I'm new to this forum and Ducati's in general so if someone could point me in the right direction that would be awesome
I have a 2002 Monster S4 that I park in a storage unit. As a result the battery died so I bought a Ballistics lithium ion battery. Hooked it up and the bike won't start. I hear the bike trying to start and I can see the clutch rocking back and forth but it just won't start. I've tried every combination of clutch/kickstand/neutral I can think of. The shop I bought the battery at said it was over 13 volts. What am I doing wrong?
Actually I didn't know that. But I'm pretty much trying to start the bike immediately after turning the key on. Also, I figured out how to check the fuses and I don't see anything blown.
After watching your video, it looks as if the engine is not turning over. Are you "pulsing" the starter switch? When I hit the starters on my bikes, the clutches spin, they don't rock back and forth.
You have one of two problems.
a. The new battery, although new does not have enough power to crank the engine over.
2. The spring in the starter sprag clutch is shot and as a result is not allowing the starter to properly engage the crank and turn the engine over.
I'm going to go with this option because the video you are showing is nearly identical to what mine was doing this past fall. The well documented inexpensive repair is to pull the alternator cover, remove the sprag clutch and replace the spring that holds the weights in with the spring out of the following oil seal, CR 19778. The procedure is covered on other Ducati forums and the actual procdure for replacing the spring is also covered on Triumph forums as well as they have this issue too.
one more thought, there is a white nylon connector going to the starter solonoid. Make sure it is fully seated, I have seen these come loose and greatly impact starting as well.
After looking at the video again it is exactly what my M750 was doing when the sprag clutch spring let loose. Same metallic clanking sound at the same frequency. I had my belt covers off as mine has a wet clutch but same crank rocking back and forth of the crank.
Thanks for your help so far. Here is what I have found.
I tested the battery by itself with a multimeter. 12.92 volts. So it's fully charged. While cranking, the voltage jumps all over the place, it never really settles on a number. But I guess that's because it never really starts?
I guess that spring is shot. I wonder how that happened. I'm new to Ducati's and not that savvy with working on them so I'm not sure if I can do it myself, I may end up just taking it in.
I didn't see the message about the white nylon connector in time, but I'll check that before taking it in.
The spring wearing out is becoming more widely known as well as how to repair it. Your bike is 11 years old now and has been started a lot! You'll need to get the seal I mentioned above and strip the spring from it. You'll then need to remove the alternator cover and then remove the flywheel. The sprag clutch is on the back side of the flywheel and is held in with a snap ring. The direction it sits in the flywheel is critical as well and it is marked. Pull the clutch, remove the bad spring and replace with new. Reassemble in reverse order.
Hi there, also new to ducati's and their inherent electrical issues and general unreliability. From your video clip it sounds like your starter or master relay but could be a duff battery, even though it's new.
Before you start ripping it apart and spending a shed load of money try taking the plugs out, stick it in gear and turn the engine over by hand using the rear wheel, just to make sure there's no other untoward mechanical issues stopping her turning over.
I'm not sure where your main ignition relay is situated, but find it, pull it, tap it and reinstall it. You may just find it has a poor connection, same with the starter relay, check the connections.
How big is the Ballistics? I picked one up and the dealer told me the smaller model (4 elements i think) would start my S4 until I asked him to check and he was surprised it needed the next size up (6 elements). Not sure that is your problem but worth checking with another battery..
Memory a bit off. Will double-check but it may even have needed the 12-cell model not he 8... (they don't make a 6 cell). The older monster need a bit more AH to crank them over...
Thanks for all who chimed in here to help. I ended up taking my bike to Ducati and I'm glad I did. They found out that my starter was bad and so was my voltage regulator. I guess the ballistics still didn't have enough juice to turn it over so I'm ditching the ballistics for the shorai lithium ion. When it rains it pours right?
Check also the two relays, sometimes they die just like that, It happens once to me too!
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