I broke the tiger again, anyone fancy a guess at what I've done?

Off-topic
1

I
started the bike this morning with a view to riding to work, and it
started as normal. Backing off the driveway I noticed the clocks were
flashing off-and-on so I stopped the bike and worked from home.

I’ve just had a go at starting it again, and when I turn the key to
‘on’ one of the (low current) relays by the fuse boxes vibrates,
presumably as it very quickly opens and closes. From the manual I think
I’ve determined it to be the starter relay.

This is not what’s normally meant by a starter relay (the one that
switches the high-current to the starter motor) and this happens as I
turn the key, not as I try to start the bike.

The clocks don’t light up, the headlights don’t come on and it’s as
if the bike’s failing to turn on, or the ECU’s not booting or something.
When it’s off the immobiliser light is flashing, though.

I’ve tried a new relay (I borrowed the cooling fan one) and that does exactly the same thing so I don’t think it’s the relay. I’ve some spares from when the fuel pump one went last year that I’m about to try to dig out and try.

Anything else? I’m hoping this is one of those things that’s got a reliable but not-obvious cause :slight_smile:

If it helps, I’ve a PDF of the manual for the bike here: http://avi.co/tiger-800/ , the electrical section starts on page 469 and the relays are on page 479; the vibrating one is #3

There’s a couple of bits of context that might help:

  • I have recently had charging issues with this, but as far as I can tell that's sorted and the other day I checked the charging voltage as okay (14.5V). I've tried two different batteries (the current probably-known-good one, and one that was bad but can still start bikes when recently charged. Pointedly, I've had flat batteries a few times before and never these symptoms so since I can replicate it on two batteries it seems unlikely to be that.
  • I got it really wet last week in an off road event. It's done 300 or so road miles since without apparent incident, but I am about to go over all the connectors I can find and check what they look like. The main fuse holder looks fine, and I only replaced that in May after drowning it.
2

Earth wire .

3

^^^ That’s where I’d start too battery, starter solenoid and starter motor chassis grounds.

Didn’t you have some Tiger starter motor circuit woes last year?

4

Yeah, but the starter going bad is pretty standard on these bikes; that problem’s internal to the motor.

Earth was fine - I only redid that in may when I cleaned this all up after drowning the poor thing in a smoke-producing sort of way in Wales.

This turned out to be more of the same, though - mud had packed out the ECU’s relay which is why that wasn’t starting and the headlight stopped vibrating after a cleanout of its socket, too.

5

Good job. Ridden as it should be, used and abused :wink:

Too many Triumph owners spend too much of their hard earned on polishes, waxes, cosmetics etc and too little on the go go juice. I went to a RAT meet once, just the once. One cheeky chap asked if I’d park the ‘used and abused’ Bonne’ at the back of the car park leaving space at the front for the ‘look at my you could eat your dinner off it but don’t you dare’ non-riding brigade.