749 D wont start 2004 model

Try swapping the relay for the headlight relay (its the same). Located on the inside of the front fairing on the offside accessed by removing the black cover under the nose cone. Good to know as it is a useful spare in case if emergency..

 

All the above is relevant, but always do the simple, cheap stuff first. As said, remove and check/replace the spark plugs, they're cheap, I'd replace 'em. If this doesn't work, then move on to the next easiest/cheapest thing, do things one at a time, so you know what fixed it. I can't tell you how many times, when I was a mechanic, that people dove straight in to the deep/expensive stuff without checking the basics, then towed it in to our w/shop, telling us everything it wasn't when they hadn't checked the basics.

 

There are four self tapping screws that hold the ally heat shield to the electrics box. Slacken off the bottom LH one (as viewed from the side of the bike) and you should be able to ease the heat shield back without taking the whole electronics box off. The relay is located exactly where Chris025's photo shows.... It is fiddly but not very difficult .... Just take a few deep breaths ....

 

Ignore my prior post. Pages 2,3 were not downloading and I couldn't see how far the thread had progressed .... What an idiot !!!

 

Problems are often the simplist, daftest things.
I can't see that anyone has mentioned fuel. How old is/was it? This modern crap causes the most parculiar problems.
I have had lots of fuel problems, all with Ducatis as it happens.
Latest is my Monster. It hasn't been used for about 6 weeks owing to a new arrival (a 748) and was showing a reluctance to start. On Boxing day morning I took it out for a Club run, fine until the first stop. Then after about ten miles it cut out completely. Buggered aboput for ten minutes then it reluctantly stared and got me home...just.

This morning I emptied the fuel tank putting the old petrol in my wifes car:wink:. New fuel and started up after a couple of turns, now runs fine.
I had a lot of this type of problem with my 600ss and my ST2..... petrol over 4 weeks old is TOO OLD.

 

Cold start lever on full won't make the slightest bit of difference to fuel in cylinders evaporating.

Why on earth don't you remove the plugs for reasons previously mentioned?

 

Here's my advice:

- Remove the plugs today and leave them out over night. It's a pain but if it's the only thing that solves the problem you'll be annoyed if you haven't already done it when you come to work on it in a few days.

- Put the battery on charge and leave it on until you have the relay fitted and you're ready to hit the button.

- Create and install a secondary earth to the starter motor.

- double, triple and quadruple check you have connected everything back together.

Wait for new relays.

- Stick a new relay in after using a. Bit of copper grease on the contacts and cover it with the tip of a rubber glove.

- Pop the battery back in and hit the button.

Wait for combustion or tears.

 

My advice:

1. Stay inside in the warm and dry.
2. Get the thing stretchered off to a dealer where they have the knowledge, the tools and the place to work on it.

 

If your going to take a plug out only take out the horizontal one , you need to remove the coil pack which is secured by a small nut ,10mm I think , then you will need a thin walled spark plug socket. The only hassle is using an extension bar and having the front wheel turned on full lock to remove plug.
At least then you can see spark or not and condition of plug, I wouldn't do anymore with no garage or tools.

 

Listen to Glidd call it a day and take to an expert!

 

Spark plug socket is a 'thin walled jobby' 12mm. You will also need a short extension bar to go with the socket as the spark plugs are recessed deeply in the cylinder head. Once you have undone the plug, when you withdraw the socket, if the plug hasn't been 'captured' by the socket you could use a pair of very long nosed pliers to grab hold of the tip of the spark plug.

I like to clean the area around the plug with a thin coffee stirring wooden stick with some paper tissue wrapped around the end to ensure nothing unwanted falls into the plug hole. Blowing out with Compressed air would be the best way to do this, but I don't have any, hence the stick and paper towel!

 

You can just touch the spark plug to the engine case any where and you should get a spark.

It'll be much easier if you can get someone else to thumb the starter.

 

In your first photo the stick coil has some grease around the top. This is an attempt to provide some sealing against moisture.

The stick coil can be taken apart, just pull and twist the black bottom part whilst holding the metal part- BUT- make sure you don't loose the small spring inside who's purpose it to make an electrical connection with the threaded tip of the spark plug. Clean everthing up with a clean dry cloth and spray liberally with WD 40 or similar to complete the job.

Plug gap should be 0.6-0.7mm, and do check that you have the correct rated plugs!

I found that by wrapping a gash length of copper wire around the threaded part of the plug and wrapping the other end of the copper wire around the stud that retains the stick coil provided me with a good earthing of the plug and then allowed me to operate the starter button without any shock risk. ( you really don't want to get a high voltage shock from the stick coils)

 

Hard to tell from the photo without measuring,but I would take a guess that the plugs in your photo have a larger gap than the specified 0.6-0.7mm! Looks near to 1mm to me.

Actually that stick coil doesn't look too bad compared with a few rusty ones I have seen, good clean and I recon you will back in business.

Now you have done the horizontal plug, you might as well do the vertical cylinder's plug as well to complete the job. All you have to do is to remove the seat and tank, which takes me about 10 minutes, and then you have access to the plug, which you will find easier to remove as you are not grovelling around on your hands and knees!