1995 triumph thunderbird wont start,turns over has fuel and spark pickup coil has correct gap and impedience has only done 18500 klms from new has been parked up for 10 years with this problem. my local triumph dealer tells me there is no way of checking the cdi igniter ?has anyone got any clues on this one please. regards deviate47

some bikes need a certain amperage from battery for the pickups to work, is battery good, and correct type

try changing No.1 or 2 coil to No3. wiring to make sure coil is sparking if not you may have two faulty coils

Here might be a fiew things to check :
1) spark plugs try new ones
2) spark plug boots if they are resistor ones one could be bad
3) fuel flow - try running on reserve the tap could be dirty or just not letting enough though had this happen on my cr250 honda

sounds like a fuel problem, maybe blocking fuel tap pickup in the tank, they often have filters on the ends inside the tank, If it has a vacumn opperated fuel tap, they can sometimes stick shut, if so try turning it to PRI between on and reserve, next time it happens.
Its not likely to be anything electrical if it starts again so quickly

Most production bikes have the needle centre clip and mixture screw between 1&2 turns out(where the engine idels the smoothest)start at 1.5 turns out
Regards Andrew Porrelli

have you checked the fuel rail for fuel. if its getting fuel andstill wont start check the coil pack. its hard to say with out seeing it but if have fuel or spark its gotta start so check coil pack for spark if you have done fuel. best of luck

Check fuel filter and air filter, then spark plugs, not necessarily in that order.

The pick-up coils fail sometimes but usually lead to a complete failure
Before just replacing parts u can eliminate some suspects ie kill switch,clutch switch & ignition switch by bridging
Also check that there isnt a spark jumping from an HT lead or plug cap

Ride Safe
Bike-Doc

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You'll have to determine what's not there, either no spark, or insufficient fuel. I'm guessing you have no spark & that's why ignition parts were replaced, is that correct?

I'd do the usual checks -- a compression test, look at the spark plugs (which should be a nice tan colour after you've put a few miles on the motor). Also, check the primary and secondary resistance on your coils (or get a mechanic to do this if you don't know how). They may not be putting out enough spark to support higherrevs.
Or... It may be a fuel problem -- have you replaced the fuel filter recently? are there any kinks in the fuel line? Also take the fuel line off the fuel petcock, turn the gas lever and make sure gas is flowing through the petcock well... if not, you'll need to replace or rebuild the petcock.