You shouldn't need to be tech savvy to purchase or run one of these vehicles Trouble is it seems a large number of "technicians " aren't too savvy either.
I guess you could always put a new battery on and see if that fixes it, and if it doesn’t they can pay for the battery!
@Martylaa did you fit the lithium battery? A post earlier in this thread sort of inferrs that this is the case. If so do you have the old one that came off the bike? If so then simple to check their theory by swapping back.
I was thinking on similar lines. I have the battery off your previous bike ( which has helped another biker out on 2 occasions) If you can borrow a good battery just to rule that one out....... You can get poor new batteries.
Yes I did fit a brand new fully charged Lithium battery, its the correct one for the model, I've kept the old one as well so that could be an option if the dealer insists on battery fault??? Well, the saga continues... So I collected the bike yesterday and spoke in depth to the guy in charge of servicing, basically they were not able to see any errors and couldn't find anything, they did take it out 2 times for a total of about 15 miles, also said they had checked the speed sensors as well but did keep going on about battery even though he admitted there was no voltage drop whilst they had it? So I took the bike home, about 30 miles from dealers to mine, and no signs of the issue. Rattled off a few jobs and thought right I'll have a good run out tomorrow. I didn't put the bike on charge overnight and it started first time this morning no problem, anyway was about 40 miles into a nice run out into the sticks and low and behold the error lights, ABS and warning light came on again. Turned the bike round and headed off back to the Dealers (had to ride very carefully for the next 20 miles, rang the dealers straight away and said whats happened and its coming back) as I wanted to show them the error face to face, got to the dealers and left the ignition on with the errors showing and went and got the Technician. Anyway he came out and typical the screen had gone off, fired up the ignition again and the errors had gone. Luckily though I had taken pictures again when the engine was running and showed him them and he took a photo. What I will say is the bike feels significantly different when all the rider aids are disabled, very twitchy and not very confidence inspiring... Given me a bike to get home on and now will have to wait until early part of next week before talking to the guy as he's on holiday today. Getting a bit fed up with this now, hoping they can get this issue resolved asap… IMG_1482 by , on Flickr IMG_1483 by , on Flickr
That’d a real PITA @Martylaa but those errors must be stored in the BBS module so now they’ve seen them on the screen they should be able to see them in the diagnostics. However, a thought had occurred to me. Perhaps there’s an issue with the charging circuit and the reg/rec isn’t putting out the required 14.2V to run the bike and charge the battery. They just did 15miles on the bike, you did 40 before the lights came on. If they, like you, had the battery on an external supply or a charger whilst doing they’re diagnosis work the battery will be fully charged when they went out. Perhaps they’re right and it is a low voltage issue. Perhaps it’s due to something other than the battery. just a thought.
Thanks Paul, I've kept the old battery, going to charge it up and I might take it up to the dealers depending on what he says next week to try and eliminate the battery theory. I'm just hoping they can resolve it once and for all, I don't want to be having to go back and forth with a bike I have no faith in, love the bike when its running and love the looks. Bloody shame, it really is but hopefully they'll fix it... After today I'm also coming to the conclusion that I believe if I turn it off and back on it clears the errors and warning lights like today at the dealers and like the other day when I brought it home after twice coming on, but it seems that once its off then it clears???
Yes the faults will clear on the dash if the fault is no longer there but they should still be stored in the BBS/ECU. The battery should show a constant 14.2V while the engine is running.
I've got a multimeter in the garage, dam I should have checked that before I set off today, I'm really confident the new lithium battery is fine and I'm sure they said there wasn't a voltage drop when they had it for a week. I'll have to wait until next week now to hear back from them.
I don’t know where I heard this, but it was recently and possibly whilst I was at the TT, apparently V twins don’t like lithium batteries.
Well if that’s true, then they need to stop promoting all these lithium batteries with promise of weight loss, better cranking and longer life. It’s an interesting theory, I’ll do some Google searches on it. Im going to take my old battery up to the dealers after I’ve spoken to them but I want them to make sure they’ve fully checked the issues before just potentially fobbing me off saying it’s the battery.
I don’t believe it for one moment - sorry @gc6269 - Some of Ducati’s V twin range (and some V4S) are sold with Lithium batteries as standard. I suspect it’s one of those internet myth thingies. Lithium batteries have a much higher CCA rating than the equivalent LA battery and thus should be better suited to cranking over a large V twin engine. However, what they don’t like is an irregular charging system or anything that charges at >14.5v (14.2 is the ideal), nor do they like sub zero temperatures, nor do they like being allowed to discharge below 10V, all things a cheaper LA battery can handle. I can believe a 20 year old Ducati V twin doesn’t like lithium batteries as it’s charging system wasn’t designed for them and I suspect the tale has grown from there in a Chinese whispers fashion.
No need to apologise. It was a make what you want of it comment. FWIW, I had a lithium battery on my V2 Tuono without any issues. Out of interest, which Ducatis come with a lithium battery as standard?
V twins - The DesertX Some Panigales - not sure off hand whether some of the V twins did - memory is saying yes to me, but for sure some V4S do. I’m sure there’s a few others which owners will chip in with.
Both panigales I work on have lithium batteries with zero problems. Think they are both at least 5 years old.
