Bike died while in traffic... overheating?

[barbagris]

Hey Guys,

My bike is 100% stock, only 2200KM on the clock and I am using 87 Octane fuel. Today when I was coming home from work, there was an incredible amount of traffic. And when I mean incredible, its stop and go for miles in every direction, the worst you could possibly imagine. I tried finding an alternate route home and of course, end up in the same amount of traffic another city block over.

Today its fairly warm, about 25c and Im sitting in traffic that isn't moving and the bike fan is going on and blowing incredibally hot air at me.... After a while traffic finally started moving and I put my bike from N into 1st and as I am releasing my clutch to start rolling the bike dies. I checked the kill switch, its still on, but then I try to start the bike by pulling in the clutch and pressing the start button.. the motor didn't turn. I stopped for moment in a panic with traffic behind me, (Why dont these bikes have warning lights or hazard lights?) I kicked the bike into Neutral and hit the starter button and it started right up and I was off... it didn't die again on the way home.

Im a little concerned but probably shouldnt be... I dont think i've stalled the bike, I never have... but it died the moment it started rolling.

Can anyone provide some insight as to what happened or how to prevent this from happening again? As far as I know the battery is fully 100% charged and its given me no other problems as of yet. Can something like thinks happen when it overheats? I was sitting in tons of traffic on a hot day not moving for a long time between lights.

OK - here's a couple of points.

1) It's still tight at 2200kms. Mine didn't really loosen up until it had a good 10,000kms on - nearer to 13k if I'm honest.

2) When hot and new mine did the same. It's important to remember that the algorithms used in N and <gears> differ. The fuel/ignition tables are different.

3) I loaded a new set of AFR tables into the R3 (gears 1 to 4) at the weekend and mine did the same yesterday in heavy traffic - 30ºC or more.
As I'm bedding in a new AFR map - I sort of expected it. Prior to hitting the jam - I'd been at 3500 in top.
I believe the mix is too rich. When the bike gets VERY hot the ambient temperature sensor WILL increase fuel richness.

The problems SEEM to come as the throttle lifts off the stop. Do a 15 min tune.

 

[TOMCAT]

Honestly I'd have to have a cop car right behind me to stay in line with traffic moving at that pace .. I'd go wherever my bike would fit to keep moving .. I think your bike stalled because it was 'heartbroken' that you didn't just take off swerving in and out of all those trapped cars.

 

[CanberraR3]

Can't explain the stalling but very occasionally if I switch off and then try immediately to start up, it feels as if the engine won't turn over; clicks once and sort of locks. Turn the key off again and after a couple of seconds it cranks normally. Guess it's done it half a dozen times in 70,000kms. I'm not concerned about it.

Safest place on the road on a bike is as far away from cars as you can get. I always move to the front at lights if there's room and get away ahead of the cars. It's a safety thing. Plus, there's no way I can sit behind selfish stupid pricks who seem to enjoy holding everyone up. That's one of the reasons I won't drive anywhere unless I really have to.

 

[TRIIICK]

JMTC.. i switched over to high test on all three of my bikes about a year ago with good results. I've had issues using 87 octane a couple of times. The worst happened in Iowa the corn belt I filled up with 87/ethonal and she died about a mile down the road. I ended up having to drain the whole tank, asked around and was told that all the high performance guys use the BP about a mile down the road. Refilled the tank and was on my way..

 

[Torque addict]

Regarding idling I find that when I come to a stop it has a slow idle around 600-650 but then slowly creeps up and keeps steady at 850 which I believe is normal right

Mine does the same thing and I was wondering if this is normal as well. I just did the ISCV reset procdedure on it followed by the 12 minute tune. My idle is set to 950 though in the ECU so when coming to a stop it goes down to 650 or so and creeps up but it will actuall creep to over 950 a bit then settle back down. Don't really like that but can live with it if that's normal. If not I'm thinking I may need to replace the TPS.

 

[Bluemarlin]

From what you said about starting in neutral but not in gear, maybe you need to adjust the clutch cable. There seems to be a fine line between dragging and slipping.

 

[Sensfan]

when I had the factory tune on it did to me a few times, seems like the bike just "snuffs" itself out, kinda reminded me of a old skidoo I had when I was a kid,it would seem to get a vapor lock and blah. my R3T did do the same thing as yours, seems to be a longer pause than normal before it turns over, so either it was in my head, or the ECU was teasing me for letting it happen. When I put Tripps deristricting tune on, it hardly ever happened after that, did it once to me this year. Maybe just one of those quirks that different bikes seem to have.

 

[ricochet]

From what you said about starting in neutral but not in gear, maybe you need to adjust the clutch cable. There seems to be a fine line between dragging and slipping.

When I got home, I tested starting the bike in gear with the clutch in, it started as expected.

 

[GreenmanAZ]

Hey Guys,

My bike is 100% stock, only 2200KM on the clock and I am using 87 Octane fuel. Today when I was coming home from work, there was an incredible amount of traffic. And when I mean incredible, its stop and go for miles in every direction, the worst you could possibly imagine. I tried finding an alternate route home and of course, end up in the same amount of traffic another city block over.

Today its fairly warm, about 25c and Im sitting in traffic that isn't moving and the bike fan is going on and blowing incredibally hot air at me.... After a while traffic finally started moving and I put my bike from N into 1st and as I am releasing my clutch to start rolling the bike dies. I checked the kill switch, its still on, but then I try to start the bike by pulling in the clutch and pressing the start button.. the motor didn't turn. I stopped for moment in a panic with traffic behind me, (Why dont these bikes have warning lights or hazard lights?) I kicked the bike into Neutral and hit the starter button and it started right up and I was off... it didn't die again on the way home.

Im a little concerned but probably shouldnt be... I dont think i've stalled the bike, I never have... but it died the moment it started rolling.

Can anyone provide some insight as to what happened or how to prevent this from happening again? As far as I know the battery is fully 100% charged and its given me no other problems as of yet. Can something like thinks happen when it overheats? I was sitting in tons of traffic on a hot day not moving for a long time between lights.

I had the same issue today in Phoenix AZ, 1600 local time, temp around 90f, so road temp probably closer to 98f. Leading up to the stall, the engine seemed unhappy (vapor lock like) at about 45mph, neutral load on the engine. I caught the first attempt to stall decelerating for a set of lights. The next set, she quit on me, hadn't quite stopped, had to restart on the roll.

I did some research when I got home and there is a RECALL as listed at the website below. Apparently fixable with a tune update at the dealers.

http://www.arfc.org/motorcycles/triumph/rocket_iii/recalls/000024953000260521000000154/recall.aspx

Hope this helps others.

 

[pete.triumph]

before lane splitting was legal i was lane splitting and i come behind a cop car and stopped behind him he pointed at me and called me next to him and said to me "YOU KNOW ITS AMAZING THAT COP CARS HAVE REAR VIEW MIRRORS " i said OH then he told me go on up ahead but dont do it if you see a cop OK, ok THANK YOU SIR