2014 Monster 696 low idle and stalling while riding

[Kapil]

Hi
I’m new to this forum but a long time ducati owner.   I recently had two issues and wanted to share the issue and fix to help others.   I read a lot of posts that had similar issues but no one really posted how it was fixed. 

1) very low idle, 800-1000 rpm that would make it hard to start cold and even during times when bike was warm.   Turns out the fix for that was raising rpm idle which the dealer did so that the bike now idles around 1200-1300 rpm.   This only started happening after putting over 1000 miles on the bike so maybe it’s just normal break-in adjustment that needs to be done. 

2) the bike would stall and engine light would come on.   This would happen randomly and while riding which was dangerous.   The issue was loose battery cables.    Turns out that when I bought a new aftermarket battery it didn’t come with the battery terminal screw and nut.  I just used a screw and over time it got loose and would cause arching while riding and engine would shut off.   It’s very important to use the screw with nut so that you can tighten and torque the screw.

Hope this helps.     

[stopintime]

Welcome and thanks 

Issue 2) should be obvious, but sometimes isn't, so might as well mention it for others.

[Kapil]

I reported the issue of engine light and stalling while riding to the dealer but they didn’t check the battery cables.  They only adjusted the idle rpm.   Since it happened after the bike came back I decided to check the cables myself and that was the issue.   

[koko64]

Well done.

[JGlass]

my 09 696 has a hard time starting too but it has a switch on it that allows me to adjust the idle and hold it to about 2000 so it can warm up faster but GETTING IT TO START  can be a pain sometimes and the bike only has 4500 miles on it so its still pretty new for 09

[Kapil]

The owners manual says only use the switch to warm the engine when cold (like in the morning).   You should not use that switch to try to get the bike to stay on after you have already been riding or come back to the bike after it's been parked.   That's when your idle needs adjustment so that it idles around 1300 rpm all the time.   

[danaid]

The owners manual says only use the switch to warm the engine when cold (like in the morning).   You should not use that switch to try to get the bike to stay on after you have already been riding or come back to the bike after it's been parked.   That's when your idle needs adjustment so that it idles around 1300 rpm all the time.   

 The idle lever on the 696 should be turned on at every startup, get use to it. There are definitely other factors that will cause the low idle like the charcoal filter being removed as one. My 696 had many of the same issues but they were sorted out.