Stall-No Start Until Neutral - Ducati.ms

Kramer · May 6th, 2006, 7:44 pm

Ok, when I first bought my bike the switch on the clutch was broken, so the bike would NOT strat in gear, even WITH the clutch pulled in.
So I traced the wires and found where they went into the wiring harness. I then shorted them (permanently), so I could ALWAYS start the bike while in gear....clutch pullled in or not..
And it worked.
...go forward 6 months...

So today, the bike was not fully warmed and I stalled it. Well the bike would not start. Here I am sitting at a traffic light with cars behind me. So I paddled over to the side where I found neutral, added a little throttle and all ws well.
The bottom line is that I COULD NOT START THE BIKE UNLESS IT WAS IN NEUTRAL. That sucked.
But when I got home, I checked things out and I can start the bike in gear (clutch in, of course).
So what hapened? Any ideas? Anyone else see this?
Not a big fan of beeng stalled out in traffic...

Bill_Anderson · May 6th, 2006, 8:30 pm

This is also the current state of my bike, it will not start unless in neutral. I suspect there is somerhing wrong with that switch located behind the clutch lever which is supposed to allow it to start in gear when the clutch lever is pulled in.

ryanr256 · May 6th, 2006, 9:33 pm

Hmmm, my "new" 2003 ST4s never starts in gear, either with the clutch in or clutch out.

Maybe I need to look at the switch also.

-Bob

BAZ_777 · May 6th, 2006, 9:48 pm

My 2006 ST3s will start in gear, with the clutch pulled in. Same for the 2005 ST3 I used to have.

ward · May 7th, 2006, 2:14 am

2000 ST4. Will start in gear with clutch in.

Bill_Anderson · May 7th, 2006, 11:04 am

A bit of clarification may be in order. Prior to MY 03, the ST's had a device which prevented the bike from being started when the sidestand was down.

In MY 03, something was changed to allow the bike to be started with the sidestand down, but only when the bike is in neutral. Part of this new system is an electrical switch located behind the clutch lever. I believe this switch is a good place to start looking for problems for those MY 03 and later ST's which will only start when the bike is in neutrtal and will not start when the bike is in gear, sidestand up, and the clutch lever pulled in.

Kramer · May 7th, 2006, 6:48 pm

Yes, there is switch located behind the clutch lever which allows the bike to be started in gear.
I traced those wires and permanently shorted them out, so I could ALWAYS start the bike in gear. (Side note: I always start any m/c with the clutch pulled in by habit.)
This tested out fine. And it seems to work fine most of the time.
But the ONE time where I really needed it...it didnt seem to work. I had to put the bike in neutral to get it started.
It's a mystery I guess.

ward · May 7th, 2006, 11:40 pm

Curiosity driven tangential shift:

When you had the 'no-start' situation at the lights, was the Neutral light on? Not 'was it in Neutral?', but was the light, itself, on?

Bill_Anderson · May 7th, 2006, 11:59 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by ward

Curiosity driven tangential shift:

When you had the 'no-start' situation at the lights, was the Neutral light on? Not 'was it in Neutral?', but was the light, itself, on?

In my cases, the bike was in gear and the neutral light was not on.

Kramer · May 8th, 2006, 7:37 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bill_Anderson

In my cases, the bike was in gear and the neutral light was not on.

Same here...