Infamous Ignition Switch Issue

[STRIPES]

Stripes, If you have an R3T and you have not put in the headlight relay kit, you are not out of the woods yet. It will be the best $50 bucks you will spend.

Done done it. Thanks. Love your Trumpet pic. Reminds me of mine cept I had a tall sissy bar. Sure miss it.

 

[Hardy]

Hi Guys I have an 05 in Aust. ..Where can I get this relay kit its exactly what I need, rediculous I left the bike with the ignition on whilst talking to a mate for about 10-15 minutes and had a flat battery when I came to start up.

And I melted my front Glass. Witch is not glass its some kind of plastic. It was replaced by Triumph without costs. I think I still have some pics from this.

Check your headlight glass, when the light is on. It gets freaking hot!

 

[davekemph]

ignition switch issue?

Went down to the coast a few weekends ago, had a great time fishing in the foggy morning air both sat and sunday. dad did a good job, caught a 43" black drum.
So getting ready to head home sunday afternoon after having fresh crab from the coast. And low and behold, no power at all. turn the key and I get nothing. I have to go thru and get the bike trailed home. talk about a buz kill. great weekend, great weather to ride home, and I have to do it in a truck, towing my bike.
Needless to say I go thru and read all the posts on the site about how the ignition switch is the culprit and how terrible the switch is for such a heavy load. So of course I start thinking I need to replace the switch. I start tearing into the bike to get to the switch and see exactly how painfull that is going to be. as I am doing this, I get into the wiring for the switch and start messing with the wires, testing continuity every which way I can. clip the tester onto the terminals and go thru ever possible wire movement there is to try and get the open to show itself. nothing at all. But, as I go thru and plug the terminal back in I get power. woo hoo, it is fixed, untill I move a wire. well after a few minutes of moving just individual wires at both ends I find that one wire in particular is acting like it has a break in it. thoughts are going thru my head that I have to start snipping a wire and splice in a good section, and right next to the terminal that goes under the tank. well, I go thru and push the pin out of the terminal and notice that there is corrosion(sp) on the terminal, and it was **** easy to push out of the connector. And so the end of this long 2 week story is that it was corrosion on a terminal that came back to a loose pin in the connector. and with a little bit of terminal cleaner and corrosion inhibitor sprayed in it and some glue to put it back in place and seal it in there, I have a working bike.

by the way, 20,000 miles and no other ignition issues. and yes, I am going to be putting in the beaver relay wiring once it comes in. (was ordered yesterday).

just some thoughts for the newer bikes that are having this issue, check the terminals on the connector under the tank. might have a loose pin letting in moisture to fould that one pin enough to cause an open.

 

[dadsrevenge]

Ignition switch issue

Removed the ignition switch from the bike and replaced it with relay and rf transmitter. Havent had a problem since. Keeping a spare transmitter close though. It's been several months and I'm happy hasn't left me stranded.

 

[Evil Mitch]

Went down to the coast a few weekends ago, had a great time fishing in the foggy morning air both sat and sunday. dad did a good job, caught a 43" black drum.
So getting ready to head home sunday afternoon after having fresh crab from the coast. And low and behold, no power at all. turn the key and I get nothing. I have to go thru and get the bike trailed home. talk about a buz kill. great weekend, great weather to ride home, and I have to do it in a truck, towing my bike.
Needless to say I go thru and read all the posts on the site about how the ignition switch is the culprit and how terrible the switch is for such a heavy load. So of course I start thinking I need to replace the switch. I start tearing into the bike to get to the switch and see exactly how painfull that is going to be. as I am doing this, I get into the wiring for the switch and start messing with the wires, testing continuity every which way I can. clip the tester onto the terminals and go thru ever possible wire movement there is to try and get the open to show itself. nothing at all. But, as I go thru and plug the terminal back in I get power. woo hoo, it is fixed, untill I move a wire. well after a few minutes of moving just individual wires at both ends I find that one wire in particular is acting like it has a break in it. thoughts are going thru my head that I have to start snipping a wire and splice in a good section, and right next to the terminal that goes under the tank. well, I go thru and push the pin out of the terminal and notice that there is corrosion(sp) on the terminal, and it was **** easy to push out of the connector. And so the end of this long 2 week story is that it was corrosion on a terminal that came back to a loose pin in the connector. and with a little bit of terminal cleaner and corrosion inhibitor sprayed in it and some glue to put it back in place and seal it in there, I have a working bike.

by the way, 20,000 miles and no other ignition issues. and yes, I am going to be putting in the beaver relay wiring once it comes in. (was ordered yesterday).

just some thoughts for the newer bikes that are having this issue, check the terminals on the connector under the tank. might have a loose pin letting in moisture to fould that one pin enough to cause an open.

sounds exactly like my problem thanks for posting i will check mine to see if thats the problem

 

[Captain Bob]

So it sounds like the ignition switch issue is not just limited to the Touring model alone. I would have thought it was due to the single headlight's one wire going through the switch. Interestingly enough, I never had the problem with my 05 R3 Standard. Perhaps it was just a matter of time......

 

[scowherd]

It's not a matter of if your R3 Ignition will fail it's when ... I was left stranded on the side of the road in the dark in the middle of no where don't let this happen to you ... I was lucky I had seen so many ignitions fail I was prepared with a toggle switch and a couple of lead wire and was able to do a bypass and get up and running ... I road 5000 miles on this $4.00 fix but finally decided to go with a more permanent fix I just installed a digital guard dawg keyless ignition and security system and so far I am very happy. Its was a little expensive but it beats having to ride the wife's sportster because the bike wont start.

 

[STRIPES]

I very much agree. My 06 standard was a victim. You are way ahead if you will go ahead and replace the switch. It isn't as much the switch as it is the wiring connectors on the switch and solder connections. When I first took a look at mine after finally getting it exposed, I was embarrassed for Triumph being they let that kind of sloppy soldering get out of the factory. Steve is right. I happens when you are away from home. I was at a mc rally. Nothing like being broke down in front of a bunch of rice burners and HD riders.

 

[bonecarver]

Please excuse my ignorance with this , but is this due to the headlight staying on when the starter button is pushed?

 

[STRIPES]

There are several contributing factors. Engineering the whole light load through the switch was a bad idea. Having the ignition cables routed in a location where the steering action flexes the cable connections on the switch... bad idea. Substandard soldering techniques also a problem. I do not think (not sure) having the light on while starting makes a big difference. After thinking about it, it could make a difference because the drop in voltage would cause an increase in amps through the ignition switch but I don't think that is the big issue.