Triton R4 Problems

[Comojeff866]

I am the new owner of a 2004 Triton R4. I won it in a raffle and really don’t know much about it other than the problems I have experienced. I am amazed at the good thing I read on here and other places given my short term experiences. I am looking for any advice and suggestions for getting this scooter running reliably. Here are my problems so far.

First, as I stated I won this scooter and it had been sitting for awhile so right off the bat, starting problems. The people I won it from, my church, took it to a local shop and they drained the gas, put in new gas, cleaned the carburetor (I think they just used additive this time), put 2 cycle oil in the injection tank. They got the scooter running and returned it. About 2 weeks had gone by before I could get by to pick it up and it wouldn’t start again. They repeated the above service and also changed the spark plug. It was running so I went to get but it would not start when I got to the shop. The next day I picked it up but it is hard to start. The guys at the shop told me to hold it wide open and crank it and it started. This doesn’t seem right to me but it worked. I rode it a lot the first 2 days and other than the starting issue it worked fine. I found that instead of WOT and cranking, I could basically be a manual choke with my hand over the air intake and I started it this way a few time.

Second, my battery has not been keeping up with all the cranking I have to do to start. I have a charger and try and keep it charged up. I was unable to get the scooter started the other night. I took the battery to a battery place. They ran diagnostics on it and said it was fine and charged. I installed it again and started the scooter via the starting problems above. As I am riding home the scooter slows to about 20mph and suddenly all electricity goes. It seemed like the scooter died first then the lights. I pushed it home, up hills, about a mile. I checked the fuse in the battery compartment and it was fine. I took the battery out and was going to go get another one. For some reason I decided to put it back in and now everything works. The battery seemed really drained. I have not been able to start it since. I charged the batter last night and tried to start it this morning but no luck. It seems to want to start but dies out really quickly.

So, I think I have 2 problems.
1. The carburetor is probably way out of adjustment and I don’t know enough to adjust it. I have found a long brass screw that appears to control idle (maybe air intake) but no other adjustment screws. I have checked the plug and it looks nice and tan/brown with no oil at all.
2. I think my battery is shot or I have a short somewhere. I would hate to think the scooter has a short at 200 miles but who knows.

Any help would be appreciated. I’m not looking to do major mods or sink lots of money into this scooter. This is a fun toy I won and I can see it “saving” me money by riding it to work on nice days. Thanks!

[Squid121]

Does your Triton have the alarm on it?

[Comojeff866]

Yes it has an alarm.

[Squid121]

As far as your battery issue, the alarm system constantly draws power from the battery. Until I pulled the fuse on my '04 Triton, the battery would go dead overnight. Ever since I pulled the fuse, no dead battery. I don't really need an alarm anyway, I keep it in the garage at night and lock it up when I'm out riding and stop somewhere. Just make sure your battery will take a charge, pull the fuse and charge it overnight. It should be good from there. :)

[burnt_toast]

the alarm thing is a joke, if your electrical system is fine the alarm won't affect things. I have the stock alarms on my zip and triton and both work fine without draining battery. :rolleyes: if you're worried however just don't use the alarm or remote start. remote start is the killer though, you have to make sure that if you use that to start it to press the "lock" button to turn it off or turn off the starting cycle, otherwise the battery will drain.

Now personally, I suggest trying a new battery. They're not expensive, $25-30 max. the stock one is known to cause problems you have mentioned. Then when starting, everynow and then use the kickstart as it doesn't drain the battery. Cranking the starter for a long time without starting up really drains the battery and a trickle charge usually won't save it.

As far as idle, its cake on a triton. its the long brass screw you were talking about. basically to have less idle turn it outward, to idle higher turn it inward. I've noticed on my triton theres a really thing line where it either starts right up but wont idle, or idles well but have to be manually chocked more (by blocking airbox as you've been doing, its fine and a good idea) just make sure your turning it only once the bike is warmed up.

[Squid121]

Your right toast, the alarm thing is a joke. That's why I disabled mine. My electrical system is working fine, I traced the problem to the alarm and pulled the fuse. Now I have no problems with my battery going dead, in fact the old battery works fine now, didn't even have to replace it. It can sit for a week and start right up.
You shouldn't have to kickstart your scooter if the electric start works, that's what it's there for. The kickstarter is a back-up incase the batt. goes dead or starter quits. In both of those cases you should fix the problem so the electric start can be used again. Why kick it every now and then so it doesn't drain the battery? If your battery is bad, replace it so all of your signals, lights, horn etc. work correctly. They will not function properly if the battery is dead.
Toast is also right about using the electric starter too long without the scoot starting. It can drain the battery and do harm to the starter.
Comojeff, I would recommend replacing the battery. Make sure to install the electrolyte and charge it correctly before installing it in your scoot. Also, do you have a voltage meter? If so, with the old battery hooked up in place check the voltage. Then disconnect the battery from the scooter and check it again. The voltage will be lower with it in the scooter if there is a drain on the system. If that's the case, try to track down the drain before installing the new battery or it will go dead too. I didn't mean to sound like the alarm could be the only problem, but it was mine and also a local friend with an '05 Triton had the same problem, both fixed now.
Good luck comojeff, keep us posted on the progress. :)

[Comojeff866]

Well, I rebuilt my carb and now the starting problem is corrected. However, the thing with it dying is a real problem.

Once I got it starting I drained and filled the rear axel because of the things I had read about the gear oil and a noise I heard before it died as described before. Right before it died it sounded like worn rotors rubbing on a car. It was getting louder. I took the scooter backout tonight and it died on me again. It ran on the road for maybe 5 mins. The noise, metal on metal started and got louder. I also noticed that the kick starter was locked up too. I thought it was the rear axel the first time but I am thinking it is the front gears on the trans. The starter tries to turn the engine but it can't. It is as if the transmission is locking up. Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks in advance!!

[Comojeff866]

It hit me last night, maybe it is the motor seizing! How reliable is the oil injection?

[str8dum]

oil injection is pretty much fool proof for stockish cylinders.