I have got an amber engine management light, but don’t have diagnostic equipment at the minute. I checked the battery voltage and it was 12.4V at standstill with ignition on, dropping to as low as 10.4V on cranking. I am guessing that the battery is goosed and that has caused the amber light ??? I understand that it’s impossible to be totally sure without scanning the bike for codes, but would you say my assumption above is reasonable ? If so, what replacement would you recommend, please . (Don’t want to go lithium)
I'd have thought that would be the cause, certainly when mine was low on my V4 it threw a light. It stayed on after changing the battery for a few miles, then went off. I just bought a Yuasa same as OE (on V4), bizarrely Halfords were cheapest.
Was the battery good enough to start the bike? 12.4v isn’t the end of the world…. I’d get it scanned out before forking out on a battery.
Those voltages aren’t too bad and I wouldn’t expect that to be the cause of the EML. If it had dropped to <9v when cranking that would be a different story and the battery almost certainly would need replacing. If the bike starts and runs ok yet the EML is there I’d be suspicious of the exhaust valve having got stuck, unless you’ve already fitted an ESE. However, as you say the best thing is to get it plugged in. There’s a fella called Brian Jones up your way who’s an independent Ducati specialist, he should have the tools to diagnose what’s caused the light.
Just as an update. I put the bike on the optimate charger overnight and the next morning restarted it. The amber warning light was still present, so I took it and refilled it with fresh fuel, brimming it. Came out after paying, started it up and soon after, the light went out. I can only conclude that the battery needed a top-up charge, or the fresh fuel made all the difference. The previous ride where the problem presented itself, was on fuel that had been in the tank over the winter, although I had added fuel stabiliser to it. So, I am not sure what the problem was, but it’s gone for now and I hope it’s gone for good.
At least the warning light is gone. Whenever you get chance to plug it into a diagnostic computer you’ll be able to see what caused it as it will be stored as a memorized error along with the time, date and other parameters.
