Vintage Trident

Hello and welcome.

You've described - to a 'T' - the classic symptoms of blocked (or partially blocked) pilot jets.

Yep, you're about to tell me that you blew carb cleaner through them, dunked them in carb cleaner, maybe even put them in an ultrasonic cleaner but I would strongly advise that you buy and fit a new set of pilot jets ......... I know, PITA taking the carbs. off AGAIN! But it will be SO worth it when that Trident runs like a champ and ticks over like a Timex ...........

 

Welcome Chas

Yep, agree with Adie, pilot circuit blockage.

May be worth a look but new pilots will cure
https://www.thetriumphforum.com/threads/t140v-amal-carbs-mk1.31915/

 

The IronMan has answered that question as comprehensively as it's possible to so do! Follow his advice carefully and you should be good to go! It does seem most likely that a commercial grade ultrasonic clean is going to be the best answer.

 

One other thing you need to check is that the throttle slides are balanced, if someone has been fiddling and one or more slides are too high this will also cause high unstable idle, if you are removing carbs then it's an easy job to equalise the slides using BBs and make sure they all release at the same time.