Ducati Monster Forum

Howdy fellas,

I took a trip outta town on my Monster. I replaced the battery the week before. It was parked outside as opposed to in my garage due to my travelling.

When I went to start it the first morning the temperature was probably 38° (F) and the low that night was in the upper 20's. My first stab it fired up and ran for a few strokes and quit: nothing unusual about that given the temperature. Here is where it got weird, on the next several attempts it would roll over twice giving a definite "blub, blub" then the engine would stop rolling over (even though I was holding the start button) and I could hear something mechanical running (spinning?) as long as I held the starter down. It sounded for all the world to me like the starter motor was running but the engine was NOT turning over.

Having replaced my starter a few years ago I assume that is impossible, right? I mean assuming my starter motor teeth are not stripped, right?

After each attempt I cycled the key off and back on.

This happened probably 5 times and I grabbed my phone to record it; on the next attempt it fired right up like nothing was wrong at all, but the check engine light was on with a "FUEL" error message.

Fearing my trip was over before it really started, I rode the bike around a bit to make sure it was good and warm then I turned the key off, waited a few moments and tried starting it again and all was fine, and the check engine light went off.

I rode the next couple of days with no issues at all.

Any guesses?

Mark

Sounds like the starter sprag is having issues in the cold.

They slip a bit before giving out completely because Ducati generally used a quality bearing , unlike some Triumphs ime which just collapse spreading metal debris. Worth checking if it keeps occurring.

Regarding the CEL, sometimes fuel build up during a starting procedure or a bad batch of fuel can foul an O2 sensor until it burns off. Repeated failed starting can load up the fuel on the enrichment programme. Once coated with soot the O2 sensor pings the ECU until it clears. Bad, incompatible or too high an octane fuel can do the same. Possible explaination.

You two beat me to it  [thumbsup]

Nothing really of substance to add, other than that my '13 796's starter really, really does not like the cold.

I am back from watching some videos. Do you guys recommend replacing the starter clutch AND the starter gear since those two go together?

And how urgent are we talking here? If it was only an issue in the cold (apparently) should I wait until it becomes a bit more of a problem?

Mark

Just the clutch.  Now or later is up to you, but it will get worse over time.

Yeah, they never fix themselves.