Good afternoon, I've recently acquired a 1995 916SP, 23K miles and in really nice condition.............. except for the electrics! Several of the connectors were very frail on the crimp and I've so far replaced around a half dozen. Main problem as you'll probably guess is the two yellow wires from stator to reg/rec, which are part fried. When I first looked at the bike I didn't think they were but closer examination revealed that the final six inches of wire to the reg/rec had been replaced and the original wires upstream from there are not great. I've obtained some #10 gauge yellow, silicone coated cable to replace the whole run but am finding that original stuff is soundly trapped somewhere in the centre of the bike and is refusing to budge. I'll reroute the replacement away from the hot bits and I have some heat resistant sheathing to keep the new stuff as cool as possible. All connections will be soldered. OK I could just chop off the old stuff as much as possible and leave it there for now, but I'd prefer not to operate that way and get it out if at all possible. So, any ideas please where the old cable might be trapped and what do I need to remove to free it? The other inevitable problem is that the charge light doesn't work. I believe that most after-market reg/recs won't operate the light but are there any which do? Many thanks for any help available.
If you are new to Ducatis, starting by recommissioning a 30 year old 916 with problems is very brave indeed. Good luck with that.
Thank you. I've fully restored several (mainly) BMWs of various types and still have four, plus a 1290 KTM. So the 916 will never be a daily-user but is a welcome and refreshing change of scenery, which I'm enjoying so far. It's the tricks I need to learn to achieve what I need, without over-dismantling every time. I've done the cam belts and that went OK. But lots to learn.
Personally I like working on my 916, I comes apart in seconds and was designed to be worked on, unlike most other Ducatis which can take hours just to remove the fairings!
The wires shouldn't be trapped anywhere. They just run between the cylinders. The best way would be to start fresh, whip off the stator cover and replace the wires at the stator, eliminate the connector between the stator and the regulator and change the regulator for a better one. Our own, @nelly, has some new, European made, Series type regulators at a decent price or you can buy one from pretty much any modern bike. You might as well as the old regulator is sure to fail sooner rather than later.
That's great, many thanks. The wires seem to be trapped between the overflow (as opposed to expansion) tank and the horizontal cylinder. There looks to be just two fasteners holding the tank in place but difficult to reach without disassembly. If I can't release the wires I'll chop them off and remove them next time the tank and airbox are off. But yes, I'll do exactly as you suggest and replace the wires with gauge #10 silicone coated. The rec/reg on there actually looks to be new so I'll take it off and see if there are any names or numbers to research. Thanks again.
