Battery BS! - Ducati.ms

jbernard · Mar 22nd, 2009, 8:00 pm

So I have Hyper I bought used about 2 month ago; the original owner bought it in October. The bike has around 300 miles on it. Unfortunely its been raining hella and I work crazy hours during the week!

I take the bike out on Saturdays (weather permiting). The last month every Saturday I go to start the bike it has a dead battery - all the electronics start up but not enough juice to kick over the motor. I end up putting it on the trickle charger then going out for a ride. During the ride it charges up and if I stop for lunch or something it will start up again.

So I call my local dealer and they say take my battery in and they will check it...so I do. They tell me my battery is low (thanks I did'nt know that!). The BS part comes in that they say even though my bike is less than 6 months old and only 300 miles they can't give me a new battery. They said they need to call their local NorCal Ducati rep to see if he will okay a battery exchange, but that most of the time they will not cover a new battery. They say that it is a user problem...that the bike was not ridden enough or the lights were left on and that drained the battery.

I think this is total BS. I ride the bike once a week; the battery should not drain in that amount of time (I've had GSXR's in the past I let sit for weeks). I've never left the lights on. BTW - They said the ECU drains the bike even when not in use.

So they are going to call me and let me know this week if I am stuck paying $140 for a new battery. They also told me I should bring the bike in and have them check the charging system which will cost me 1/2 HR of labor time if the Ducati rep does not cover the battery/investigation.

Anyone have any advice? Is this normal? Can I write directly to Ducati?

squid · Mar 22nd, 2009, 8:17 pm

IMO I don't really think that you actually have a case unless you can prove that the charging system is the problem. That would almost be like taking a bike back with bald tires because you were doing burnouts and asking them to replace the tires becase they should have lasted longer. Not saying that you abused the bike but they have no way of knowing how you treat the bike ie how do they know that you didn't leave the lights on or if you leave it outside. Know what I mean?

Col · Mar 22nd, 2009, 8:27 pm

i know how you feel mate
my hyper is in the shop at the moment as i have been having starting problems. I thought it was the battery at first so i forked out my own money to get a new battery but it wasnt the battery.
2 weeks now and still waiting for it to be fixed...

since we pay so much for these bikes the dealer should replace your battery anyway as a gesture of goodwill.

**BillyD** · Mar 22nd, 2009, 8:36 pm

Isn't ranting an excellent way to work through one's frustration?

Now that you have that out of your system, go buy a battery and tender and get on with life.

hypersmith · Mar 22nd, 2009, 9:02 pm

The mechanic at my dealer just told me that they tend to drain quick if you don't ride often... you'd think weekly would be enough. He advised that I get a battery tender or disconnect it if I wasn't going to ride much.... sounds like a battery tender might be a good option for you... you can connect a pig tail, with a quick connect and zip tie it to the frame under the seat so you won't have to take the seat off every time you park it.

scooter · Mar 22nd, 2009, 10:57 pm

My Hyper battery has had no problems but my GT's original battery was weak from the get-go. After a few services to try to trace the problem (covered by warranty), they finally decided the battery was weak and replaced it under warranty. A number of early GT's had this problem and the results varied from dealer to dealer. Bottom line: your bike should be able to sit idle 4-6 weeks, without a tender, and still start right up. After the battery change, my GT once had to sit idle for about 5 weeks due to some really bad winter weather and it started right up. Fortunately, the Hyper has never gone more than 2 or 3 weeks between rides and it always fires right up. I have no tender because my condo garage has no AC source near my parking slot.

If I were you, I'd be insistent but polite with the dealership. Convince them that you know what you're talking about and that your battery should be performing better. You may or may not get warranty coverage for your battery (the original owner's 300 miles is a bit of a sign) but the charging system service should be covered. The other option is to find another dealer willing to go to bat for you. Some dealerships do work harder for their clients while some can be pretty lazy.

jbernard · Mar 26th, 2009, 1:19 pm

Update: Well, I received a call back from my dealership and they said that the battery is covered because it died under normal use (they had to get approval from the NorCal Ducati Rep.). They are also going to check out my charging system to make sure that is functioning correctly. All of this will be covered under warranty.

I have to give a thumbs up to my local dealership, ACE Motorsports Concord Ca, for going to bat for me with my battery issue.

Col · Mar 26th, 2009, 6:30 pm

thats great news
well done ace motorsports

Martyn · Mar 26th, 2009, 7:11 pm

You're still going to want to buy a battery tender and wire up the pigtail. Easy, piezy, Japonezy!

debby · Mar 26th, 2009, 7:48 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by scooter

My Hyper battery has had no problems but my GT's original battery was weak from the get-go.

I'm the original owner of scooter's Hyper (we traded bikes) and the original battery in the Hyper died a few months after I bought the bike, in spite of using a battery tender over the winter. I got it replaced under warranty.

I think Ducati had a batch of bad batteries that went into a bunch of bikes. The replacement batteries on both of our bikes have been doing fine. I haven't even been using a battery tender on the GT this winter, although I have been riding it pretty regularly all winter. It's never sat more than a couple of weeks without getting ridden this winter.

Debby