Ducati Monster Forum

My 2002 900ie Monster developed an intermittent starting problem where the solenoid would click about 2 or 3 times a second but the starter motor did not crank. I took off the solenoid cover and shorted out the two high current wires and the motor cranked.

So.... I have fitted a new Ducati replacement solenoid but the problem is exactly the same.  Any ideas?

Test the battery.

Also test the voltage of the control circuit. That circuit runs through the kill switch which is prone to corrosion.

Thanks for the replies. I put a charge on the battery and it worked so.... I have probably replaced a perfectly good solenoid.

It seems that there was enough charge to happily crank the engine when the solenoid was bypassed but with the solenoid in circuit the battery needed an extra charge. Modern bikes are a complete mystery to me.

Kinda same topic - lately the 750 has developed a delay when I hit the starter, when it's hot.  No click or anything, just press button, wait a second, then cranks.  Ideas?

Scroll up to Ddan's reply in this thread.  Battery good?  Read this thread
http://www.ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?topic=67485.0 (http://www.ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?topic=67485.0)

That's good stuff!  Yup new bat last year.  And yeah I haven't tightened or cleaned anything in like 8 years.  I have a theory grease and dirt are holding a lot of things together.

What's actually happening is that when the solenoid closes and fires the starter, the extra current draw from the starter makes the battery voltage drop. Then there isn't enough volts to keep the solenoid closed, so it opens. Battery volts go back up, solenoid closes and the process repeats. Click, click, click.

The circuitry that drives the coil on the solenoid is marginal on modern ducs. I got fed up with mine and put a buffer before the solenoid. I rolled my own transistor based circuit but a simple relay would have worked just as well.