Minor hiccup in my Ducati's reliability..

[Deleted account 210604001]

I may have to temporarilly suspend my honorary ambassadorship of all things Ducati after a 'blip' in the perfect reliability of my Ducati. Decided to ride to Bridlington today as had nothing to do, and just as I entered the town the bike just died, screen dead, engine dead, everything dead. Fortunately I was next to a Costa coffee with some outside seating so set up camp there.

I did some rudimentary prodding and took off the fairing side to get near the battery and fuses, trying to appear that I looked like I knew what I was doing.

After approximately 5 minutes I called it quits and ordered a coffee and almond slice and called the professionals.

Looks like a relay has fried itself, question I need to work out is why. All fuses fine, couldnt get a spare relay to try. Plan of action is to replace the relay, and see what happens (at least if it starts I can get it to a dealer to look at).

AA were great, although needed a relay to another van half way to get me back home.

Luckily I have no planned rides, so after a quick clean I can take my time in getting it sorted. All things considered quite an enjoyable day, as had a very nice chinwag with both AA patrolmen. Bike has 29K on it, and this is the first blip after nearly 5 years, which I think I can forgive.

RBW.

 

[Skid06]

hope my Panni is as reliable..900mls in 3yrs, its going to take a while yours looks lovely in white and red wheels

 

[Rushy]

Bloody unreliable Ducati electrics , blah blah , blah.

My Guzzi reached 22,000 miles and only let me down once when the final drive nearing failed . Unfortunately it failed in a field on a campsite full of UKGSers . I also required the services of a recovery truck , cue much piss taking about Italian bikes etc

 

[Deleted account 210604001]

hope my Panni is as reliable..900mls in 3yrs, its going to take a while yours looks lovely in white and red wheels

900 miles in 3 years !!! That's disgraceful

Panigale's are awesome, I've never had a bike with so much character that gets so much attention. I'm Notts so wave if you see a white 899 about !

RBW.

 

[Deleted account 191119001]

Mates Ducati died similar to yours, dead as a slug, turned out to be a wiring harness problem.

 

[Nutty]

900 miles in 3 years !!! That's disgraceful

Panigale's are awesome, I've never had a bike with so much character that gets so much attention. I'm Notts so wave if you see a white 899 on the back of an AA van.

RBW.

Fixed

 

[Skid06]

i get my pleasure taking the cover off it and just staring at it, ive also got a monster 1100S ..10yrs old with a lot less miles on it

 

[Deleted account 210604001]

Fixed

B!tch

 

[(RIP) Johno23]

Looks like a relay has fried itself, question I need to work out is why..[/QUOTE]

That’s easy to answer.............it’s written on the tank...

 

[Deleted account 210604001]

So after washing the grime off from yesterday's one way ride, I took out the relay and found what looks like an equivalent at RS components

Im hoping replacing the relay will solve the problem, but I think its 50/50 as to whether it just then proves another component has failed (e.g. fuel pump) that put the strain on the relay.

Once the new relay is delivered later this week I can pop it in and see what happens. In the meantime I'll research exactly what that relay controls.

RBW.

*Edited - OK, so I have a PDF workshop manual, and have identified the two relays, one is fuel injection, and the other is e-lock whatever that is. Not sure this helps me at this stage but at least when I ring the dealer and ask them to pick my bike up I can sound like I might know what Im talking about.

 

[Deleted account 210604001]

A positive update today , as mentioned I had identified the relay and sourced it from RS Components, delivered and fitted today. I ordered two, so I have a spare at the grand total of £13.

Relays received today, plugged one in and everything seems fine and bike starts perfectly. I'm obviously nervous that this has just 'fixed' the problem rather than solved the root cause of an underlying component failure, but I will have a local rideout at the weekend and see what happens (with a spare relay in my pocket).

RBW.

 

[Deleted account 210604001]

And you can fuck off .

RBW.

Looks like a relay has fried itself, question I need to work out is why..

That’s easy to answer.............it’s written on the tank...[/QUOTE]

 

[Deleted account 210604001]

Dammit, it's gone back to the garage this weekend as the new Relay hasn't fixed the problem, looks like the relay failing is a symptom of a problem, not the root cause. I can smell something electrical when I'm stopped in traffic and the connectors of the new relay I fitted are a little scorched at the bottom. The relay housing also looks like it has melted a little.

I have every faith that my dealer will sort it though, it's just a question of how much it will cost . Still cheaper than changing the bike I suspect/hope.

RBW.

 

[Greg Masters]

Ah, the old Italian bike electric problems......

So it's still true - you should never ride a Ducati further than you can walk home.



PS good luck with the fix!

 

[jonnie comet]

Dammit, it's gone back to the garage this weekend as the new Relay hasn't fixed the problem, looks like the relay failing is a symptom of a problem, not the root cause. I can smell something electrical when I'm stopped in traffic and the connectors of the new relay I fitted are a little scorched at the bottom. The relay housing also looks like it has melted a little.

I have every faith that my dealer will sort it though, it's just a question of how much it will cost . Still cheaper than changing the bike I suspect/hope.

RBW.

