Weird Problem in My Thunderbird (2004 Model)

[TrafficHacker]

Guys,

Am facing this weird missing problem in my Royal Enfield Thunderbird 350.
This is a 2004 model bike, not the TBTS.
The issue is like, when I try to take power, by pumping up the gas, the engine just chokes, as if its getting into the fuel reserve.
This has been the issue for a while now.
I take the bull to the service station and they will check everything an tell me that there is nothing wrong.
The most irritating part was that I was unable to reproduce the issue when am at the workshop.
The issue was normally noticed when I come back from office, morning it use to be fine, no major issues.
I doubted the carburetor and fuel line, air filter, fuel quality, etc.
The problem was non-reproducible and I was really puzzled at it.

I had given up on the bull and the bullet mechanics around and then today from nowhere, out of the blue, I got the reason for the whole chapter of issues.

There is this story of the 'Haunted Car' that I can related to with this issue that I was facing.

The story goes something like this.
One guy had a car in the US, it was a luxury sports car and the guy loved the car very much.
His daughter was his sweetheart and loved to take her on night drives.
The baby daughter loved ice creams very much and they almost daily went to have ice creams in the night drives.

He noticed a problem with his car not starting for sometime after getting butterscotch ice cream, but no issues when he gets Vanilla.
He was shocked and thought it was done by some ghosts.
On examination after many visits to service centers, it was identified that the engine cooling system was having some problem and the long waiting queue for getting vanilla ice cream used to give time for the car to get cooled than the butterscotch ice cream which was of less demand and a lesser queue.
But the owner cold never relate the issue to be technical as he was overpowered by the thought of the ghost.

Something similar was my situation also.
Was unable to really spot the actual issue and suddenly when I was riding my bike back to home today, as usual, I tried accelerating the bike to see if the missing is still there.

I was disappointed as usual, since the missing was still there.
Then I started thinking why on Earth is this missing not noticeable in the morning and appears in the return home ride?

Does the Bull like the office parking area so much?
Does he have a girlfriend there and do not want to go back home and is excited to be back in the office parking lot in the morning?

Thoughts and imaginations had no bounds and was going wild..!!!
Again thinking technical, I even doubted the over heating of the engine and the pistons getting jammed or something...

Then I started to think lighter.
What do I do differently when I drive back home that I do not do in the morning?
Other than me being unhappy going to office and happy while coming back home.

Voila... Spotted the 'odd thing out', thing that I use in the evening that I do not use in the morning.
Headlight it is..!!!
I accelerated again, spotted the missing.
Then switched off the light again accelerated - Missing gone.

Woow, finally am relieved, the issue identified, not a major one - I hope.
It should be something to do with some wire touching or so.
I had recently changed the whole key set, since I was facing some electrical issues recently.
Also changed the battery as it was not retaining power.
I think that was also not needed, it was something to do with the same short circuit.
Will need to take him to the workshop soon to get it fixed.

Was thinking, had I not found this issue, it would never have been figured out, as none of the mechanics were able to reproduce the problem.
As a matter of fact, they had started to look at me like a mad man as I could never, even once show them the actual problem and I was really going mad by that...
Any way am happy and proud to have spotted the issue and now can hold my head high and show them the issue and command them to fix the issue.

 

[Sam Dinkar]

Re: Weird missing problem in my Thunderbird (2004 model)

What you have diagnosed may probably be correct - if the headlamp switch is creating a short somewhere, then the ignition may be getting cut off for a moment. Let's see how this matter progresses.

 

[TrafficHacker]

Apologies for the delay in updating you guys on the resolution.
I was in an excited mood of taking delivery and have the initial few day runs of my all new XUV 500 W8, so I did ignore my Bull.
But from a practical perspective my bull is my workhorse as my office is just 5KMs away from home and on car it takes 45mins to 1hr due to traffic, whereas my bull would cover than in less than 10-15mins.

Coming to the point:-
I took my bull to Teknik motors (RE authorized service center) in Iblur and explained the issue on 18th Friday, they agreed to deliver the bike in the evening.
Since they have never kept their word till date with me, I overlooked their promise.
The same day evening, I got a call from them telling the bike is ready.
I asked the person who called me, what exactly was the problem and solution.
He said they have replaced the Spark Plug and the Air filter, I was surprised.
I was sure that both are not the culprits, if it was true then the missing should have been there all the time and not only when the lights are ON.
The person on the phone asked me to come down and talk to the person who worked on my bull.
I was like, again the issue is not addressed and will have to fight with them.
As I said, I ignored the commitment made by them to deliver the bike that evening and had not planned my day properly and had onsite calls in the evening, so could not pick up the bike.

Saturday morning I was prepared for a fight, But on reaching there and taking the TD, I noticed that there is no missing.
Walked into the working bay and talked to the person who attended my bike (I usually give my bull to a specif person in there, whom I feel knows work better).
He explained me the reason for the missing was due to some fault with the coil and he cleaned it and changed the spark plug and Air Filter as they were due for a change per him.

Overall bill amount was less than Rs. 500/-.
For now, the missing has disappeared, hope it never returns.
Would need to test him thoroughly though.

I was thinking how can the service experience with Teknik be so good this time around, as every time I will end up fighting with them for something or the other.
Then, I noticed that after the workshop visit, the high beam indicator light is not working
This is something that I can live with, so no much worries, will take care of it next time.

 

[petrolhead_chn]

Check the earth/ground connections as well.

 

[TrafficHacker]

Well... am disappointed as usual with Teknik Motors yet again.
The missing issue has reappeared, as a matter of fact it doesnt seem to have been fixed at all.
I used the bike after a long while yesterday night and noticed the missing.
The only difference I see now (after the workshop visit) is that the missing is present only at a high RPM, where it was at a lower RPM before.

Will have to take my bull to the workshop soon...

 

[petrolhead_chn]

Well... am disappointed as usual with Teknik Motors yet again.
The missing issue has reappeared, as a matter of fact it doesnt seem to have been fixed at all.
I used the bike after a long while yesterday night and noticed the missing.
The only difference I see now (after the workshop visit) is that the missing is present only at a high RPM, where it was at a lower RPM before.

Will have to take my bull to the workshop soon...

The RPMs do not matter. Pull out a black wire from the CDI and ground it to the engine or frame and check again.

 

[HKS2412]

hi, surely seems to be an electrical fault, the problem you are expressing of missing/jerk while riding is loss of electric supply, so engine dies without ample power supply, kindly check entire electrical system - wiring , battery, coil etc...

 

[Veejar]

@TrafficHacker, You have beautifully explained the problem in steps. Awesome. Unfortunately, exact same steps happens to me. I have the same model RE as you. Is your problem resolved? If yes please share about it.

 

[bharathbigb]

@TrafficHacker, You have beautifully explained the problem in steps. Awesome. Unfortunately, exact same steps happens to me. I have the same model RE as you. Is your problem resolved? If yes please share about it.

Clean your Carburetor and Retune it,Clean Air Filter (Box and Passage),Recharge Battery,Clean/Decarbonize Exhaust,Clean/Replace the Spark Plugs,Flush and change Engine Oil.Also check if your electricals (especially headlight) is pulling too much power.

And everytime you start it,Give it 10-20 seconds to Idle peacefully.And then start riding.I also own a 2010 Thunderbird 350.Mine never stutters because of this practice.