So my bike wouldn't start the other day, and I managed to make it start. It then struggled to start after work. I got the issue on camera today and wondered if anyone else has seen this, or what I can do in the meantime until I can get the bike to a dealer- From what I can gather it's only a cold start issue, the key and switches are fine, fuel pump seems fine, it starts right away when hot. In the second clip, I essentially have to keep restarting the bike fully and every time it gets slightly better until the engine is lukewarm and then it stays running. Any ideas guys/gals?
Weak battery They take a pasting in very cold weather. Get it on charge. Starting a big twin takes a lot out of a battery and yours isn't spinning the engine nearly enough
It always spins at this speed, it's never been any different. I would expect that given how long it would spin and still fire, the battery is fine surely. That's three days of this type of starting and it hasn't slowed down yet. It also doesn't explain the cutting out when it does fire... Since I've had the bike it will fire on the 4th revolution without fail on every cold start. I've heard other Multistradas starting at the dealer and they sounded equally slow to crank?
Look at the temperature of the engine, 66 degrees, that's a hot start. When my bike starts hot, it starts straight away the same as that one does (I'll get the video of it tomorrow morning) practically the instant it turns over. I believe that's down to the engine being easier to turn over when heated, as is the case with all bikes. I I'm not completely dismissing that the battery could be at fault but I can't see how it would be. By bringing up other points I'm inviting discussion of the issue, not shutting it down. By all means I'm going to charge it and see what happens, but I'm not expecting anything to change unless I have some logical steps to follow to make me suspect the battery. Like I said, the battery wouldn't explain why it gets progressively easier to start (it should get harder if it was on the brink?), dies when it fires up etc?
It may be that the ecu is not enrichening the mixture as necessary for a cold start, I believe this could be an air temperature sensor issue but @chrisw and @Derek are probably the guys to help with this. Theoretically though, you are not supposed to touch the throttle when starting. The ecu should adjust as necessary for starting and altering the throttle position when starting may interfere with the process. The battery seems to be holding up remarkably well given the repeated attempts at starting. However, the cranking is slow, so some Exact Start cables from @Exige should help cut down resistance in the starting circuit, allowing for faster cranking. Also, increased resistance in the starting circuit doesn't just make for slow cranking, it also robs the ignition circuit of power.
Something you said just clicked on my head so I looked at this video - Look at the dash. That's a cold start that hasn't been touched and the temp reading is 46 degrees... I had assumed since getting the bike that gearing down the starter motor was Ducatis way of lowering battery drain when starting. Here's a hot start after my ride home last night - And this mornings starting attempt also with the high engine temp I mentioned earlier -
So the ecu thinks it's a warm engine and you're trying to do a cold start. Looks like you need to take a look at your air temp sensor.
If your bike is not new and under warranty, @Derek lives over towards the East coast from you. He's excellent with electrics and could also fit an ExactStart cable kit too.
Yeah, I just read about that, coolant temp apparently. The confusing thing now is that the coolant temp is what the dash is showing, and is wrong. But from what I read, the air temp sensor (located in the snorkel) is what the bike uses for its injection calculations.
Yes, I thought that. You need to speak to @Derek or @chrisw for an expert view on this. It does look as though you're trying to start the bike with no enrichening of the mixture though.
You can't turn the low beam off, it comes on automatically when you start the engine on all bikes made shortly after the year 2000. At least, that's the case in the UK...
not my 2003 999. I also tend to pull the clutch in, so there is less for the starter to turn in cold oil. I don't know how much difference it makes though. Certainly a lot less than a cable kit
Serious question @Exige If the cable kits make that much of a difference, and by all accounts they do, why don't the manufacturers install adequate size cable from new ?
Bit of a (hopefully good) update. Went out to the bike just now, tried once to start, temp said 4 deg. air which is correct, but 56 degrees engine! I left it on without trying to start it and it slowly creeps down. Odd indeed. Unplugged the air sensor, got the dash error, bike still wouldn't start. Unplugged the engine temp sensor, no dash error (?), but the temperature went from 54 degrees to "LO", bike started up like so- Halfway through the video I put the phone down to plug the sensor back in, and it still started up the same way. I turned the bike off and on again totally and it still stayed with "LO" displaying and it started fine. Could it maybe have been something stupid like a little water in the switch block for the temp sensor? I'm dubious, but I've left the bike to cool down and I'll try another cold start later.
Just so you're aware, mine (2010 S) cranks at exactly that speed and always has. It's always started, slow cranking or not. So it ain't the cranking speed. Sounds like you're on to it with that weird engine temp reading.
