Whatever it causing the problem seems to be getting worse. It's not idling much above 1k rpm now and after starting it up, hot or cold, after 30-60 seconds it'll just die. Sounds quite rattley at those low rpms too! On the advice of speno I measured the voltage at the battery at 5k rpm and it came out at 13.6V, not the 14.3V speno said it should be. So maybe a duff battery, maybe a duff rectifier? From what I've read about the alternator nut, it shouldn't affect my bike being a 1998?
Some good news at last! Went to connect my laptop to the ECU after getting the cables through - spent most of the day trying to get the cable tests to pass and still haven't managed it. Have a topic on the go over on Ducatidiag.xooit.com to try to find the cause of that. So in between those problems I decided to fit the fuel filter I got from Laguna Ashford. I think they might have fooked up (again), the fuel filter I was given has a 90* elbow at the top (inlet), where as the one I took off just had a straight inlet and straight outlet. From Googling pictures it looks like the fuel filter belongs on a Monster. I'll get another new one from Moto Rapido this week. Managed to fit it OK, but not ideal. Then changed the vertical spark plug whilst the tank was off. Then put it all back together, fired it up and it seemed to be ticking over OK. So have taken it out on a half hour blast tonight and it's as good as normal! The masochistic side of me wants to put the old spark plug back in to see whether it was that or the fuel filter that was the problem. I'm half expecting the problem to come back soon and that the new fuel filter or spark plug is only masking the problem for now (or it could have just been me moving cables around that fixed it). So I still want to get the laptop connected and get everything set up properly - in fact I may take the bike over to Ducati Pro Team over in Rochester to make sure it's running as sweet as possible.
Speaking as the seller of this bike I hope you get it sorted soon, it does sound like your checking all the right things & now its back running ok even if does play up again it seems that a major mechanical problem has been ruled out.
Thanks Graham! As you say, at the very least it's ruled out any major mechanical wise. Got the correct fuel filter through from Moto Rapido last week and fitted over the weekend. Everything seems to still be running OK.
