tight isn't just a failure of the hands, it's a failure in thinking that wounds the machine.  In this case, the over-tightened clutch cable explains why the 'Blade was slipping RPMs when I opened it up.  A sympathetically tuned motorbike will give you a purity of interaction that allows you to more fully understand the machine.  This is one of the reasons why I value technical fluency so much, it puts your ability to operate technology into focus in a way that the technically ignorant will never realize.

***

Meanwhile, in the land of Tim where he's trying to keep a 17 year old European and a 23 year old Japanese bike rolling during the perilously short Canadian riding season, the Tiger's stalling when hot continues.  I've ordered a replacement air idle control valve from Inglis Cycles, who have once again exceeded expectations during a pandemic by sourcing the part from Triumph in the UK and getting it to me in about a week.

One of the nice things about the Tiger is that it's fuel injected, so all that carburetor management is taken care of, but the evil end of computerized fuel injection is that after seventy six thousand kilometres it's finally gone wrong, and an electronic system like that can go wrong in a lot of different ways. 

I'd never gotten into the Tuneboy Software that came with the Tiger (the original owner installed it along with a Power Commander), because if it ain't broke, don't fix it.  But now that it's broke, I got going on it the other evening.  Getting into the bike via a computer was pretty cool.  The software is Y2K retro-hip and the connection was straightforward.  The 20+ pages of instructions weren't really needed (I'm handy with computers).  Windows 10 automatically recognizes what you're plugging in (back in the day, WinXP would have needed drivers installed), and the software is responsive and quick to connect.  It occasionally drops connection, but unplugging it and plugging it in again resolved that each time.


The compact disk (told ya, Y2K hip!) had all of the stock maps for my year of Triumph Tiger 955i engine on it, so I saved what was on there in case it was some kind of cool specialty map the previous owner had worked out (dude worked at a nuclear power plant, so don't underestimate his tech skillz), and then I flashed it with the stock numbers, which took about 20 seconds and returned a confirmed result.  There is a slight lag, but otherwise this is easy to use stuff.

I then played with the diagnostics tool for a bit, hoping for some data that will help me isolate the hot idle stalling fault.  The software says there are no errors (promising that this is that mechanical failure then), and the only thing that looks out of place is a strange return on the engine temperature.  It seems to read accurately and then show -40, even when the fan is coming on, but if the fan is coming on and the temperature gauge on the dash is reading normally, I suspect this is something to do with how the software syncs with the on board computer rather than an actual fault, but I'm going to keep it in mind.

The problem with an idle fault on a fuel injected bike is that the engine management system is taking in data from a number of sensors and using it to balance engine activity, like idling, based on that information.  I've got the mechanical component that regulates idle on the bike incoming, and I hope that resolves the issue, but what I fear is that it's something else, and with these complex electronics systems could mean that anything from a dozen different sensors or relays to a loose or broken wire.  With any luck, it's that idle air control valve and I'm back on the Tiger... and the Honda, just not at the same time.