Hi all! This is somewhat of a story but I'm after some help/advice/and prior experience with my issue. Since buying the bike I've had starting and running issues, I thought id found the issue when I noticed one of the carbs wasn't working, I removed had them rebuilt and re fitted, The bike started ok after refitting them (by that I mean to previous carb issue had been resolved) however since then the bike isn't starting. I've had the bike looked at and its been diagnosed as the ignition system, the pick up the coils and the igniter boxes. has anyone experienced what seems like a catastrophic failure of all these parts at once? Also if anyone could help me navigate where to find the parts, the leads and pick ups seem easy enough to find via ebay, but I'm a bit confused by the boxes, either £100 each on ebay or £30 on ali express. and it seems that the coils are even more difficult to find. I'm sure ive missed some detail out but I look forward to getting some advice
"I've had the bike looked at and its been diagnosed as the ignition system, the pick up the coils and the igniter boxes. has anyone experienced what seems like a catastrophic failure of all these parts at once?" Hope you didn't pay money for that diagnosis, and no, I don't think it's possible for so many items to fail at the same time.
The horizontal and vertical cylinders have 2 completely independent ignition systems. The only thing common to both is their power supply. The chances of all components failing simultaneously is very very remote. Replacing every ignition component would be very expensive way of fixing it. Firstly are there sparks at either cylinder? Probably not from your description of the fault. There should be 12V on one terminal of each coil and there should also be 12V going to one of the terminals of each ignitor box, I can't remember which colour wire but it should be obvious. You should also check that all the ground circuits are complete. I can't remember the resistance of the pickups but around 100 ohms rings a bell. The chances of any of the ignition coils failing is very small, let alone both of them. The most likely fault is with the ignitor boxes but the only test is by substitution. I have come across in the past a case where both ignitor boxes had failed by trying jump start the bike from a car with its engine running. The electrical spikes from the car system destroyed the ignitor boxes.
As derek has said it’s a reasonably simple ignition system that is independent on each cylinder. First thing to check for if you have no spark at both plugs is the kill switch ,also there is a small two pin connector at the right side under the fuel tank that supplies power to the ignition so make sure that isn’t disconnected or damaged, check also the fuses but if you’re fuel pump is running that’s supplied by the same fuse Duff spark plugs could be your problem and be aware that there’s a lot of counterfeit ones about, especially NGK !!! There’s a circuit diagram here if you don’t have one already
With the boxes and coils right next to the battery, you could try temporarily connecting +12V from battery to the ignition loom, by-passing all the fuses and switch connections. This will give you the best +12v to start with and eliminate faults due to poor connections (fuses, switches, relays) in the feed. Adding a fuse in the temporary wire would be wise. If the bike fires up on both cylinders with this then your fault is due to poor connections. The boxes are quite current hungry, as I recall, and poor connections will cause them see a reduced voltage, which of course will be even lower while cranking.
Hi all Thanks for your replies, and sorry for the delay in responding. to answer some questions it has had a compression test and it is within spec. I’ve metered out the pickups and am getting a resistance reading of 95 ohms which I’ve read that’s the correct reading (so that’s one diagnosis TBH at was incorrect). I was getting a spark but the leads where very old so I’ve purchased new ones though I went to fit them and I think I’ve messed it up even more. I bought some magnacor leads as I thought the coils where a spike type fitting but as I’ve taken the leads of I fear that the coils and leads are all one unit and I’ve broken them. So looks like I’ll need new coils anyway now. im looking only for new parts but can’t seem to find the correct parts still, have to old coils been superseded by newer variants?
You can use the more modern ones if you see them for sale - usually black, longer in length but smaller diameter.
I was thinking of going all in and getting the ca cycleworks ones. Am I right in thinking that I’ve broken the old coils but pulling the wires from them?
yes, you have sadly and I wish you'd popped back on here and asked, but water under the bridge now. there are several Cycleworks coils, just make sure they are matching ohm-wise, as I know some of the performance coils aren't that suited because of this.
I had a look on eBay and was surprised to see none of the standard coils, things have changed so much since I used to look, I can't believe it. I know I've got some spares but it's major work getting organised to find them and post them et cetera
I think this is what is needed from California Cycle Works. https://www.ducati.tech/shop/ Available from their UK supplier
I appreciate you even considering to look, though I’m happy with the advice right now though I agree I should’ve come back to the thread before jumping in. the ccw ones on the website are saying they’re compatible and theyre the same primary resistance so looks like I’ll be going with those
Learning from a previous mistake I’m going to ask here first . the ccw coils say they’re 5 ohms on the primary, when I metered out my old Coils there where 4 ohms, Haynes manual states primary resistance range is 3.8 to 5.4 I’m guessing these coils will go straight on without the risk of making other parts fail? cheers
looks like you've got to trust the manufacturer, if they say they're suitable then they are suitable. they are within stated range so should be okay?
