Ducati not starting

Hi,

I recently got a brand new Ducati 800ss. I had left it untouched for
about 2 months and now it does not start. The lights comes on once I
put in the keys but the engine is dead silent when I press the starter.
I am new to Motor Cycle repair, It is costing me a fortune to get it
fixed from the dealer. I was wondering if anyone could guide me on how
to remove the batteries from the Ducati 800ss and how to recharge
them(what kind of charger should I get)? Or is there anything else that
I should look into before removing the battery.

Thanks,

Matt.

 

Yes. Ensure that the KIll Switch on the right handlebar is in the "RUN"
position

 

Is it fitted with an alarm or an immobiliser?

 

Yes it is fitted with an immobilizer..

 

It could be as simple as the kill switch is in the wrong position, or
if there is a sidestand safety interlock switch, you might try working
the switch several times to see if that helps.

You really should order a repair manual if you want to stay out of the
clutches
of the entrepreneurs at the Ducati emporium. You can complain to them
all you want about their high prices and they will tell you that their
rock star clients never complain at all, that the guitar players think
nothing of coming in and dropping $20 grand on a motorbike or apparel
and accessories.

Modern Ducatis have the battery slung off the right hand side of the
frame. Once you get the side fairing off, it's just a matter of
removing the two screws attaching the electrical cables and removing
the large rubber band.

There are parts diagrams for Ducatis at www.bikebandit.com, but no
instructions. Follow the links from "OEM Parts" to get to the 2006
SS800 battery box and fairing diagrams.

Many riders would run out and purchase a computer controlled Battery
Tender that applies a trickle charge to their batteries while their
motorcycle is stored in the garage for months at a time.

Problem with Battery Tenders is that they are so smart they won't even
try to charge a totally discharged battery. They shut off
automatically, frustrating the owner...

I have had good luck with an old "wall lump" for recharging NiCad
batteries. The price was right (free) and it only puts out 0.6 amps so
I can leave it hooked up to a battery for 24 hours without dehydrating
it.

It's a maintenance free battery, it shouldn't be low on water like the
old flooded cell types.

I would check the battery voltage at the fuse box before taking things
apart. If the battery voltage is above 12.0 volts DC, it's not totally
discharged and you should hear the starter solenoid clicking when you
push the starter button.

Bright headlights when you turn the ignition switch on are a good clue
that the battery isn't discharged. If the lights stay bright for five
or ten minutes without the engine running, you have lots of power in
the battery.

If the battery voltage is below 12.0 volts, the battery is discharged
and you need to trickle charge the battery at about 1.5 amps for about
ten hours to fully charge it.

A fully charged battery's voltage will rise to about 14 volts. After
you remove it from the charger and let it "rest" for half an hour, the
voltage should drop back to 12.8 volts and stay there.

If I had a motorcycle with a battery that was hard to get to, I would
attach a short length of wire to some point in the DC battery bus so I
could attach a trickle charger to that wire and charge the battery back
through the battery bus.

The battery bus is not the big yellow vehicle everybody rode to public
school on. The battery bus is the wire from the rectifier regulator to
the battery and the fuse box and the ignition switch.

I ran a short wire from the starter solenoid's power cable on one
motorcycle so I could charge the battery without removing the seat,
sidecovers, gas tank, and airbox...

If you find that the battery is truly discharged and you have to remove
it, carefully feel the sides of the plastic case. Even a maintenance
free battery will eventually lose all its water
and the case will bulge or subside, with an appearance like a starved
horse, you can see the ribs of the individual cells.

One electrical part that tends to slowly drain a motorcycle battery is
the rectifier regulator. It's that finned aluminum extrusion in front
of the engine. It has six diodes inside, and if a diode leaks a little
reverse current, it will discharge your battery over about two months.

If I had to store a Ducati and couldn't easily get to the battery, I
would disconnect the rectifier regulator instead, If I could get to
that connector...

 

There's your problem. These, and alarms, do tend to drain current from
the battery over time, and two months is enough to flatten the battery.

The battery on the SS is under the tank: lift up the hinged tank, remove
the soft cover, and there it is. You don't need to remove it at all:
just plug a battery charger onto it, but remember that batteries don't
like being flattened entirely.

Buy an optimate or a similar trickle charger. They come with a little
snap connector that attachs o the battery terminals, and you just plug
the Optimate in from time to time and let it keep the battery fighting
fit.

 

The Ducati SS starter lets the engine spin on the kill switch, and it
doesn't have a sidestand switch - it simply has a warning light switch.
At least, my Ducati SS does.

<Thinks>

US models *may* be different. Doubt it, though.

Wrong! On the SS, it's under the tank, like I posted. Immediately behind
the air filter

Which will show you that it's under the tank. Behind the air filter.
<snip>

He left it untouched with an immobiliser connected to it. It flattened
the battery.

 

My experience indicates this to definitely be the case.

For instance, the remote for my Scorpio SR-i500 isn't waterproof.

I found this out when I got wet in the rain. It hung on my keyring and
got wet too.

The LCD totally died. When I called, their attitude was "Tough luck.
Don't get caught in the rain, you idiot."

Their website said "waterproof" and they say this only applies to the
control unit in the bike. Nice, huh?

-gc

 

Yup, I definitely have to agree.

I removed my Scorpio. I stick it in on occasions like Bike Week, where I
mainly use it for locating my bike in parking lots as I can blink the
lights and tap the horn through the remote. Plus the slight chance that
it might keep a casual thief away, or page me and I might be close
enough to do/see something.

Strangely, my two crappiest bikes have been the ones that were stolen.

The interesting thing is that all the US insurance companies[1] don't
care if an alarm is fitted or not.

Speaking of insurance, I just got a snail mail from GEICO trying to sell
me actual motorcycle insurance instead of the usual idiots[2] trying to
sell me car insurance. They're a hell of a lot cheaper than Progressive,
and I'll be switching to them.

-gc

[1] Progressive, GEICO, the wacky place that insured my DL-650 so I
could buy it, Allstate, Drive, esurance, State Farm, and a couple
others I looked at.

[2] There was an insurance telemarketing call where the person sounded
very boggled that I didn't have a car, and was probably thinking I
was lying to her.

 

Last Duke I owned (a 2000 Monster) had the sidestand switch tied into
the starter relay circuit. The sidestand had to be up to even thumb
thge starter button over (until I made a minor diode modification to the
wiring)

 

Likewise on my -98 600SS..

J.

 

I have an 06 1000 Monster. It has a factory installed immobilizer that
works in conjunction with the chip in the ignition keys, from time to time
for no reason known to me it acts up and will not allow the bike to be
started. The fix in my case was simply to use the spare key. Not a very
technical answer and the service guys at Duc were unable to provide me with
any explanation but at the rates they charge its worth a shot!

Tom B