I have nothing to add to help, but I for one am interested to hear how you (or your dealer) get on with fixing this problem.... For some strange reason I love this stuff...

EVERYTHING can be fixed....Good Luck !!.....

 

[Deleted account 210604001]

Thanks Jonnie,

Well, good news from the dealer and I've now picked the bike up.

It sounds like the satnav has been overloading the circuit its on and causing a problem, the background to this was that the dealer fitted the power lead for my Garmin Zumo 550 when I purchased the bike 5 years ago, and about a year or so ago I 'upgraded' to a Garmin 590LM and swapped the leads over. I am assuming that because of all the additional leads and power requirements of the 590 it seems that a different wiring solution was needed.

I'm delighted the bike is back, they also replaced a gear position sensor as this was faulty so overall it has just cost me a couple of hours of labour + the sensor. My only nervousness is I why the problem occurred about a year after I swapped the satnav, so will take the bike on a couple of longer runs and build up confidence that it isn't going to leave me stranded. I must have confidence in the bike, and at the moment I don't so it will take a few rides to build this up.

It looks like my dealer (Italia Moto in Lincoln) have given up their Ducati franchise from July which is a shame as I've always found them brilliant. I suspect I will still take my bike there for servicing.


RBW.

 

[ianm00]

Thanks Jonnie,

Well, good news from the dealer and I've now picked the bike up.

It sounds like the satnav has been overloading the circuit its on and causing a problem, the background to this was that the dealer fitted the power lead for my Garmin Zumo 550 when I purchased the bike 5 years ago, and about a year or so ago I 'upgraded' to a Garmin 590LM and swapped the leads over. I am assuming that because of all the additional leads and power requirements of the 590 it seems that a different wiring solution was needed.

I'm delighted the bike is back, they also replaced a gear position sensor as this was faulty so overall it has just cost me a couple of hours of labour + the sensor. My only nervousness is I why the problem occurred about a year after I swapped the satnav, so will take the bike on a couple of longer runs and build up confidence that it isn't going to leave me stranded. I must have confidence in the bike, and at the moment I don't so it will take a few rides to build this up.

It looks like my dealer (Italia Moto in Lincoln) have given up their Ducati franchise from July which is a shame as I've always found them brilliant. I suspect I will still take my bike there for servicing.


RBW.

I'd be very surprised if the satnav overloaded the circuit causing a relay to get so hot! Maybe incorrect wiring but lasting a year or more is also surprising. I dont think the root cause has been identified.

Ian

 

[Morety]

Hmmmm...in order for that relay to get that hot and melt the case, then burn out, you would think it would take a little more than limited amperage draw of a satnav wouldn't you? However, a quick peak at the Zumo 590 spec sheet shows that it draws a surprisingly large current which peaks at 3 Amps! (with a typical draw of 0.7A once charged). It appears that if drained and connected to the bike, the combined charging requirement with operator use draws up to 3A. It may be less because the lead supplied should be fitted with a fast-blow 3Amp fuse and that should blow before the relay fries. The bike's wiring loom really needs protecting from over-current by ensuring that the wire connected between satnav and bike wiring loom is fuse protected so that the fuse blows to protect the wiring and relay. Continued over-current could fry the wiring and do further damage.

There is an alternative possible cause, being a fault to earth somewhere drawing far more current than it should. This combined with the satnav use would likely fry the relays quite rapidly. Have you or the dealer checked that wiring loom section for any pinch-points or shorting out?

 

[Deleted account 210604001]

It's been one thing after another .

Bike was running fine after I picked it up from the dealers and a week last Thursday I took it out for an evening run to check all was OK. When I got back the rear OEM number plate hanger had broken off and had been swinging about the back of the bike (I didnt notice when on the bike). This has smashed one of the indicators and generally put a few more scratches on the bike.

I have since ordered and fitted an OEM rear number plate/indicator hanger from ebay and new indicators from Ducati and fitted them tonight. A quick shakedown test seemed ok, so now I need to get some miles on the bike to build confidence in it. Total cost just over £100 so could have been worse.

I've no idea what smashed the rear hanger off, can only assume something has hit it, and am putting it down to bad luck. If anything else happens, I'm setting fire to it .

RBW.

 

[Deleted account 210604001]

Well, I'm pleased that the bike seems to now be back to its usual reliable self. I've bagged a left and right rear tail panels on ebay (they were a little scuffed from the panniers, and had a couple of marks on them from the damage mentioned in my last post), retail at £220 per side, and I managed to get undamaged ones on ebay for £70 each so hoping they are in as good condition as they looked in the photo.

Further inspection has shown the rear light looks heavily marked from the number plate swinging about from the same damage and possibly cracked, so will order a new rear light (I can't find one at sensible money on ebay, so will suck it up and order a new one).

Just the rear light and number plate to order, and it will be better than it was beforehand.

I can't blame this latest episode on the bike at all, just bad luck picking something up from the rear tyre and smashing the OEM tail tidy. It may have something to do with me using cross hatchings to overtake (broken white lines only ) where there is usually a bit more debris. I could probably leave the bike as is without replacing the panels and light, but still have pride in how the bike looks after 30K and I've already been asked what on earth happened to the (scuffed) numberplate.

RBW.