Hi All Thanks for having me along. Ive a really strange intermittent electrical problem on my 08 848 which I was hoping someone else may have experienced and resolved. All the garages and specialists I have been to have struggled. What happens is that the bike will all of a sudden lose the headlight, side lights and dashboard warning and indication lights (although the read out still works). It seems to be when the bike is warm. Turning the bike off and on again will fix it for a few hundred yards and then it happens again....although the next day it could be fine. Sometimes, if I am stationary and at the lights it will happen when I blip the engine, other times it will be when I move from neutral to first at the lights. The only common point is the bike is over 80f in temp. The bike has had the regulator heat shield installed, as per the product recall.could this still be the issue? When the fault happens I get the BATT 5.2 warning on the dash. Any thoughts or past experience on this would be gratefully appreciated. The fuse box And connections have all been taken out, cleaned and greased and added back on. The battery is charging fine, it starts every time...also, I have the termi exhaust and racing ecu. Thanks again
Sounds like a faulty connection which is breaking down when it gets hot, i had this with dip beam, thought the lamp had failed but when i started to pull the waterproof connection apart to take the lamp out the lamp came on, blinded me for a bit bit ! it was just a dodgy connection, put back together and its been fine since (3 months) You need to check all connections associated with the kit that is failing, workshops dont like intermitent faults particularly electrical ones, they can spend hours trying to find it and they know if they dont the owner will be very unhappy to pay labour when its not fixed. good luck dude
I'd check also the relays down by the battery tray for corrosion or even swap them just to be sure, they're only a few quid each. They are prone to corrosion despite them still looking OK. Check also the earth connections for corrosion. There's one on the lower LHS engine casing that can corrode a little.
848, it sounds more like an intermittent earth to me, especially if it is happening when the engine is hot. I don't have a circuit diagram for your bike but it is very common for Ducati to share earths for groups of the various services from the head light looms into the main loom, I suspect that all the devices you are losing will earth back to the main loom through a common earth wire which is either broken (this can happen in the headstock area) or has a dodgy connection in a connector plug. On the 9xx/748s for example the usual culprit for this kind of cutting out is the main loom to front loom connector and a burnt out pin in the main connector plug. If I were you I would check the circuit diag to see if the affected services share a common earth into the main loom and then check the connectors along the way. An alternative way of checking it is to run a secondary earth wire direct from the battery negative to one of the front loom connectors earth wires - first you need to find which plug, and then see if the problem stops. Ducati usually use black wires for the non switched earth wires so they are quite easy to locate in the connectors.
Hi lads, Firstly I would just like to say thanks for taking the time to reply to my post. In regards to possible fixes, I have already had the relays changed and they were corroded so I first thought I may have found the issue, however even after replacing the suspected relays I went out for a ride over the bank holiday weekend, only to find as I was riding along in slow moving traffic the problem persists? It again only happened when the bike was hot, so looks like I've got another battle on my hands. The bike is being taken to Forza Italia in silverstone today so I'm hoping they will be able to find out what the problem is, thankfully it's under warranty so not costing me anything, just very frustrating to only have had the bike two weeks before having to send it away, welcome to the world of Ducati I've been told but I'm hoping this will be the last of any problems! As soon as I get the bike back and they've told me what the problem was I will post it on here, that way if anyone else has the issue they may be able to narrow their problem down. Thanks everyone Paul
Had the same / similar on my Hyper - the earth lead to the battery had weakened and snapped so only the rubber cover was holding it in place! It used to turn all the electrics off. More noticeable over bumps as it used to cut out but come back on again. All happens very quickly so it just feels like rough running. I only noticed it one night when the dash light was flashing on and off making it more obvious what was going on.
Well it happens and 80f so is there a switch that activates at that temp? It would then need to connect to loom somewhere and it could help you narrow it down.
Hello, i've looked on site's and forum's because i had the same problem as you. Nowhere i haven found the answer but my mechanic has found the problem. There is a switch on the sidestand that was broken. With the vibration of the engine during a trip the computer was reading that the sidestand was out while the bike was in gear. If you read it out and the engine is not running you can't find a default. I hope that if people have this problem in the future they can't solve it by this post. The price of the switch is about 70euro. Greetings from Antwerp.
Did you solve this please? I have a similar problem. I have a 2010 848 evo. Less than 4000 miles. It starts perfectly with neutral light. Brake light. Indicators work fine. After a mile. Indicators, neutral light, brake lights don't work. But battery doesn't get flat. If I turn ignition off then on again. It all works instantly. Then fails again quickly. But I never have to charge battery. As it starts and runs fine. Every time. Any ideas gratefully received ❤❤❤
as the late great speno suggested, symptoms could fit in with early signs of a standard spec regulator failing.
Side stand cut off? Corroded, dirty, loose or fuck'd. I had roughly the same issue on my KTM and removed it. I used a wee doohicky off fleabay for a tenner that plugs in and spoofs the circuit. All good now...I hope.
I don't think it's that? It stalls instantly when I put stand out in gear. The engine never dies. The battery is always charged. I just lose, break lights, indicators, neutral light etc
Ah, Meseenow, I go with the consensus then, earthing issue. Good luck, that could be a head scratcher/hair puller. I hope you have a Barnet like Roy Wood from Wizzard, roundabout '75, as you may end up pulling it out and it's always nice to have some to spare.
Hopefully I'll work it out. If I do I'll post my answer on this post! Thank you for your knowledge. Hopefully I'll get back to you all. With the answer
When my R&R failed on my 848, IIRC the dash went blank or started to flash… Either way, I’m sure you’ll sort it soon enough.
Same symptoms on my 1098 some years ago and it was a knackered RR. Initially started fine with a loss of neutral, indicators, high beam idiot lights and brake lights. After a restart it would work fine for an indeterminate time. Eventually the alternator plug/socket overheated and melted. Replaced RR with a mosfet RR.
