Ignition Coils...are there other than OEM?

R

RideWeaver

Scooter
Just moved down to Texas (yes!)...unload Trix-see (she's a 2006 T-100 creamsicle)...turn the key and all she'll do is turnover without catching! I start the checks...got fuel flow, plugs look good, spark...no spark! :wtf: I don't get it...ran great right before I loaded it on the truck and now nothing but the lonely churning cry of a motor that won't go. :huh:

I go buy a meter and get the manual out to start trying to figure out where the problem may lie. I get to the ignition coil and the reading is '0'. I'm not great at electrical stuff but it's not within the specs from the manual so I'm going with a bad ignition coil. Now to get a replacement...

That leads me to my question. I know Nology has a high performance replacement coil but I'd rather just get one and start riding. Before I go an hour plus to my nearest Triumph dealer I thought I'd ask this esteem group if they knew of any other coils that are usable in our 865 bonnies? I've got a chopper shop and a yamaha/victory dealer just a few miles away...hoping I can get a replacement from there and save the drive to the dealer.

So does anyone know if there are any 'swapable' coils or are the OEM and Nology coils the only options?...:D
 
tribear

tribear

Street Tracker
Well RW...I sure wish I could help. I'm an electrical miss fit that can fix/trouble shoot darn near anything BUT electronics and I dread the day I have an electrical prob. Good luck and I hope to learn something from your post and the answers that this phenomenal community will produce.
 
R

RideWeaver

Scooter
I know the feeling...damn electrical stuff seems like magic voodoo to me. Hopefully there's a wizard or three out there with an answer all us electrically challenge riders can use!
 
R

RideWeaver

Scooter
That's all I could find too...maybe someone in town carries the Nology coils...more than likely I'll be headed to Ft Worth to buy the expensive OEM coils. If so, I sure hope they last longer than the originals...:(
 
ivar

ivar

TT Racer
When my coil crapped out, I was advised to buy a PVL replacement coil, made for BMW twins. Supposed to be the same unit that Nology rebrands.
Bought one extra as a spare, so now I'm pretty sure it never craps out again :)

bought from http://www.motobins.co.uk , think it was £25.

As for the sudden "no spark" issue, I'd suspect the sidestand/neutral/clutch sensors or the kill switch too
 
R

RideWeaver

Scooter
Yes..gas tank is full.

I'll check and see where Newbonneville is located. I didn't know they were in Texas,,,just another great reason to live here!

I have checked all the connections...pushed, resnapped, wiggled and took-it-apart-and-blew-into-the-connector-then-reconnected (that's how I thought all electrical things got fixed) everything connector that I could find. It's damn frustrating...but once she's going again it'll be all that much more sweeter. I sure hope it isn't one of the other things that have caused this problem...I'm following the Haynes manual so if it is I'm hoping it'll lead me to the culprit part. Just curious...if it's the kickstand or kill switch would the bike still turn over? I thought the bike would not turn over if it was either of those items?

I'll also check the PVL replacement coil...maybe the shops in town carry them.

Well, 2 1/2 hours until the stores start opening. If anyone else has any other suggestions I'll check this great forum before heading out. Thank for all the great responses!
 
S

sidreilley

Scooter
Just a thought, but in the loading and unloading, you didn't accidentally flick the kill switch did you? Or kick it in gear with the sidestand down? I always like to eliminate the obvious before spending money.

Cheers
 
Mahart

Mahart

Two Stroke
sweatmachine said:
Newbonneville is based near Dallas. You should email them [email protected] and you could probably drive there and pick one up.
Click to expand...

Brent wasn't partial to me dropping by as he doesn't have a storefront. Maybe it was just me though, as I've never gotten the candy in my deliveries that others have. He has always been very helpful with answering questions via email.

sidreilley said:
Just a thought, but in the loading and unloading, you didn't accidentally flick the kill switch did you? Or kick it in gear with the sidestand down? I always like to eliminate the obvious before spending money.

Cheers
Click to expand...

and maybe check fuses.

Btw, Eurosport is only 25min from Aledo if you slab it on I30, and they'll be open tomorrow.
 
pepper

pepper

Street Tracker
RideWeaver said:
Just moved down to Texas (yes!)...unload Trix-see (she's a 2006 T-100 creamsicle)...turn the key and all she'll do is turnover without catching! I start the checks...got fuel flow, plugs look good, spark...no spark! :wtf: I don't get it...ran great right before I loaded it on the truck and now nothing but the lonely churning cry of a motor that won't go. :huh:

I go buy a meter and get the manual out to start trying to figure out where the problem may lie. I get to the ignition coil and the reading is '0'. I'm not great at electrical stuff but it's not within the specs from the manual so I'm going with a bad ignition coil. Now to get a replacement...

That leads me to my question. I know Nology has a high performance replacement coil but I'd rather just get one and start riding. Before I go an hour plus to my nearest Triumph dealer I thought I'd ask this esteem group if they knew of any other coils that are usable in our 865 bonnies? I've got a chopper shop and a yamaha/victory dealer just a few miles away...hoping I can get a replacement from there and save the drive to the dealer.

