I've been on a bit of a journey of inconsistent starting issues with my 1299 which have occurred since a track day in June last year but think I've finally solved it so sharing info for anyone else that might experience the same. So I learnt the hard way that the 1199/1299 Panigales breath oil very easily with track riding, with the recommendation actually being to run the oil level at the minimum line for track day riding. In June last year I had a significant oil leak caused by the dealer overfilling the oil level, even for road riding, which left behind a bit of a mess and is also when the starting issue appeared. It was totally inconsistent, hot, cold, 5 min break, hour break, heat soak, was just totally random. I noticed that the battery was reading low in terms of volts so swapped out for a lithium battery, which seemed to help, but not remove the issue. The bike breathed oil again later in the year after another day on track as it seems I still didn't quite have the level low enough, but it was no where near as bad as before. Decided to swallow a brave pill and take the tank off etc to get inside the airbox and clean out myself (actually not as hard to do as I thought) and sure enough there was a light film of oil everywhere, all over the inside, the injectors, everything. Cleaned this all up but the intermittent starting issue was still there. It would turn over fine, but would cough and struggle to catch and actually get going. I then had a bit of a memory moment back to when I owned an RX8. The rotary drinks fuel and oil, so you were constantly topping up the oil level and every now and again it was easy to slightly overfill depending on how much had been used, which lead to it breathing oil though the system. The part of this story that then came to my mind was that through breathing the oil, it would foul the MAF sensor which would lead to starting and running issues as the ECU wouldn't be given an accurate air flow rating. I looked into this with the Panigale and found that the bike has MAP sensors instead of MAF, one for each cylinder, but a similar principle applies. So I picked up some electrical contact cleaner, got the fairings off (again!), got to the MAP sensors, took both off, cleaned, put back, and so far, the starting issue has gone. Took the bike out, started first time, at the petrol station, pulled over off and on again perfectly, literally every time on the button. So my theory is that these had become fouled with oil particles, causing the ECU to have incorrect lower air flow readings, therefore allowing less fuel which is why it would take a couple of goes. Of course it's only theories and I'm no mechanic, but seems to have done the job so sharing in case anyone else runs into similar issues
What a PITA but very useful to know. Thanks for sharing. @nelly is this something you’ve experienced or heard of at all?
Interesting you did not get a yellow warning light with map sensor issues. The 959’s should also be run on the lower oil level on track by the way.
There is a kit to modify the crankcase breather that was originally brought in for the issue on some early Superleggra. I’ve fitted a couple to track tools and they’ve been pretty effective.
Yeah fair point, I guess the thing with my theory is that they weren't failing or faulty, just dirty therefore not getting the right reading
https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2019/RCSB-19V675-3265.pdf found this online and looks like is costed at around £25
so i had another job to do on my 1199 and ended up pulling the frame off, and there was also a some oil residue around the breather. using the number above i was at the dealer today and picked up one of these modification kits, which is basically a one way valve at the bottom of the unit. ill remove the injection panel and fit the unit, but seems relatively easy to fit
I saw there’s a specific tool in the instructions, did you get that too? Interested to know your feedback after fitting
Looks like the tool is for the 35mm cutoff of the rubber cyclone. Once I get the injection TB’s off tomorrow I’ll have a clearer picture
You don’t really need the tool. I’ve found 35mm is a little too much. Closer to 30 gives a better fit. It’s easier to cut a little more off rather than screw the original rubber hose up.
