[nikhn]

Originally Posted by nikhn

Annual Service - 13,000 miles

As mentioned earlier, it was time for the yearly service on the bike. Manual states a 6000 mile / 1 year service interval. It so happened to be the 12,000 mile service which is a major one. It involves replacement of engine oil, oil filter, spark plugs, valve clearance checks and throttle body balancing. I planned to do most of these myself except for the valve clearance. I do not have the right space to perform this nor do I have the right tools. It didn't make sense to purchase these tools new. The plan is to get this done at the authorised dealer / neighbourhood garage.
Over thanksgiving, Black Friday and all the usual holidays. I started collecting parts / items needed for the service.
Went with the OE recommended Castrol Power 1 Racing Oil, OEM oil filter with sump washer. Got a good deal on a BMC air filter from Carpimoto during Black Friday, so will be swapping that over as well.

I had some free time to continue with the rest of the service and planned to change the air filter, spark plugs, check / lube all cables and clean the throttle body. The bike has hardly been used since the oil change. A friend dropped by since I needed to remove the tank in order to access the throttle body as well as the spark plugs. Purchased a set of three laser iridium spark plugs since they last longer and are supposed to give better performance.

The tank was fairly easy to remove with just three bolts holding it in place. Followed the service manual to the dot and everything was straightforward. Started off by unplugging the two breather hoses, the fuel pipe and two power connectors for the fuel pump and fuel level sensor. Next was accessing the airbox. This required 9 screws and the ECU bracket to be removed. The MAP sensor bracket was removed as well. I wanted to avoid disconnecting any unnecessary cables as this would lead to fault codes being generated. A work around would be to disconnect the battery altogether but that would end up resetting a lot of stuff on the dash which I did not want to do.

Once the airbox was opened, we were surprised to see the state of the air filter. Significant amount of debris, especially bugs and a lot of dirt. I guess frequent riding in the country side had taken its toll on the air filter.

Opened airbox. Cleaned the butterfly plates and the inside of the airbox that had quite a lot of dirt and debris. Spent a lot of time cleaning this up.


Sorry state of the OEM air filter. Note the bugs and debris trapped. I don't think the air filter was changed previously. The other side was fairly clean.


Replacement BMC air filter which was pre-oiled. It was a tight fit as the foam gasket around the filter was slightly thicker than the OEM one.


The next step involved removing the lower half of the airbox in order to access the throttle bodies and spark plugs. Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures at this stage as we encountered another issue.

I had purchased new NGK laser iridium spark plugs as a replacement. To our surprise, the spark plugs on the bike were already the laser iridium ones. Looks like the previous owner swapped the OEM ones out for the better ones. My friend suggested to retain the ones already on the bike and keep the ones I had purchased for a later stage. I still had to get the valve clearance checks done (planned for next month) and need to visit a dealer then. I might get them changed then even though these spark plugs are expected to last around 80-100 thousand miles. They are ridiculously cheap here anyways (compared to India) and similarly priced to OEM ones.

With the spark plugs put back, it was a quick job fitting everything back the same way they were removed. The service manual came very handy during this process. The bike was started up to check for faults and erase any fault codes. This was done with the TuneECU app on android phones. If you are a triumph owner who prefers to service the bike on your own, this app is a must.

TuneECU is a third-party app that works with most European bikes to read, diagnose issues and reset service light, that can be done only via dealers. It’s not available on play store and costs 25 EUR per year. It works with specific verified Bluetooth OBD adapters that allow ELM327 connection with the ECU. The adapters verified by TuneECU are expensive. There are a few cheaper alternatives but they are a hit or miss when communicating with the adapter. I found one brand – VGate – that does work well with this app and it cost me around 15 GBP.

OBD connector on the bike.


With the OBD connected, I was able to clear fault codes and reset the service light very easily. Error code consisted of the fuel sensor light as it was disconnected. It took quite some time for the fuel gauge to start working again.


Service light reset. There seems to be a bug in the app where it gives an error once it's done but it does end up resetting the service light. Hopefully the gif works by clicking on it.


Few features of the app include testing the radiator fan, the fuel pump, throttle body etc. One can also check sensor voltages, temperatures at different points in the bike to see how well the systems are working as well as air pressures across the cylinders. This is useful for throttle body synchronisation / balancing. The MAP values for the bike were well within tolerances so they did not need balancing.

With most of the major service done, standard procedures such as chain slack, lube, clutch and throttle cable were checked and adjusted as necessary. I always check drive chain slack and oil levels before every ride. Having done a few adjustments in the past at regular intervals, they were still within spec this time. Brake pads were also within spec and have quite a bit of life in them. Took the bike for a quick spin around the block, checked tire pressures, that there were no leaks and, fluid levels were within specs.

Checking water content of the brake fluid.


The constant rain had given way to some nice weather today. With less traffic on the roads, I took the bike for a ride to the country side, to listen to the new exhaust and check improvements with the new upgrades. The first thing I noticed was a smoother engine. The throttle was a bit snatchy earlier and now with the new air filter in place, it has a much better and quicker response. Gear shifts are slick, thanks to fresh engine oil and complemented by the quickshifter. Rolling off the throttle brings out the inherent pops and crackles from the exhaust. Hope to cover more miles this year.





Wonderful weather and location.