I've seen recalls for other Ducs, but not Monsters. But has anyone else had their voltage regulator completely fry on them? I might be lucky that an actual fire didn't start, but I'm pretty pissed.
(http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e139/getnraped/fried.jpg)
Back story:
Drove 30 miles to work Thursday.
Exited freeway and came to a stop, bike died.
Check engine light was on, so I turned bike off and pushed to gas station 20 yards away.
Turned key on, bike did normal start up, but wouldn't turn over.
Got a good running start, popped into second, fired right up, died at stop sign.
Parked it for a few hours while I went to work, came back, completely dead.
Brother picks up bike, I fly out of state.
Brother checks battery, says it's dead and bad, orders a new one.
I fly back into state yesterday, brother has charged new battery, installs, and rides bike over.
I plug into battery tender and call it a night.
Wake up this morning and light shows as still charging.
I leave for 12 hours and come back to a still charging battery.
Figure it's grounding out somewhere, lift off the seat to instantly find the problem.
So now I've disconnected the battery from the bike, and it's just connected to the tender.
Hope I didn't fry another battery in the process. Hopefully tomorrow morning the light will be green.
Anyone ever seen this happen on a monster? Any sort of warranty on these things? Looking for info, suggestions on what to replace, knowledge of warranty, moral support, anything. . .
Sorry in advance for my lack of response, I have a Wilderness First Aid class all day tomorrow. Thanks guys.
I believe this is unfortunately not an uncommon sight with Ducatis.
I've had to replace the regulator on my 07 S4Rs, tho it didn't get as nasty as that.
Mechanics traced the issue to a corroded major connector in the steering head area, which they believe had shorted across the terminals. First symptom was the bike dying suddenly and refusing thereafter to show any signs of life. Turned out short had blown main fuse.
With the connector repaired and covered in dielectric grease, new battery fitted, bike started but would not restart after short or long journeys. A series of frustrating assisted bump-starts later, she was back at the workshop for a new regulator.
Which would have been the end of the story except the new battery turned out to be dud also. Replaced under (its) warranty but a pain nevertheless.
The corroded connector I believe came from an extended trip done in very wet conditions. Connector got full of water. I take care when washing, tho suppose it could have been that also.
It is a dangerous vulnerability, as results in the engine dying without warning. Looks like Duc wiring quality remains disgraceful.
Mechanic told me he had seen a regulator that got so hot it melted right through its plastic mount.
Hard to know what did for yours. Surprised a fuse hasn't blown. Suspect the mechanics on this board will chime in soon for you.
Good luck.
Concur with the short circuit theory. The blown regulator is probably a symptom of what's wrong with your bike, not the cause.
Quote from: suzyj on September 18, 2010, 11:35:12 PM
Concur with the short circuit theory. The blown regulator is probably a symptom of what's wrong with your bike, not the cause.
Thanks for that last part, because I was treating my discovery as the cause. I guess it's back to the shop for this bike. I haven't washed the bike in a long time, and it is never in wet conditions. It was in the shop 5 weeks prior to this happening for its' regularly scheduled maintenance, though I doubt I can place any blame on them.
Thanks for the writeup Moronic. One of the first things I did was check all the fuses, and nothing was blown. Do you remember how much it cost you for them to find this at the shop? Having just spent $830 for the last service, I'm not too excited to be dropping it off again.
Thanks for the info guys.
I'm a bit surprised nobody has chimed in on this.
I don't recall the precise cost of the repair to my bike, but I do remember that the shop - an independent workshop which does all my work - was very efficient with it, I think charging for about an hour. YMMV however: given your fuses are intact, the problem may not be a short. Sometimes the regulators just die, I believe. Regulator itself was on the high side of $A300.
I suspect any specialist Ducati workshop or dealer will be familiar with regulator issues. Let us know how you get on.
This happened to me yesterday:
http://ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?topic=42885.0 (http://ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?topic=42885.0)
Just bought a regulator and vent tank on eBay, but I still have to figure out what exactly happened, why, and fix it.
This really pisses me off.
This and NorDog's post motivated me to look carefully at my VR and I smelled something bad. Disconnected the unit and found out the 3 phase connector with the female terminals was brown and the terminals were corroded. Curiously, the male terminals were fine, as well as the male and female terminals of the 4 terminal dc connectors. This happened despite the fact that the terminals had been dunked in dielectric grease.
Ended up dipping the whole connector in white vinegar for an hour, rinsed in hot water with some baking soda in it, followed by an alcohol dip and a quick gentle drying with a heat gun. The terminals were now shiny copper in a brown-stained connector. I packed them in fresh silicone grease and I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
I think I'll order MIL circular connectors for a winter project.
Having heard of problems with voltage regulators, I proactively replaced mine with an ElectroSport regulator from ca-cycleworks.com last year. No idea if the original would have ever had a problem, but it seemed like a sensible thing to do given all the stories of failed regulators.
This summer, a local fellow with an '08 S2R had his bike burst into flames as he rolled into a gas station - not good! Apparently the regulator was to blame.
I had a similar situation, I recently bought a new battery yesterday, and the bike died on me again on the way to work. I had to park the bike on the sidewalk and luckily close to the train stop to hop on the train. no smoke or burned odor so far, knock on wood.
I am leaning toward buying a new VR right now. but thought I would check all my wiring since I recently installed Rizoma turn signals, all four. Then look into any fuses along the VR. I'm bummed out since I was excited to go for a long ride this weekend after buying a new battery. praying I can get a VR today or tomorrow.
Oh I too, am riding 07 S4rs. could this be under warranty?
thanks
DMF
damn, you people are scaring me now.
how did that Electrosport voltage regulator turn out for you?