Starting woes - dead monster (image heavy)

[svstreetfighter]

Afternoon all,

Well, today my Monster gave me the first bit of grief in a long while......she refused to start. The bike is used daily and usually starts on the button without any problems. It's a 1995 M900 with 32000 on the clock and I keep it regularly serviced and help it out in the winter with that Pro FST stuff (godsend!).

This morning I turned on the ignition and all of the idiot lights came on as usual, I pulled the choke out and hit the starter, and I heard a little whine from under the airbox,which then stopped, followed by a loud clicking noise from under the battery (which now occurs once every time I hit the starter button). The part which is clicking is arrowed below (starter relay?):

http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/4916/starterrelayoj9.jpg

I thought that the problem may be the connection between the above part and the starter motor so I cleaned the connection with the starter motor as it was covered in a lot of crud.

Before:

http://img518.imageshack.us/img518/6858/starter2dr3.jpg

After:

http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/1791/starterjy1.jpg

There was a bit of moisture in the connector, but I can't imagine this to be the cause, but I may be wrong. Cleaning the connection made no difference and I'm now thinking that my starter motor may be goosed.

Other observations: The battery is fine (rode the bike on Friday and had no problems and charged it for a few hours this morning, optimiser says everthing is fine). All of the fuses are also fine, and there is a click from the yellow box next to the fuses when the ignition is turned on:

http://img518.imageshack.us/img518/9485/fusesmc2.jpg


It would be great is anyone knows what the problem may be before I give in and take it to my mechanic. The bike also lives outside, but is covered.

Cheers in advance,

Paul

[barbican]

Just to rule out the battery have you tried jumping it?

[Stafford]

Just to rule out the battery have you tried jumping it?

Is that when sparks fly?

Also that big red arrow may cause a short as well :eyepopping:

[Scotty]

give the connection a wiggle on that thin gamy in the first picture with the starter button pressed (kinda of an intermittent 'fault' on my bike)

oh and grease the starter motor connection now you've cleaned it, the rubber boot thing holds it in a puddle of water

[svstreetfighter]

:chuckle:

Nope, nothing to jump it with and I tried to bump-start it but ran out of puff pretty quick. I'm going to try and bump it again tomorrow when my housemates are in....see if that fixes anything.

Maybe if I sit next to the bike with a copy of Biketrader it'll get the message.

Cheers,

Paul

[svstreetfighter]

give the connection a wiggle on that thin gamy in the first picture with the starter button pressed (kinda of an intermittent 'fault' on my bike)

oh and grease the starter motor connection now you've cleaned it, the rubber boot thing holds it in a puddle of water

I did try that Scotty and all I got was more clicking, the starter motor connection will be greased too once I get her working again.

[stef]

i bet it's the battery.
it happened to me all the time before i got myself a trickle charger (optimate).
jump start it...

[CK & AK]

Try jump starting it with another battery straight to the connection to the starter motor. (have the earth clamped to the engine or frame of your jumpleads - bare metal is best - make sure its a good connection).
The pull the boot back from the starter motor & flash (dab) the positive jumplead onto the starter terminal & see if the engine cranks - if so, then its prob the starter soloniod that wants replacing. If the motor doesnt crank over then take the lead off straight away!

If you do connect the earth terminal from your jumplead to your engine rather than to the battery connection it will eliminate any possibility of a bad battery connection to the earth.

Alan

[svstreetfighter]

Thanks for the ideas guys, I'll try all of the above this evening and post up my findings. I'm hoping it's the battery....it's been on charge all night so hopefully it should be at its best. Come to think of it, my commute to work in the morning isn't that far (< 3 miles) so that could be a factor in killing the battery, although I do make sure that I take it for a good blast in the evenings to try and counter this.

Cheers,

Paul

[svstreetfighter]

After a bit of poking around in the cold we've diagnosed that it's the starter motor that is goosed. It was too cold to bump start the bike (rear tyre just kept sliding......even in 3rd, but the engine definatley turns over), so I'll be getting one ordered tomorrow. The battery turned out to be fine. I've seen in the past that a used starter motor is around £30-£40, and a new one around £70...is this still the case?

Thanks again for all the help,

Cheers,

Paul

[svstreetfighter]

Looks like it'll be an eBay job, a new starter motor (original Ducati) will cost £248 + VAT :eyepopping:

[svstreetfighter]

Right, managed to get a second-hand starter motor with 11000 mile's use for £55 delivered and I'm going to have a go at fitting it tonight. I've been told that it's a bit of a tricky job if you don't know what you're doing, any advice? Otherwise it'll be going down to Rosso Corse on the back of an AA truck in the morning.

Cheers,

Paul