New to the forum but not Ducatis! I bought my first Duc in 94 - Monster just the second year they imported it! Haven't owned any motorcycles since 1999 though and picked up a 1999 ST2 this summer with about 14k miles on the clock. Wifey and I are loving the bike with the exception of the throttle.
So, the issue I'm having is that between about 3500 and 4000rpm, the motor runs very poorly, stumbles, sometimes backfires if you close the throttle in that RPM range and basically makes it pretty tough to ride. The worst is it happens basically "right where you want to be" throttle wise when just tooling around. This kind of points to possibly a bad TPS.
Generally speaking, the bike runs better when cold than when warm and definitely runs better when ambient air is cold too.
I wanted to take it to the dealer so I wouldn't have to deal with it (Ducati Detroit) but I suspect they just don't like working on old bikes as they were pretty snobby and said it would take 6 hours @ $140 just to remove the bodywork and get to the throttle bodies....and there ain't nothin' that takes 6 hours for a pro to get to on any bike!
From advice I've gotten from other sources, it sounds like my bike could need a TPS reset. Dealer did say that they have seen TPSs go bad in the spot where common riding is done, perhaps wearing away some of the carbon or whatever it is they use in the pots in the TPS. I've also read that coolant temp sensors can go bad and may present in a similar fashion.
I've read the BikeBoy non-linear TPS adjustment article and that seems a bit complicated for me as I haven't wrenched on a bike in years and don't own a gas analyzer for the CO reading. I can wrench just fine - raced and rebuilt motors on FZR400, RS125 (man I miss that bike) for years - but, back then only a few Ducs were injected so we all knew carburetors.
So, I'm wondering if anyone else might have any advice on how to approach this and get it fixed for less money than I spent on the bike!
I already purchased a new non-linear TPS. My plan was to simply read and record the idle voltage on the current TPS, replace it with new and set it to the 460mV as spec'd by BikeBoy. If that runs poorly, I'd re-set the voltage to what I read earlier.
Would also be pretty simple to replace the coolant temp sensor at that time too. Went for a ride today (45º ambient) and when coolant temp was below about 160º, ran almost right. Once coolant gets above about 180º it starts stumbling pretty badly but not nearly as bad as when ambient is higher. Went for a ride Monday when ambient was about 70º and it was borderline unridable between 3500 and 4k - had to really goose it to get it past 4k to run right.
Any thoughts on if this is a good approach or advice on how to tackle this?
Thanks!
So, the issue I'm having is that between about 3500 and 4000rpm, the motor runs very poorly, stumbles, sometimes backfires if you close the throttle in that RPM range and basically makes it pretty tough to ride. The worst is it happens basically "right where you want to be" throttle wise when just tooling around. This kind of points to possibly a bad TPS.
Generally speaking, the bike runs better when cold than when warm and definitely runs better when ambient air is cold too.
I wanted to take it to the dealer so I wouldn't have to deal with it (Ducati Detroit) but I suspect they just don't like working on old bikes as they were pretty snobby and said it would take 6 hours @ $140 just to remove the bodywork and get to the throttle bodies....and there ain't nothin' that takes 6 hours for a pro to get to on any bike!
From advice I've gotten from other sources, it sounds like my bike could need a TPS reset. Dealer did say that they have seen TPSs go bad in the spot where common riding is done, perhaps wearing away some of the carbon or whatever it is they use in the pots in the TPS. I've also read that coolant temp sensors can go bad and may present in a similar fashion.
I've read the BikeBoy non-linear TPS adjustment article and that seems a bit complicated for me as I haven't wrenched on a bike in years and don't own a gas analyzer for the CO reading. I can wrench just fine - raced and rebuilt motors on FZR400, RS125 (man I miss that bike) for years - but, back then only a few Ducs were injected so we all knew carburetors.
So, I'm wondering if anyone else might have any advice on how to approach this and get it fixed for less money than I spent on the bike!
I already purchased a new non-linear TPS. My plan was to simply read and record the idle voltage on the current TPS, replace it with new and set it to the 460mV as spec'd by BikeBoy. If that runs poorly, I'd re-set the voltage to what I read earlier.
Would also be pretty simple to replace the coolant temp sensor at that time too. Went for a ride today (45º ambient) and when coolant temp was below about 160º, ran almost right. Once coolant gets above about 180º it starts stumbling pretty badly but not nearly as bad as when ambient is higher. Went for a ride Monday when ambient was about 70º and it was borderline unridable between 3500 and 4k - had to really goose it to get it past 4k to run right.
Any thoughts on if this is a good approach or advice on how to tackle this?
Thanks!