Hi, Had a good search, but guess my search criteria is too vague. So, battery good, doubled up, high capacity earth, positive and solenoid to starter leads. Key in, pump primes, hit the starter, turns over fine but not a sign of firing. Anybody have a fault finding sequence to follow? Any common thing to look out for? Quite literally worked one day finer, then out two days later and nothing. Cheers, Pete
Have a look here.No spark on my 998 please help - ducati.org forum | the home for ducati owners and enthusiasts Turns out it was his kill switch faulty. Steve
will check the kill switch, but it is "fairly" new (had a new one fitted approx 2010/2011). will have a look at the side-stand area first, as I never recall having to remove or disconnect a side stand switch at any point in time, so maybe it has been disabled (assuming it has one?) and could be playing up. Pete
Could put a separate plug in the front plug lead and earth and then crank to help sort out if fuel or electrics as a start.
My 999 has intermittent starting issues that sound just like yours. Yesterday it even managed a huge back fire at at fuel station. When its cold it has become hard to start, I put thicker battery leads, TB reset, new battery all the usual stuff Anyway after yesterdays back fire I came home and swapped the NGK Iridium plugs for a new set of none iridium NGK that I had as spare and it fired 1st touch of the button. But just like your I could go to it tomorrow and it plays up again. I have yet to try it from stone cold with the new plugs
going to be Friday before I can get near mine. between putting a decent shift in at work and sorting the kids various activities, the poor girl doesn't get a chance. It's ok, you can put the violin away!
so, finally, inbetween being dragged here and there with work & kids, and health scares, I have had a few hours to tinker with the old girl. Fairings and tank off, plugs out, anti-seize squirted into cylinders (brew & fettle while oil penetrates), turn over a few times, clean plugs. (i) check plugs sparking in cap against grounded metal - Pass (ii) with not enough hands, try to fit tank and turn over to see if injectors are squirting - seemed to be try to see if she fires - Fail (iii) get gallon of fresh fuel and put into tank - Pass try to see if she fires - Pass combination of low/old fuel seemed to be the cause. Neighbours seemed really pleased for me as I warmed her up.
It's possible the injectors got a bit sticky, newer fuels do seem to cause problems. It might be worth running a fuel cleaner\conditioner through your fuel system to see if it improves, it could also be water in the tank.
Any recommendations on fuel cleaner? think I have some redex in the garage that would be a start, I guess. cheers, Pete
That's a hard if not impossible one to answer not having the ability to do back-to-back tests with results of any significance. I think you will be safe with anything that comes from known brands like STP Wynn Miller
It's possible the injectors got a bit sticky, newer fuels do seem to cause problems. It might be worth running a fuel cleaner\conditioner through your fuel system to see if it improves, it could also be water in the tank.
The original Redex is an upper cylinder lubricant so it won't do the job although possibly they do make a fuel system cleaner as well. I normally buy mine in the US in bulk and bring it over although it's been a while since I have done that. Any decent fuel cleaner should do the job, use as per the instructions and as it is a bike you might get two tankfuls of cleaner to run through it.
