herky jerky Rocket III

I ride a 2008 Rocket III Touring with TORS replacement pipes. It’s a US bike that I imported into Canada from New Hampshire in 2001.

Last year, I took it into a Triumph Dealer in Stayner, Ontario and had the TORs installed as well as all of the 10K miles recommended maintenance including synchronizing the throttle bodies. It was hard to keep it steady when cruising at low speeds and the mechanic said that was normal for these bikes because the gears are “taller” on the Touring model.

After wintering in my garage, I siphoned out the old gas from and filled the tank with 91 octane fuel. It starts fine and idles smoothly, but when I’m cruising at 30-40 mph, it’s very jerky and hard to maintain an even throttle; it sounds rough and backfires frequently. I noticed this the first time that I took it out for an unplated and uninsured ride (couldn’t wait) after getting it shipped to my home in Canada.

The air filter is clean and I tried using some fuel injector cleaner but that made no difference.

Thinking that maybe the ECU needed a new map, I hooked up my cable and laptop and read the existing map (20368) which is the recommended OEM map on the Tune ECU web site. I downloaded the map anyway and can’t notice any difference.

Any suggestions on what to do next would be much appreciated, especially if anyone has had a similar experience. Thanks.

ECU needs new tune and remove secondaries

Is that you Doc Brown (Back to the Future)?

Importing a 2008 in 2001...

Gear ratios are the same on all Rockets period!!!! Since the tried to balance the throttle bodies I would hook up the tune ecu and chack for any engine codes, then check to see if the throttle bodies are in fact balanced or close. Then I would be looking at all vacuum lines to see if there is any off or leaking plus chack the plug caps on each Throttle body there is one extra on each and two extra on the rear one. You should also check to make sure your coil terminals are clean and tight the low tension leads work loose give them a squeeze with a pair of needle nose pliers to insure they are makinf good contact. If they aren't it will get a erattic spark which is whqat I bet is happening. After that we can move on to things like TPS sensor since it is a 08 you could still have a original in it and it might be the old style. But first check the coils #1 will be the hardest to get at. So at least unplug the leads going to it and give them a squeeze with the needle nose pliers. its amazing what good electrical contact does for them.

warp9.9 said:

Gear ratios are the same on all Rockets period!!!! Since the tried to balance the throttle bodies I would hook up the tune ecu and chack for any engine codes, then check to see if the throttle bodies are in fact balanced or close. Then I would be looking at all vacuum lines to see if there is any off or leaking plus chack the plug caps on each Throttle body there is one extra on each and two extra on the rear one. You should also check to make sure your coil terminals are clean and tight the low tension leads work loose give them a squeeze with a pair of needle nose pliers to insure they are makinf good contact. If they aren't it will get a erattic spark which is whqat I bet is happening. After that we can move on to things like TPS sensor since it is a 08 you could still have a original in it and it might be the old style. But first check the coils #1 will be the hardest to get at. So at least unplug the leads going to it and give them a squeeze with the needle nose pliers. its amazing what good electrical contact does for them.

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You should write a book.

It sounds like my experience.

I'm with Warp on this one - coil lead connectors.

My 09 had less than 5k on her and this happened. All the blade connectors were fully on but loose. Strange thing was they were tight to pull off and push on but loose on full engagement.

Little squeeze with pliers made them tight all the way - job done.

Battersea said:

I'm with Warp on this one - coil lead connectors.

My 09 had less than 5k on her and this happened. All the blade connectors were fully on but loose. Strange thing was they were tight to pull off and push on but loose on full engagement.

Little squeeze with pliers made them tight all the way - job done.

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Same here , loose when fully pushed on but felt tight going on.. had the erratic running until I discovered what was wrong. Sneaky bike some times.

you got your answer mate. follow warps lead and you'll be right.

Also grease the spades on the coils with dialetric grease or so type of petrolium/silicone grease to keep them from corroding. Even aluminum corrodes by developing a film on it that can lesson electrical connectivity.