Hi all. This is my first "real" bike (and I love it) but its hard to find a garage That knows what there talking about so I thought I would ask you lovly people, Just to make clear my Ducati has had a new engine from another 748. My neutral light doesn't work, and when my garage looked into it he says that there isn't anywhere for the cable to Plug into, so he looked up the electrical diagrams for all years of 748's and he says the wire is also the wrong color :s . Any thoughts? Also how often should I change the cam belts, as I use my bike every day. There's more. The brakes are spongy is this just a case of new fluid? I have just had new electric relays put in but the brake lights work only 95% of the time but I think I also Need a new battery as it looses charge very quick could the lights failing be because of this. I still love this bike and it's worth the hassle but as a Ducati newbie it's all rather puzzerling Thanks guys
Tells us a bit more precisely where you are and we can suggest a good indie - which is what it sounds like you need (as well as a new battery).
The neutral switch is located at the rear of the offside-engine case (see pic) you could have, 1- Single wire going to it. 2- Two wires going to it. Depends on which year your model is ? or 3-A miss match of the above as you have had a replacement engine fitted. The cam belts every 2-year. The brakes could just need bleeding good time to flush/replace with new fluid. The brake lights if dont work with either the front or rear check the 3-pin plug under the seat, but if they work with the rear all the time and its just the front check the little micro switch under/beside the front brake lever spray the little plunger it can some times stick. The battery could be at fault, but i would check behind the battery tray the 2-yellow or 3- yellow wire plug (depends on what year) from the alternator to reg/rec they can burn/melt causing charging problems.(see pic two wire plug) brian.
There are problem areas on ducatis,most can be prevented or lessened with a little maintainance the reg rec being one of them.See Brians picture above.Get yourself a manual if you havent got one,handy for part location.
To add to this if you have a mismatch between engine and gauge then it will need some modification to work, as the single-wire version switches the negative to the light and the 2-wire switches the positive. Older models with single-phase electrics (pre '99) have the 2-wire and the newer, 3-phase bikes have the single-wire. AFAIK you can't swap the switch because they are a different thread size.
Thanks guys. Whilst putting the battery in today I couldn't find any burnt wires. So if it loses it's charge still does that mean a trip to the garage and a new alternater. As far as I can see the regulated is ok. The wires for the neutral are in silly places for me to sort it out I would have to take all the fairings off so that will have to be saved for the week end. The brake light do far is now sorted so fingers crossed everything else will fallow. Thank you everyone for your help. You will proberbly be hearing from me again for help XD
Oh. And befor I forget, I've never had a twin before so maybe it's just this but. The left hand side exhaust (as you look at it standing from the back) gets a hell of a lot hotter then the right hand side It blows the same but the can stays near enough cold ( both pipes are hot though) is this because the right hand side has less distance for the air to travel?
