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Technical Problem w/Fuel Injection or Incompetence

2K views 13 replies 4 participants last post by  Retro 
#1 ·
In late June of this year I took my 2000 Monster 900 to a local Ducati dealer for it's 12,000 mile tuneup. Shortly thereafter I took it out on a long road trip and found that it was losing power at altitudes above 2000 feet. By the time I made it to my destination at 3500 feet I had to run it with the choke on just to keep it moving. A local technician did a quick and dirty adjustment to get me back over the mountains, and I then took the bike back to the original shop. They put a few hours into it (no charge), and somehow managed to make the bike run worse. Now at sea level the bike was dying at stoplights without the choke or constant blipping of the throttle.

At this point (early August) the service manager was convinced that it was an electrical problem, and kept the bike for a week and a half swapping out electrical parts, but without finding anything wrong. Finally he swapped out the stock ECU and installed a used Ducati Performance ECU. Now it at least has power when you ask for it, but after it gets warmed up it still starts dying at stoplights and the engine sounds like ****; extremely gravelly and unsteady.

Now, with summer over, I've got an appointment with a different shop and I'm trying to talk to the factory zone rep. So my question, does this sound like an actual technical problem with the bike or is the guy just incompetent? Am I justified in demanding a refund from the first shop?

thanks,
fever
 
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#3 ·
Re: Technical Problem w/Fuel Injection or Incompet

I have got an S4 w/ the DP ECU, Termi's, and a cloth filter and my bike won't run w/o the choke on after a restart from riding a while. It doesn't matter if it is hot or cold, my bike won't stay running w/o the choke on for at least 60 seconds or so. I think it has to do w/ the inadjustability of the ECU. To get everything running right, I think the FIM ECU would be the way to go, I am guessing.
 
#4 ·
Re: Technical Problem w/Fuel Injection or Incompet

How long is a while? In my case it's about 20 minutes and when the bike is fully warm it starts dying. I also see a lot of lurching at even throttle, as though the fuel flow is unsteady. It used to (before the 12,000 mile tuneup) lurch mildly at very low throttle, but that would go away rather quickly with throttle application. Now however I can't even trust the bike to run with predictable power through a corner, which means the stability of the bike is compromised and it's no longer even an issue of mere inconvenience anymore.

I'll talk to the new shop about an FIM ECU (or maybe a Power Commander), but it just seems absurd to me that a well maintained bike should be so difficult (and expensive!) to make run with even tolerable performance, let alone *high* performance.
 
#5 ·
Re: Technical Problem w/Fuel Injection or Incompet

Im trying to figure out how the "choke" has anything to do woth it since neither bike has one. They have a throttle advancer, this opens the throttle plates a hair. On my 620 it used to do this. Syncing the throttle bodies helped a huge amount. Now it matters not as I have an FIM 5.9 ECU in it.

As far as the 2000 Monster thats a flashloadable ECU, Bruce at BCM can hook you up with that.
 
G
#6 ·
Re: Technical Problem w/Fuel Injection or Incompet

Hey MonstaS4 he doesn't have the 5.9ECU.....

Hard to say without knowing what the shop did..what did they do for your 12,000 mile tune up? Did your bike run well at those altitudes previous to your service? What did they do when they made the bike run worse?
...it sounds like an FI issue.... Do they have a dyno? Did they check the TPS?
Where do you live?
The DP ECU's who knows what they are set up for?
Did you get your stock ECU back?
The 1.5 chip is not swappable but can be remapped.
If no one has a dyno where you live you could send the stock ECU to BCM and he could flash load the ECU, but without a dyno, still a guess...still should be better then the DP or stock map...or try the PCIII.......in fact call Bruce at BCM or Tom at Manley I am sure they could help if you can't find anyone locally.....
 
G
#7 ·
Re: Technical Problem w/Fuel Injection or Incompet

as a side note....I have the same year M900 and my TPS was way off, since then Manley has found several other 00 M900's way off
also.....maybe a trend I dunno........
 
#9 ·
Re: Technical Problem w/Fuel Injection or Incompet

Ducman: that's what it looked like to me, that the "choke" was just opening the throttle a little, but wasn't sure if it might be altering the mixture as on a real choke. So I guess running it then with the throttle advanced a little shouldn't do any damage like fouling spark plugs, right?

Retro: I'm in Seattle WA. I bought the bike used at about 11.5K and hadn't run it at altitude prior to the tuneup, so I can't say how it ran. The 12K service included valve adjustment, complete fluid change including fork oil, new belts. It was given a clean bill of health at that time.

The guy I took to next after it started acting up (in Central Oregon, 3500 ft elevation) said that it was common for him to see bikes come from sea level and run poorly at elevation (three in one week in July in fact, all from Seattle), so I suspect that the problem was there before the service, although now it's *completely* out of whack. He also said that approximately half of the time spent on the 12K service is supposed to be dedicated to adjusting the fuel injection system, throttle bodies, etc. As I said before, he did a quick and dirty (and cheap) adjustment and the bike ran much better than before, although not perfectly. The TPS has been adjusted all over the place, and it seems to run better about 60-80 millivolts above the spec range.

I'm confused about the ECU though. Why should the stock one be better than the Performance? What's the point of the DP then? The first shop still has my original ECU, so if necessary I can trade the DP in and pick it up.

Anyway, this morning I talked to the service guy at the first shop and he went on and on about how difficult is it to get in touch with the factory zone rep. So I called the shop I'm taking the bike to next and they got in touch with the rep in under an hour. That says a lot methinks. He passed along the advice to go through Ducati America customer service to make a complaint about the first shop.
 
G
#11 ·
Re: Technical Problem w/Fuel Injection or Incompet

Ah Seattle, capital hill......who are you dealing with out there...?

Something is going on if you are running at 60 80 millavolts above
spec......seeing as how you are too far away from an FIM shop
I think you should look for a good power commander shop if possible and get the bike on a dyno....I have no idea why they would swap out the ECU as a fix....
a remote possiblity for the elevation would be the atmospheric sensor.....but I think your bike just hasn't been tuned right, and it seems like it is going from bad to worse.....
I think I90 motorsports and Cyclebarn have dyno's....
Again if no one there can help call Tom at Manley.....612 822 7377
 
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