nothing wrong with a hot engine - unless it's static. Things like carbonfibre Termignoni cans can degrade badly just from a bike being repeatedly run up to temperature and not being ridden - ask me how I know.. I can remember many 'perishable'/electrical ancilliaries getting cooked in car engine compartments just because they happened to be situated close to bonnet height - exactly the same cause and less likely to happen if vehicle moving.
I wasn't the culprit but bike had done just over 3K miles yet carbon heavily discoloured right in the middle/centreline of bike(where they nearly all go first) and becoming brittle. I have been known to todge up a few 748 pipes in the past but it never lasts long.
Dont panic! The fan should be kicking in somewhere around 100 to 105 C. From memory the fuse is in the little rubber box that sits on the side of the frame above the battery on the left side. You need to check that the fans are kicking in and what temp the bike is cutting out at? The water temp is in the middle of the main display (says LO at first start up). If the fans arent kicking in by 105 check the fuse. If the bike is cutting out before 100 C it's something else. There is a posibility that cooling system has an air lock so check all the coolant hoses and radiator to make sure its all an even equal temp. Early bikes did have a problem with the radiator where they become blocked, this will show as the radiator being cold dispite the bike being hot. You dont have an oil level issue! If it had seized due to oil starvation it would remain seized and the starter wouldn't get it going again. If anything 1098's are over-radiatored, I tape up half my rad in the autumn to keep more heat in! Idealy it needs to be running at around 85 to 90 C otherwise it will over fuel itself (a sort of auto choke). The right side of the bike will be hotter than the left if you're leaving it running on the side stand as heat rises. I suspect it could be as simple as the radiated engine heat causing the fuel to boil in the lines. Take it out for a ride and get some air through it and I suspect it'll be fine. You've bought an italian superbike that was designed to win races, not tick over on the side stand for 7 minutes!
Hi, thanks for detailed reply. Have done a few more tests with this. Took the bike to work today and at a few points temp reached around 88 Celsius, when stopped at lights. Apart from that, whilst riding it was averaging 65 Celsius. Didn't once cut out. Once I came back after letting bike cool I then left bike sitting in garage in neutral to see what temp it cut out at/or if fans came on. Got to about 75 Celsius then cut out so didn't even get a chance for fans to come on. Any idea why it would do this? Seems strange it cuts out at idle when 75 but not at 88 when at lights..
It could be a dodgy relay playing up. Relays are cheap, so it's worth replacing the lot. Not sure about the 1098 but the 999 has one between the battery box and the exhaust which causes all sorts of grief.
Will get one ordered just to rule it out. What is the exact part number? Had a look for fan relay, are they readily available online?
THey are a generic part that is not unique to bikes, never mind Ducatis. Just take the existing ones to a motor factor and ask for something similar. It's a black plastic box that just plugs in, you will have a few of them. I'm not suggesting just a dodgy relay is stopping your fan/s from cutting in, it's the fact that the bike is cutting out that is causing that. Maybe new relays will help the cutting out, it's well worth a try.
My 848 runs at 65 most of the time, but today in traffic through town it was going to 104, fans cutting in, down to 100 fans off and then back up. This is how it was designed and should cause no problems. One thing that I would never do to any bike is to start it up and let it idle, especially not for 7 to 8 minutes, but there again I have been an engineer all of my life and it comes naturally for me not to mistreat anything mechanical.
It's most likely my lack of engineering knowledge that is the problem. Ran it through traffic today and hottest it got at one point was 100 at traffic lights. Didn't cut out at all. Seemed to average 60 on open road..
If the bike is reaching 85C stationary in traffic but cutting out on the side side I would suspect its either the side stand switch beginning to play up or the throttle bodies need adjusting and maybe the TPS reset. See how long the bike ticks over whilst being held up, ether by you or a paddock stand, with the side stand up. If it still cuts out then it'll probably need booking into a dealer to set up the throttle bodies and reset the TPS (throttle position sensor). Ducati's dont have manual tick over adjustment like a jap bike, instead tick over rpm is altered by adjusting the air bleed screws on the throttle bodies. I suspect that at 75C the bike is coming off the auto choke and reduces the fuel, however the tick over is only just over the stalling speed and the bike cuts out. Try the side stand first as its a simple fix, otherwise book it into your local dealer to set up the fueling and TPS.
First rule of problem solving - define the problem. In this case it seems that the bike won't run for extended periods ticking over while static. Is that really a problem? It's hardly a real world condition is it? I'd say just get on with riding the bloody thing and stop fretting, or are we missing key facts?
Bike now seems to be running at half the power, no force when opening the throttle, something holding it back. I used to almost wheeely when taking off.. I noticed build up of black residue on bike above side stand. Hopefully can see from pics. Is this something to worry about? I took the pictures from looking up at side stand joint.
In my opinion the best thing that you can do is to take the bike to a dealer. You seem to be clutching at straws and not getting a definite answer here. It does not help if you find a problem when doing something that every bike manufacturer tells you not to do like letting a bike tick over on the side stand for 7 minutes.
