[technobabble]

I've been reading the forums here for the last couple days and I've seen lots of failure to start threads, but not one that sounds quite like mine. If any of you guys know of one, or have had a thread already on the issue, please link me.

If not, it goes something like this. A few days ago my bike started just fine, but from the right side came a pop right at the end of the startup. Sort of that crunchy spark pop that we all know and loath. Since the bike was already started, I took off to the store. When I came back out, I got the single click.

I took off the side panels and removed the battery and had it tested. It's 2 years old, but it tested fine, just a little low on the charge. I charged it up over night and when I put it back in the next morning, a nice crunchy pop on the right side. I didn't see it because I was sitting on the bike at the time. It does the single tick every time after that.

I downloaded the shop manual from another thread, but I'm not exactly sure where to start. I'm kind of under the impression that it's a loose connection somewhere, but I'm not sure.

The link to the manual is here: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71253082/Ducati SS 800 - Service Manual.pdf

Even pointing to a particular part of the manual is probably good enough for me. Thanks.

 

[Joe-B]

Fried solenoid?

 

[technobabble]

Hrm, not sure. I've been reading more into some other threads and I'm starting to get a feel for some things.
I hooked my volt meter across the two main wires and i get almost 13 volts with the key off. When I turn the key on, I get almost 12, and then it drops down to 10.48 and stays there for a while. If I hit start it drops to 9 something, too fast for the digits on my Fluke to keep up with, but the little graph dips down to 9 bars and then quickly comes back up.

But then it struck me, that's probably NOT the right way to be reading it. I think I'm essentially shorting out the solenoid with my meter. So I did what I think is right. Hooked up the ground of my meter to the ground bolt on the engine above the rear brake, and touched the positive to the two bolts. One read 13, the other read 0. Seems right. Then I kept the probe on the 0 volt bolt and hit the start button expecting to read some voltage and the thing started right up. Scared the crap outa me too, I was expecting a "click" and I got an engine roaring to life.

So now it consistently starts right up. The only thing I did was pop the cap off the end of the solenoid and start to unscrew the ground screw. I stopped and re-tightened it because I wasn't sure if it was a good idea to have that off the bike while the battery was still hooked up. I thought maybe if I touched a tool from something to the frame it might short without the ground hooked up. My next step was going to be disconnecting the battery and going through each point in the system to make sure the connections were good. I think maybe me loosening and re-tightening that bolt might have been it. Not sure though.

If anyone else has any ideas I'm still open to hearing them. Suggestions on which other bolts to check for loose connections would be good too.

 

[technobabble]

Aaaand in the name of Science, I loosened the ground a tiny bit and tried to start the bike again. I get the first pop like I had before, and then single ticks thereafter. I hand tightened the bolt and rubbed the cable back and fourth to rub off any oxidation that might be on it, and then tightened it back down tight. Started right back up.