Hi, Ive had my ducati 749s around a year and 1/2 now. bought it from dealer 2nd hand. had the usual problems with it including needing to get throttle bodies balanced and few months ago the hose pipe getting nipped causing petrol to pour out ect ect.. Anyway, its just passed 9000 miles. I got the timing belts replaced couple of months ago. Probably unrelated.. but.. when riding bike now, it will randomly drop power for a few seconds. even tonight cruising at 50mph at around 5000 rpm the rev counter started bouncing between 5000 and 1000 for a few seconds. give her a bit more throttle and i sped up and it was fine again. Reving it up, it doesnt sound smooth at the lower end... I know when I stop the engine and try to immediatly restart it I have problems.. and you can smell fuel.. (someone said to me its running rich?) Are my problems relating to it running rich? or is there other issues here. Im a complete novice and dont want to have to keep spending money on it.. :/ I know Ill no doubt have to.. any advice much appreciated.
The rpm signal is fed from the crank sensor. This also feeds valuable information to the ECU which enables it to inject the fuel and fire the coils. If the sensor is faulty or breaking down, then that info will be corrupt. The fluctuating tachometer maybe a clue to this. have you had the ecu read for any faults? Has the engine warning light lit? Another possible cause could be the ignition relay. These can get corroded due to where they are positioned. If the contact is poor then this to can play havoc with the injection, but usually causes more of an ignition cut rather than causing a loss of power.
The engine warning light has not been on, no error codes have been seen either. The guy that fitted the timing belts wasnt able to read for faults as he doesnt have the gear.. apparently i have to bring it to ducati dealer here (where I bought bike). bringing it back to the dealer is an hour or so ride away.. i can get them to pick it up, but its chargable. also.. would be costly if they are the only ones who can fix the problem. corrosion is a possability, i rode this bike for a year in the best weather Northern Ireland had to throw at me.. got very very very wet a LOT. now its in the garage and only gets brought out on the rare sunny day once a month or so. So.. apart from bringing it to ducati, I guess I could look for corrosion on the electrics? Thanks for the info
The ignition relay is tucked away behind the battery tray. It's a small black unit. You can just about get at it by pulling the heat shield away and drawing it out. The crank sensor is on the same side, just to the right of the battery in the engine case. The connector should be tucked away around there. Check that for corrosion......the sensor is a sealed unit. You can check the resistance across it, but tbh replacement is the only cure.
Ill "try" and remove the side fairings later. Its not something ive had to do myself.. Dont have a rear stand myself.. i read you need to have someone hold bike up so u can fiddle the fairings around the side stand? or is that not true. Would like to investigate this myself.. if its just corosion on the wires then its possibly somethingt i can replace myself. had to do quite a bit of wiring fixing when i had a 2001 monster 600.. lots of corrosion as i rid in rain.
Ok thanks nelly.. Good to know this beore I start it.. and cant finish it.. nothing worse. Maybe do it when a mate is round some time.. I was looking closer at bike last night, bottom fairing around side stand.. and where the side stand connects to.. is VERY thick in oily crud. Is that just a case of too much oil has been put into it on the last service when the timing belts were changed do you think? I know from my previous experience with my Monster that Ducatis are not the most reliable... but the 749s seems to be a real bottomless money pit for servicing. Sure, local mechanic can work on it, but he says himself strange faults like mine are only really pinpointed by hooking it up to the software thatonly ducati have.
That'll be chain lube more than likely, you need to buy some paddock stands and learn to remove the bodywork and clean the bike, not trying to sound harsh here but it's basic maintenance we're talking about and keeping on top of things, if you clean it up regularly you'll notice little things I.e. bolts/fasteners missing before they become problems. Bikes are only a money pit if you don't look after them, and Ducatis need a little more TLC
Freak, you are right. I do need to get a paddock stand and do a "little" maintenence myself. Chain lube.. makes sense. When I had the monster I had the haynes manual, I know there isnt one for the 749 but a 999 one would do wouldnt it? I think I should get down to it..
