Tiger 800 problems; for reference only please

I am now at 18k miles in the first year of owning my Tiger. I've brought it 5 times due to the radiator fluid boiling over and the stalling issue. I'd clean the stepper motor myself more times than i'd like in the first year.

Am I the only one having the issues? Did I really get a bad lemon or what? I know some of you take their tigers way more off road than me, have you had the same issues? If they cannot fix it, I will claim the lemon law and if it goes through I will have to look at another brand or another Tiger. But frankly, I am planning a trip to Alaska next year and I fear of the same issues from the past year, but this time I will far from home or an easy fix...

I'm in no way smack talking the bike. This is still my favorite bike hands down.. but is anyone else having these types of issues or is it just me...?

Haven't heard of boiling over as a common issue. What does the dealer do about it (other than replace the coolant)? Does the pump work? The fan? Cap hold pressure? Hoses not pinched? Fluid passages in engine and radiator not blocked? Seems like it would be pretty straight forward to diagnose and fix.

FWIW when the bike is hot (uphill climb) and you immediately shut bike off, the coolant that just left the head will boil a bit in the radiator and push a bit into the reservoir. I can duplicate it with my bike on my fav hillclimb in the hot vegas sun. If that is what you are experiencing let the bike idle 30 seconds before shutting down to allow radiator fan a chance to bring coolant down in temp and cool head.
Completely normal condition.

What are you lubing the stepper motor roller with? Best to use a dry lube. I literally do mine once a year when I lift the tank to check spark plugs etc.

See Vegas800XC description.. that's my symptoms. After the 5th time bringing it in, the dealer did the diagnostics with Triumph on the line. Triumph says it's normal for it to boil... it's just no one i ask had heard of that... Fan turns on, coolant is fine level wise. They did a pressure test to check for leaks but says it's "normal".

In the Vegas sun I would understand... I'm on the coast and this happened when it was <80F outside... I don't think that's normal. They replaced the thermostat. Worked on my way home, but not 2 weeks after. It appears the fan turns on too late.

I tried WD40 and also just dry. Thinking of just rigging a way to isolate the roller and stepper part by creating skirts or something. Saw it in another thread. What lube do you use? Do you do a lot of offloading? This didn't happen for me till i started doing a lot of dirt riding.

Not much in of road here. I use profi dry lube which is a Teflon based chain lube

Try altering the temperature that the fan kicks in using tuneecu. Moving it down to about 95C also makes the hot air bearable.

Thats what i was going to ask next. Thanks!

Man, what is it with 18000-19000 mile problems with this bike? I had my first issues yesterday. After I shut the bike off hot, it would not restart. Fuel pump cycles and stepper is clean (no dirt, just street riding lately). Once the bike cooled down, it fired right up. There was a rattle I had never heard before on startup that went away after 2-3 seconds (cam chain tensioner?).

When I took the bike out the other day, I had this "hiccup" under throttle when the bike was cold. I was accelerating from a stop and the bike jerked. It ran fine after that all day. No issues until yesterday when the bike was hot.

This morning I disconnected the battery and will let the ECU do a reset. I'll start it up and let it idle for 20 minutes without touching the throttle. Maybe the throttle position sensor was thrown off somehow?

When the bike was hot, the started didn't continuously fire. It was intermittent, even when holding down the start button.

Any thoughts? I'll update after I try some things this morning.


Tahoe

I briefly recall someone mentioning a wiring harness issue for when the bike was too hot... But you are in Tahoe... how is it too hot there?!?!

As for the rattle, I've heard that too quite a bit... I'm thinking the same thing. I did the 12k service at a local mechanic, not the dealer and apparently that was te cause of the issues with the idling and the valves weren't done properly. So my guess is the mechanic didn't check cam tension either... If I knew how to do, I would. But I may just bring it in for the 18k service and ask them to look at that too.

The ECU seems to be fussy, maybe too many fail-safes and/or sensors built into it, I dunno.

Last weekend we rode 300 miles and camped, bike ran like a top. After setting up camp I clicked the ignition on then off from beside the bike thinking maybe I didn't get the key turned off all the way. It was just a quick click, didn't give the ecu time to fully cycle. Then the next morning it wouldn't fire, nothing on the starter. I could hear the stepper running and running so I just left the key on 'till it quit. Bike fired right up and ran perfectly again.

I have also hit the starter when leaving from work and it sounds intermittent, like a dead battery. I don't know if it's the clutch switch, or some other sensor or whatever, but it only does it once in awhile in many dozens of starts.

For Tahoe I'd get a bottle of Techron or Amsoil Powershot and run a tank of cleaner through it. The hesitation could simply be fueling, dirty injector or something. I would also have it scoped for DTC's in the ecu, and TB sync.

I'm not sure if disconnecting the battery for a time clears the adaptions, I have my doubts. I'm also not sure re-doing them via start and idle will clear and reset it either. Perhaps some more knowledgeable here can chime in.

Well, I hooked the battery back up, dragged her outside and it started right up. Before starting, I left the key on for about a minute. I just wanted the ECU to reconnect and warm up.

After starting, I didn't touch the throttle. I let it run for over 20 minutes without touching the throttle. After about 25 minutes, with the fan cycling on and off, I gave it some revs before turning it off.

I dragged it back into the garage and tried to start it again. No problem. No cam tensioner noise. No drama.

That's the way I like my bikes, and one reason I love my Tiger so much. Everyone is allowed a bad day here and there...

I'll keep you all posted.

Tahoe

Happy to say I could not replicate the problem on the way to work today. Hot start was ok. Everything seems normal.

It seems like the ECU reset worked. I'll keep you all posted.

Tahoe

It's been 10 more days and not a single hiccup. I think doing a hard reset on the ECU might solve a few issues with the Tiger...


Tahoe

Check Muddy Sumps great set of how to service videos for the Tiger. The Shim adjustment video is the one you want.

Page link here

Holy shit! I came across those videos one night after a bourbon or two and forgot all about them. Thanks for reposting. Bookmarked.

Tahoe

Gotcha! Saw these a while back too but lost em. Thanks!


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Recently when riding home from work on my 2013 roadie, I was in 4th gear, went to shift into 5th and it wouldn't go. The lever moved fine, but no engagement. I downshifted into 3rd fine, but then couldn't get into 4th. Eventually when I stopped I shifted down to first and was stuck there, luckily I wasn't too far from home so I rode home in 1st. This was at 12500 miles.

Got it towed up to the dealer, they determined it was a broken shifter arm, but said all the components in the transmission itself were fine. Parts were ordered and I got the bike back, works fine now though the transmission doesn't seem as smooth as it used to be. Everything was covered under warranty, but now I'm nervous it'll break again, especially since there was no warning before the failure. Luckily it broke near home, but I've taken this bike on 2000 mile trips, getting stuck far away would suck.

Just read this about a recall on the 2014 and 2015 800s.

http://blog.motorcycle.com/2014/11/...014-2015-triumph-models-recalled-ecu-problem/

Get your bikes in before the thaw!

A possible cause for the overheat/ boiling issue described earlier in this thread: A tiger 800 that had come to my shop, had a similar issue. Turned out that one of the cylinder liners had a very small hair-line fracture, allowing cylinder combustion to over pressurize the cooling system and overheat. The complete engine was replaced under warranty. Not to speculate that this is cause of the issue as I have only seen this occur the one time; may be worth investigating...