My Supersport goes click, won't start....

Ok, first thing, I'm no mechanic.
2004 SS800, has had some starting issues lately. Sometimes it works fine, other days she's not happy. Turn the key, lights come on, the tach and speedo go up the dial and back. Hit the ignition....CLICK!
I figured out one day, that by turning the battery on its side, it cranks up. Weird.

I took the battery to a shop, they said it's ok. I tried to jump it with my truck, no go. Then (probably not a good idea) I removed the battery attached the jumper cables directly to the wires themselves, and still no go. So that says to me, its not the battery at all, yes?

I traced out the wires to the starter ( I think). It's a little black box, kinda round). This is the thing that clicks apparently. Ideas, anyone?

OK, between the battery and starter is a starter solenoid, normally listed in the ducati parts manual as "remote Switch". It has two large black cables going in to it and a white plug. check the cables first. if you hold the solenoid and hit the start button you should "feel" the click.

the dirty way to test the solenoid is to lay a spanner or screw driver across the two large contacts and if the motor spins its a dodgy solenoid. but first check ALL the conectors!

Chris

Ah yes, I did feel it click. That means what then? I should still try the screwdriver trick? I used to do that ages ago with my 1980 Oldsmobile!

I had the same thing happen on my 1000ss. There are so many interlocks on these new fi bikes it is insane. Mine turned out to be a bad ground, that was intermittant. It was impossible to determine the problem myself, went through all the checks i could. What happens is the solnoid clicks, but it is closing and immediately reopening...it sounds like 1 click but it is actually being left open after you hear it click closed. This is likely due to 1 of about 15 things that is interlocking it from keeping the solnoid closed.

If you short out the terminals to get full voltage to the starter, it still won't start if it has an interlock in. The bikes with the electronic keys can not be started via voltage to the one side of the starter. All interlocks have to be clear. I tried battery cables in every way possible, and none worked. The battery was fine, the solnoid turned out ot be fine as well.(and although the mechanic changed the starter motor, I beleive it was fine too), but he found the ground problem after replacing the starter.

Lou


Modified by Lou at 6:28 PM 5/26/2005