new battery and blooming bike still wont start

psalliss

psalliss

psalliss

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my ducati 999s has been sat on a battery charger that went faulty since oct last year resulting in what i presume was the battery going flat and no longer holder charge so i bought a new motobatt glass mat one and stuck it on and left it on charger. on trying to start the bike yesterday it just would'nt start. it was showing 12.4 on the dash which was normal for before when it always started without any issues.

it tried to fire up a few times but would'nt start fully and then everything seemed to reset on the dash and would then all switch back on again,

has anyone got any suggestions. only thing i can think is that maybe i havent tightened up the bolts enough on the battery or i think i may have put the charger lead and the pc lead next to the battery terminal and the actual pos and neg leads from the bike on top of them. would that make any difference?

also i have a booster pack if i used that to try and start the bike would it A cause any damage and B if it starts with the use of that would is suggest that i may have a fault battery. thanks
 
If it's a 12v booster pack you have then it's only another battery. If you connect the booster with your ignition off & then turn ignition on and try to start the bike it will be fine.

If it goes then it most likely is your battery but I would check the connections and make sure they are clean, the starter connections are clean and the earth strap from the battery to chassis is o.k. at both ends.

Oh, the charger/pc leads thing might make a difference yeah, if they are a bit dirty they will affect the connection your bike +/- will have to the battery.
 
getting different opinions on a ducati forum with some saying not to use the booster as will blow the ecu and others saying its fine. cant see how it would blow the edu if just used to start.

the connections seemed fine as i checked at the time of fitting. the earth strap is apparently a culprit for starting issues on them.
 
I'd ask them how will putting another 12v battery power source in series will 'blow the ECU'?. It's not going to increase the voltage above 14-15v max.

I think the people on the Ducati forum are getting confused with jump starting the bike from another vehicle that's running, if you do this then disconnect the jump leads quickly, your bike (with flat-ish battery) will suddenly suffer a big drop in voltage and your alternator/generator can in theory put out quite a big spike in volts to the battery.

People seem to forget that the battery is like a voltage shock absorber & even if this situation were to happen, the battery is between the alternator/generator and the supply to the ECU. Yeah it does sometimes happen when jump starting from a running vehicle, but very rarely.
 
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There is no reason that using a jump pack to start a bike would cause ECU problems, I've done it several times on different bikes.

The only thing you have to watch out for is the very small size of the bike battery terminals which can make attaching big battery clips tricky, and risks shorting if the positive slips and touches part of the frame.

I presume you bought a new battery AND a new charger? If the battery is fine it will most likely be a connection problem, either on the battery terminals, the frame (ground connection), the solenoid or the starter motor. If the solenoid is anything like the Aprilia RSV item the contacts can get burnt internally causing starting problems as well.
 
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The bike sounds as if it's almost firing up, could you stick it in the warm somewhere (If it's currently out in the cold of course) to rule out the cold weather having an effect?.

I'm not sure how the bike deals with cold starts on a 999 i.e. how it can tell what ambient temperature it is and alter the mixture accordingly. ECU temp sensor, thermo switches in the throttle bodies....some sort of level like a an old choke cable?
 
Try measuring the battery voltage and the starter motor voltage during cranking. This will tell you if the fault is the battery or excessive voltage drop in the cables/terminations.
 
gillywibble said:
Tried emptying the old fuel out of the carb float bowl?
Click to expand...

+1

Also if the bike has been standing & the tank is only partly full, you might have water in with the fuel.

Had this with my Yamaha, condensation on the inside of the tank, when it was laid up.

Drained the carb, & couldn't figure why on refilling it still had drops of water in with the petrol.
Took a while for the penny to drop.
 
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999 is fuel injection isn't it?

There's an easier way to check voltage loss, put the positive test probe on the battery + and the negative test probe on the starter connector during the test. This way the loss will show directly on the meter (you want to see less than 1 volt, ideally 0.5v and under), it skips having to know battery voltage & deducting the measurement you would have taken at the starter.

This method also eliminates the effect of battery voltage drop that occurs due to circuits being live through testing. If the ignition is left on for a period of time then you will get a lower battery voltage reading testing after say 10 mins than you did initially, which make an apparent drop at the starter seem worse if you then didn't recheck the battery voltage to compare.
 
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bike was last running in october ish when it was mapped up for the power commander and was running and starting fine. so basically 5 months ago. yes is fuel injection to my knowledge. nowhere warmer really apart from the house which isnt do able. they arent the best to start from cold but it would always start even on the old duff battery. i think spark plugs may need changing as well and possibly have flooded them a bit will all the cranking trying to get it going. it was going in for a service shortly anyway so will prob just get it delivered to them and let them sort it before i kill it
 
The others are probably right about it being gummed up, I'd squirt a bit of easy start into the air box and see if it fires up that way. Hopefully that would make the bike start and pull some fuel through, so it then runs by itself.
 
I've given up now its doing my head in. have taken the battery off to let the alarm de spike in case thats the problem and will take the battery to local dealership for testing so i can then at least rule the battery out. ive ordered some motolectric hicap leads as well so when its sorted it will start easier with the leads.

if the battery tests ok then i think ill be letting the garage sort it.
 
have you took a plug out n plugged it back in the plug lead,then crank over the engine to see your getting a spark?

could be badly flooded engine,or wet/worn out plugs
 
Checking the plugs is a must do really. As the rear plug on a Duke involves taking the seat and the tank out, draining the tank and checking the fuel filter and breather is something you would be doing anyway to get to the rear plug.
 
just an update for everyone. it was the battery all along despite taking it to a garage to load test it.

ive sent the new duff battery back for refund and had a yuasa installed whilst the bike was being serviced and the hicap leads fitted along with uprated clutch slave cylinder and new levers. bike starts first time and turns over much better than ever before.
 
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