Thanks for your response. It was reasonably warm, Dolomites in June, mountains but summer so 24°C+ not out of the question. I was wearing a Knox mesh armoured shirt so must have been at least around that or more. We'd certainly been working the bikes hard too so they were warm. Failed to start after one ascent and then for the remainder of the day. We rode to the nearest Ducati dealer but they were closed. The allied Audi dealer's tech had a look but couldn't help. The following day, the start of our 4 day return to the UK, was the hottest of the trip yet the bike didn't need bump starting. It still seemed somewhat more reluctant to start that it had previously. Though this might just have been my paranoia reinforced by my two mocking travelling companions
My 1098 was a lazy starter. Last year rode down to RIAT.Stayed in a Pub the night before. It had been very hot on the ride down. A chap spoke to me in the car park and said one of the bikes sounded like it was trying to start itself. Checked around but couldn't find anything In the morning the 1098 was completely dead. Took the fairing off and found the negative terminal oon the battery completely melted away Long story short the starter solenoid was Fubar When I fitted the new one the starting was many times better So if I was you I would fit a new Starter solenoid as well
Although we can quite rightly wax lyrical about some of the Ducati design features as being very well sorted out, and of higher than necessary quality, there are some areas where you have to have sympathy with designers and their approach because acceptable operating temperatures have to be decided on and things start to misbehave at the extremes of the parameter. I'm not saying that this is even the cause, but heat soak can target different areas, "just because it can "on the same motorbike on different days. it's reassuring to hear that things started to behave a bit better when the heat was higher, so it doesn't have to be the above case at all. On my earlier multi Strada, which I had three of at the same time at one point, I couldn't remember which bike I'd put a new starter sprag on. The temperature at the time was surprisingly high for the UK, definitely 24+ and the bikes were bathed in sunlight etc*. Long story short, i conducting what could be called a semi-destruction test, The relevant bit: – one starter sprag failed completely, it was incapable of turning the engine, just to confirm my thoughts I did it a second time only, as was risky. When everything had totally cooled down the next day it started perfectly and continued to start perfectly for the next year or so. I won't go into big detail* but similar stuff can happen with our timing belts, and can remember trying to help somebody on here once with this in mind.
in a way, I've muddied the waters above, I wasn't there when you tried to start it, and it could be totally unrelated to the starter clutch, and it could be that the starter motor/engagement gears were running hotter than ideal but only temporarily et cetera et cetera
I had similar with an older Triumph sprint ST a few years ago and it was fabulous once I had fired the parts cannon at it repeatedly New battery, no difference. Upgraded starter cable's, faster cranking 90% of the time, still the occasional refusal when it was hot. Starter solenoid, way faster cranking and reliability restored.
Thanks all, interesting reading. Will check out the cost of a new relay to add to the list. Is it a bespoke part or something that can be sourced from the likes of Bosch for half the price of OEM?
