starter....

Post by **Skins** » Sat Jan 01, 2005 12:00 am

Putting Bosch relays in to give full current to the starter and ignition, a la gerhard and jon slocum, worked wonders for my bike.

Post by **jcslocum** » Sat Jan 01, 2005 12:00 am

If the solenoid is fully closing and you have 12V out then your problem is further along the wire. I would give the starter a smack with a small hammer and try again.

You can use a jumper to cross over the solenoid just to make sure that it is NOT the problem. Ot take the wire off the one side of the solenoid and touch it to the other side to give direct current to the starter.

The connection at the starter also corrodes so take a look at that too.

Lastly or firstly, check all of the grounds from the frame to the engine and the battery to the frame. Without a good ground, the starter won;t turn even with 12V.

Welcome to the mysteries of the Paso electric system!

Holler if you need more help.

nyabinghi · Post by **nyabinghi** » Sat Jan 01, 2005 12:00 am

i'm pretty familiar with italian electrics (i have several guzzis, a laverda, and 3 duc singles.) i had hoped their electrical woes had been worked out by the late 80's but i guess not. i'm assuming the reason the bike shuts off all the time at idle is related to crappy wiring. good thing i bought 15 relays last time i ordered 'em...is it the same problem they (most italian bikes) l have? - no relays anywhere and all the juice running through a little switch?

Post by **Skins** » Sat Jan 01, 2005 12:00 am

Yeah I think that's about the size of it, nyabinghi. I spoke to one very experienced Ducati mechanic who reckoned if everything in the system is as it should be, it should work fine. I guess that means the system works when it's new. Let's face it, everything is seventeen years old, it can be expected to give some trouble. The relay mods mentioned do make a big difference.

Post by **jcslocum** » Sat Jan 01, 2005 12:00 am

That Paso wiring is fairly crappy but only take 2 relays to make it work really well. It's not only the one switch, the wire goes around the world and stops at every location before it get's where it needs to be. Check out a wiring scematic and you will see the problem.

The bike stutting down might be related to another crappy piece of technology; The Weber Carb!

nyabinghi · Post by **nyabinghi** » Mon Jul 25, 2005 6:52 pm

i have just clicking at solenoid, after starter worked fine 2 minutes before...
so:
12.37 volts at battery
12.10 volts at solenoid in
12 volts at solenoid out when start button pushed.

any ideas? bad brushes or bad wire to starter?

Rodney · Post by **Rodney** » Tue Jul 26, 2005 6:33 am

at least the weber carb is set it and leave it . had many webers on cars and never had a problem it just the initial setup that is the problem the jets were set up for fuel made in the 80's not the fuel mixture of today which has changed alot.
the starter in the ducati's will burn out brushes quite quickly if the bike is continuously turned over a lot , they are quite easy to change provided you have a centre stand and some gasket glue as you have to remove part of the frame and the left hand side casing to get the bolts out of the starter motor . the rest is easy.

rodney

Paul · Post by **Paul** » Tue Jul 26, 2005 10:08 am

nyabinghi,

I had a similar problem but the solution was simpler. There was a small amount of corrosion between the battery terminal and the battery lead. The fuel pump would tick away (and if the clock ever worked I am sure that this would tick away too

) but as soon as you press the starter the solenoid would just click.

The solution was as simple as cleaning the battery terminals and the leads.

Paul

fasterdammit · Post by **fasterdammit** » Tue Jul 26, 2005 12:52 pm

jcslocum wrote:I would give the starter a smack with a small hammer ...

The first tool in auto mechanics! :laugh:

The second? A bigger hammer! :neener:

Post by **paso750** » Sun Jul 31, 2005 4:35 pm

do not use a hammer on the Paso starter unless you`re willing to ruin it !

nyabinghi · Post by **nyabinghi** » Mon Aug 01, 2005 4:28 am

starter had bad brushes - removed starter and put new brushes in - spins great now...also cleaned all terminals from battery down..it was occasionally stalling (not fuel related - it's got mikuni flatslides which are performing admirably..) - it seems it would just lose spark at idle occasionally...hopefully that was a dirty terminal/low voltage issue - maybe it's fixed - hopefully...

Rodney · Post by **Rodney** » Mon Aug 01, 2005 10:53 am

did you like the gasket that is reccomended as they no longer make the casing gasket. did you clean up the commutator with some light emry paper and between the contacts with the back of a hacksaw blade to make sure there was no shorts in the rotor.
Rodney

nyabinghi · Post by **nyabinghi** » Mon Aug 01, 2005 2:10 pm

original gasket was still in excellent condition.
cleaned com with scotchbrite, painted inside of back cover with dielectric paint. used air to clean between rotor contacts, made new witness marks on outside of case so if i ever have to get in there again, it'll be easy to line things up....built it better than the factory did...