Some people change their relays every year or two as a matter of course, treating them as a consumable - they're only a few quid.
In the grand scheme of things that is fairly significant as that is the sort of mileage they suffer from valve guide wear, check hydrocarbon readings and i bet they are through the roof
Update... Tonight I took the throttle bodies off, front one was completely coked up, so I've cleaned this along with the connections for the stepper motor, and all ancillaries down there. Bike started on 2nd click, runs smooth but again wouldn't restart after this. Front exhaust valve was 0.04 (haven't checked inlet valve yet) and I've done a work-top throttle balance to see if they were out, which has about 2mm difference on opening. Guesses being still a balance needed, thoughts on valves? Also worth mentioning it has a termi slip on and k&n filter.. what airmixes would people advise? Currently running 2 turns out on the screw. Cheers, Doug
Shame i never found this thread while "active" as am now in a similar position myself* with a mystery that's refusing to be solved. Can cross off all the suggestions listed above. I hope you fixed your problem @doug_mk3 all those years ago - and although unlikely - if you pick this up, then would be great to hear. *partly due to "white flag syndrome" and partly due to health/inability to strip down and check out a hunch so easily/quickly.
Looks like you are on top of your problems. Make sure you do a TPS reset. Starting can be improved with the addition of a secondary earth strap. You can test this by running a jump start lead from the battery negative to a good earth on the engine. If this works then you can add an off the shelf earth lead from the battery negative to one of the visible bolts on the starter motor.
both done Chris - i thought you would have known that i would cross off the obvious ones? It's seems to be a rogue electrical fault but i can't know this. I'm going to remove the tank and go through everything again as seems the only approach now.
Some other cheap stuff to consider. 1. The little black earth lead onto the ECU 2. The bundle of thin earth wires going into the -ve battery connector 3. The wires going into the fuel tank where the connector rubs on the vertical cylinder
I have an 1100s with similar problems in the past. My local Ducati dealer spent hours on the bike, but alas couldn't find anything definitive. In the end they replaced the crankcase pick-up and removed some of the shims so it was much closer to the crank and that made things significantly better. It might be worth a try?
it's kind of you Gadgetmax, and you are right, it's not on the list above but this is one of the first things i do. I swap out for a new spare just to "cross it off the list". I ordered and only just received within the hour, a complete new throttle body assembly from Italy at an incredible price, which although is a bit "belt and braces", has a good chance of eradicating many possible faulty "ancilliaries" all at once. Thank you for taking the trouble.