So does anyone know if there are any 'swapable' coils or are the OEM and Nology coils the only options?...:D
Click to expand...

I don't have a manual or a schematic so I should probably just sit back and watch this one but when cranking your bike was it is the voltage the coil is receiving? Also, you said you checked the coil and you are reading "0" , What was you meter set to and where on the coil were you measuring?

It really seems odd that the coil would break a winding just from being shipped. When you tied the bike down to ship it did you tighten a strap/rope around the wire harness leading to the right throttle housing by any chance? If a wire there got damaged/broken it wouldn't run even if the run switch was on.

Just some thoughts. Good luck and hope you're in the wind soon.
 
R

RideWeaver

Scooter
Didn't go to newbonneville since I couldn't get anyone to answer the phone and they didn't return my calls (their answer machine tells you that they probably won't so I wasn't too surprised). I've decided to go to Eurosport tomorrow (thanks Mahart!). Hopefully they have the Nology coil...that way I can upgrade since it appears the coil of choice over the OEM coil.

I can't honestly say if the bike was tied down over the wires during shipping. Uncle Sam moved me and our stuff changed trucks from the time they loaded at our home to the time it was delivered. I'm pretty sure it was tied down correctly when it arrived, but I'll check the wires just to be sure.

I used the new meter I got at Lowes (our favorite store since moving into the house) and set it to the levels per the Haynes manual. I zero'd out the meter per the instructions and repeated the process at all the different ohm levels because I didn't want to assume I was doing it right (part of that 'electrically challenged' syndrome). I'm pretty sure it's dead...but if it turns out to be good then I'll have two coils and that'll insure my coil never goes out...;~)

Thanks for all the responses. I posted my problem on the Triumph RAT site and only received one response! I really appreciate the info and having a group to turn too is making this issue a lot more fun and less frustrating...you guys ROCK!

I'll post how this turns out after I get my part tomorrow...thanks again!
 
R

RideWeaver

Scooter
So here's the story...got up this morning and went to Eurosports with my ignition coil. The folks at Eurosports were awesome (I really like the Motoguzi retro) and I asked if they could test my coil. I'm not so proud to think my testing was without some mistakes. Low and behold the coil came bask as good!:d The folks gave me some ideas of where to look next so I went back home to start all over again.:crazy:

Now I know some of you are thinking that it was something stupid that I missed during my checks...well, it turned out that my checks were flawed (I'm going to have to have someone actually show me how to use this stupid meter :lame:) but my approach was dead on. I rechecked every connection and wire...I re-clipped and double-checked everything. But it wasn't until I pulled the spark wire for the umpteenth time that I noticed something odd...the wire came out of the plug cap! :bug:

Upon closer inspection it appears that the wire was stripped out from where the wire and the cap connects. I asked a chopper builder at a nearby shop and he told me to cut the wire back a bit and re-screw the cap back onto the wire (our NKG spark plug wires are designed to allow you to do this). I did what he instructed and "PRESTO" the bike started and runs great! :motorbike2:

So even though I ran through all the checks I did fail to check BOTH spark plug wires for spark. If I had pulled the other wire I would have seen it was receiving spark and then centered my investigations around the suspect plug wire, The other thing I learned is my T100 won't catch with only one hot plug.

I learned a lot digging into the bike. I really appreciate all the help from all of you! I'm planning on riding the T100 to Columbus, MS on Saturday so the rest of the week will be prepping and tweaking...and exploring these great Texas back roads!

Thanks again and I hope to see all of you on the road...;~) :headbang2:
 
sweatmachine

sweatmachine

moped
I'm glad you're up and running again, and at minimal expense too it sounds like.

If you ever want to ride around Central Texas I know some great roads, come on down!

The Lake O' the Pines rally is coming up soon, October 2-4, just East of you.

http://www.ntnoa.org/09loprallye.htm

I've never been but I've heard great things!
 
Mahart

Mahart

Two Stroke
I had the same issue with checking and working on my bike. The real curve, it seems, is learning how to decide what's wrong. Fixing it seems to be easy.

Glad to hear Eurosport was good to you. You may find it fun to get on their email list. They host a bikini bike wash, track days, day rides and iron butt runs.

I'm planning to run to East TX for Saturday of the NTNOA rallye.

There is another rally at the end of October that I really enjoyed last year. It's thankfully on the small side
Harvest Classic
 
Mahart

Mahart

Two Stroke
sweatmachine said:
The HC is great! I've gone for the past few years. Let me know if you guys are going. We had a pretty good-sized group that rode out from Austin last year, maybe 8-10 bikes.
Click to expand...

Sure will. I was in the edge of someones picture taken last year. I'll have to decide the day before I leave if I ride the Bonnie or the Sprint.
 
C

Craigore

TT Racer
I kind of skimmed through your posts so I don't know the whole story but I'm glad you got it figured out. I bought a crappy multimeter from Radioshack for like $30USD and it read "0" on my coil test as well. I returned it shortly there after (at least it was good for validating whether my plug wires were fine). I bet it's the tool.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top