Mmmmmm not sure I'd agree with you on that. As said by others, a little cleaning, fairings off every now and then, don't leave the bike soaking wet if caught out in rain etc I know my bike is a play toy for me, only summer use and lowish miles each year. But, apart from servicing, I never spend money on repairs etc between services. Apart from tyres and a battery, I've not spent money on any non service items. In fairness, all of my ducati's have been the same. Service them well and I've been ok between services.
Fairing removal Hi Guys... update. Removed right hand fairing no problem. Have all screws from left hand fairing removed but it just wont budge.. I have not got a rear paddock stand so basically all the screws are removed and im sitting on bike trying to pull it out where its stuck.. it seems to be stuck near where it joins onto the light front fairing. the right hand one pulled off easy enough, but this does not pull off, it feels almost like its screwed in still.. although ive checked and tripple checked.. the screws (including one near that area) are all removed. cant find any youtube videos on it, so any help much appreicated. hate leaving jobs half finished.. :/
djkus If you examine the front of the r.h.s fairing that you have removed, you should see a 'mushroom shaped spigot' very close to one of the fixing holes that locates into a rubber grommet on the nosecone. there will be an identical 'spigot on the l.h.s fairing. They can be a little tight to remove ( I smear Vaseline on mine to make reassembly easier). The trick is to grasp the front of the fairing with the tips of your fingers and give it a tug whilst wiggling the rest of the fairing with your other hand and it will pop out.
Top of the front fairing (up near the light) locates in a hole with a rubber grommet thing. So if you undo all the screws it won't fall out. Have to give it a brusque yank, holding on to both sides at the top. You might just be scared to apply the necessary force (though it's not a strong man thing). If you try this and it doesn't help, I'm stumped. There are only about 4 screws to undo the whole thing. I speak of the 999. Assume 749 is the same.
Hi guys.. I had read a lot of posts on different forums telling the user to "yank" it near the nose cone.. I was doing so and it wasnt coming. I DID get it off! Perhaps mine has been "altered" by previous owners but I had to reach in under light and physically unscrew the allen screw connecting the fairing to the light area by hand. no amount of pulling would have made it come. so.. unscrewed it and i was easily able to remove the left fairing.. had to sit on bike.. put stand up.. remove from stand area... put stand down again but was no bother. Now I know the secret of my bike fairing removal ill have no issue doing it again.. So, fairing is off my bike (finally) Now I can start looking for possible corrosion around this crank shaft sensor or any other wiring as you have previously suggested? Just checking to see where Im supposed to be looking now.. Got hold of a 999 workshop manual *637 pages pdf* so.. having a look to see what bits correspond to what wires..
Checking the connectors guys and look. Where this sensor joins onto a connector.. there is visible water in one side and the other has rust/corrosion. what sensor is this? its just to the right of the battery, massive long tail on the connector, all coiled up and elastic thing around it to tidy it up.
That's your crank sensor mate. Use contact cleaner or brake cleaner in there. If youve got an old toothbrush that'll help. He that sorts the problem
Im chuffed I was able to remove the fairing eventually, even happier about finding hopefully the issue with my bike! Plan to get some contact cleaner tomorrow and mini file to clean the spades/female side... scrape all that corrosion away. ive got some compressed air too so ill be sure to blast away any water in there first. Ill keep you updated. Going to bed now, feels like ive acchieved something tonight! Thanks guys
When was it last serviced? Had all kinds of running/starting problems with mine which I assumed were fueling, turned out all it needed was new sparkplugs. Now runs like a train!
I had it last serviced about 200 miles previous, new timing belt fitted, airfilter, oil filter ect... by local garage. non ducati timing belt was original part however supplied by ducati. had brought it back for him to investigate the drop of power but everything seemed ok he said... does rev ok and ride ok if he tested it.. only the odd time would this happen. he explained that without the ducati software it would be hard to identify the fault.. so, ill give it a clean and see how it rides. its a problem ive encountered before that went away.. from as far back as when i got the bike i think ive always had some problem like this.
