headlight went out randomly?!

[mrpetebojangles]

Hey all,

own a 09 monster 696 and after filling up with gas this evening, I go out for a bit of a ride before heading home, and then after leaving some of the city street lights I notice rather quickly that the street is very dark. I then notice my headlight is completely out! I pull over to the side of the road, turn my bike on and off multiple times and the headlights still aren't coming on. I then drive home in complete darkness using my turn signal for a bit of light. Also, my brights switch, no matter on or off, my blue brights indicator on my HUD stays on. No check engine message or anything. Thankfully I'm still alive.

I'll be calling my dealership early tomorrow morning.

Man, after buying the bike with 0 miles, and still within my first year of ownership this just seems ridiculous. And this is certainly not the first issue I've had... A bit disappointing.

Bad fuse? Any ideas?

Thanks

[Curmudgeon]

Could be the bulb but I'd guess a loose plug or connection is more likely unless you can spot some chaffed wires between the frame and the headlight assembly. Let the dealer find it since the bike is under warranty. Have them tape the plug or wire with stretchy electrical tape when they find it. Let us know what they find so that we can all check our own bikes. Dropping yours might not have helped, but it could also be unrelated. You could check the fuses but the high beam indicator probably wouldn't illuminate if the fuse were toast.

"09, eh? Didn't remember that. There were some service advisories on early 696's I read here, so maybe they need to check those, (which they SHOULD have done prior to delivery); seem to recall re-routing a wire to avoid chaffing was one of those?

[jaxduc]

I had the identical problem with my identical bike.
my connection was fried "between the frame and the headlight assembly" (just as carmudgeon suggested).
I bypassed the connection with some wire "jumpers" for about $1. Works fine now.
but since your bike is still under warranty, let the dealer do it.
When mine happened, I was about 4 hours from the closest dealer, so I just fixed it myself.
good luck and keep us posted.

[mrpetebojangles]

Well, just got back my bike from the dealership a bit sooner than expected  and the tech that delivered it back to me said that the headlight connector cable was bad and that some connecting pins had melted. They replaced both. He said he hadn't seen this on a ducati before. Interesting.

Unrelated, but he said that the air pressure was 2 lbs low on each tire. I try to check my tire pressure about once every week and I had noticed the rear was a bit low. Should I check my tire pressure after riding for a bit, or should I adjust based on the cold tire pressure?

[Howie]

Cold.

[Curmudgeon]

Cold.

And weekly 32.5 Front / 35.5 Rear + 1 PSI to taste. If the weather changes a lot and tomorrow is +10 degrees warmer or colder than yesterday, check again.

Make SURE you have an accurate gauge too. Most gauges floating around are crap.

[mrpetebojangles]

I generally use the operator manual instructions of 2.2 bar front and 2.3 bar rear. I didn't think about my cheapo gauge being bad either.... Should probably invest in a digital one eh?

[Curmudgeon]

Check that manual again. In fact Pirelli now says 2.4/2.5 for a 696 with Rosso II's. I'd try 2.3/2.5 then.

Digital is pot luck. Buy a mechanical pro guage for your garage and compare it to another known accurate one. My ancient German guage is self-calibrating. See the Snap-On man for a shop guage.  Pencil guages are for travel at best!

[alibaba]

FWIW - '09 M696 - same headlight problem - same cause - fried connector - dealer said very common - seen many times before

[thought]

A tip from Dave Moss for calibrating tire pressure gauges is this:

If you happen to know of some kind of air pressure system, whether it an air compressor that can link up to your gauge, or for him, a tire shop that has a known line pressure, put your gauge on that.  You can then know how far off your tire gauge is from the known line pressure and know the exact pressure the gauge is reading.

Hence, if the line pressure is say 50 psi and your gauge reads 42, you'll know to add 8 to whatever the gauge is reading for your true pressue.

[mrpetebojangles]

FWIW - '09 M696 - same headlight problem - same cause - fried connector - dealer said very common - seen many times before

Interesting. With this being a common issue you would think Ducati would of issed a recall?

Thanks for the good advice around tire pressures

[Curmudgeon]

Read my first post. I believe I read that there was a service advisory from Ducati on some '09 696 wiring. A recall is something else entirely! Your dealer ought to have checked those advisories prior to delivery though, as I said earlier!

[scooterd145]

Just to add the headlight connector issue happens on 1100's too as it did mine. Since the nearest dealer for me is 2.5 hours away I jst rigged my own connector.

Scott

[Enzoman]

Where is this connector located? I'm having the same issue lately on my 1100. Do i need to pull the headlight assembly apart?

Thanks

[scooterd145]

No you don't need to take the headlight apart at all. The connector is on the left side of the bike. Turn handlebars to full right "lock" position and look at backside of forks near the left lower triple. You will se a nut that has a tab on it. the connector is attached to the tab. Take apart the connector and you will likely see a burned/brown mess inside. I "fixed" it first with dialectric grease but soon soldered up the connections due to the issue coming back.

Scott