On a great ride today (before we got shat on by the rain), I at first thought the clutch was slipping, then I thought I had a bad fuel load..... Then she started popping and farting with the TC lights flashing and awful fuelling. Clutch in and a few RPM did nothing to sort it, it just progressively got worse. The TC was kicking in with no logic at all and just killing the engine. It became so un-rideable I pulled to a halt and deactivated the SOB. The usual big ass warning icon appears and then the ABS light glows like a beacon. Thankfully you can ride the beast like a 70's bike: no electronic shit, though as dumb luck would have it, I rode it like this in one of the wettest days we've had here. As we once all did on 'dumb' bikes. Any ideas gang?
A faulty wheel sensor will throw an ABS error. I had an intermittent connection in the loom wiring to the front sensor. The ABS light came on and the DTC switched off with the big triangle. The rear sensor also supplies the speedo signal and I'd expect to see the speedo doing funny things if it was duff.
My bike is going in to the dealers Thursday for a service and also to have the TC looked at as it's packed in, will let you know what they find.
Sounds a bit similar to mine, currently due to go back to the dealer for further investigation: 1200 - Uneven running problem | Ducati Forum
Rider's seem to think its a dash fault, its being replaced under warranty due to condensation after a very wet holiday leading to water ingress. Think they are also replacing the front ABS sensor as a precaution, picking up early next week so will see if its cured.
Here's the latest, they replaced the dash, took it for a short test ride and declared the DTS fault solved, picked it up today and 100 yards down the road the DTC turned itself off and ABS light came on, so back to square one, and just to rub salt in the wounds I got home and a EXVL error came up on the dash GRRRRRR. I love the bike but in over 30 years I've never visited a dealers so often since owning the MTS, back to shop on the 1st (earliest they could look at it for me) I don't blame the dealers as its an intermittent fault but frustrating all the same,
Get them to check the loom pigtail to the front ABS sensor for a break in the wire. Mine was stretched at full lock.
Go to the top of the class Derek, after a long process of checking, replacing dash etc and much frustration as per previous posts the dealers tracked the fault down to not one but 2 breaks in the cable loom to the front sensor. Now finally back to norm and enjoying the bike again
It makes you wonder about the competency of the dealer. A disconnected sensor should show an error code in the DDA diagnostics that they have access to. Replacing the dash is just throwing money at the problem. Mine was initially intermittent and also turned on the ABS light and the DTC off. Since the speedo was unaffected I figured it had to be a problem with the front sensor. I got another for £20 off ebay but it made no difference so I then looked at the wiring to the sensor. I couldn't get access to the multi-connector on the ABS unit so that I could check continuity from the unit to the sensor so I measured across the 2 sensor wires. I could measure neither voltage nor resistance which indicated an open circuit to me. Seeing that the loom pigtail was very tight on full left lock I was sure that's where the problem would lie. I released the wires from the connector and pulled each of them, one came away in my hand. I soldered it back together with heatshrink over the join, re-wrapped the loom section and re-routed the cable and it's been fine for more than a year now. I also have a spare sensor now.
Way back (2011?) Ducati issued a Technical Bulletin re the routing/securing of the cable to the front ABS sensor - Dealers should have been checking all bikes!
Mine did something similar on the way back to Calais from a week long Euro tour. To be fair I'd covered a lot of miles in some fairly shitty conditions so the bike was pretty grubby - in the end I traced it to a large (and very dead) bug that had got mangled all over the ABS sensor on the front wheel. A good clean to remove its guts from the electrics solved the problem, so I can only assume it was interfering with the pickup? Not the issue for the OP I know, but just adding it here in case someone is searching for a problem in the future...
All sorted. Replaced sensor cable which had chafed against rotor at speed (wind pressure) and more fool me for not detecting it. Thanks for all the advice folks.
More fool your Dealer who should have read the Ducati Bulletin way back and rerouted/secured the cable for you as detailed therein...........hope you didn't pay for the cable ;-)
Andy, it would be good to post the text of that bulletin here. Then we can confirm the cable has been routed correctly
