snow and icing

[nid]

yes, the snow has got where I thought it never could. All this while I have been reading all your carb icing stories and smiling to myself.... It will never be me. Not me with the injection smooth as you like all round town up hill and over dale. And then it happened the other night. Yes, it was snowing a blizzard but the old duc started coughing and spluttering and no low speed running. Kept just cutting out at low revs without any sort of even a shudder. mysterious , as when about 10 miles down a very slippery road it all cleared up.

whats going on? has my duc got visited by the ghost of his ancestors? :confused:

[nid]

Oh dear, I'm having to reply to myself. Clearly the injection on my bike is a dark art.

Well, the story can be updated. I have now found that when I start the bike from cold, it starts first time and Idles at about 4000 rpm as it should. If I wait about 1 min and then move off, it suddenly starts running roughly and very rich and backfiring and all sorts. Then if I ride through that as the engine warms up then it runs fine again - and once the cold start is returned to its normal position it is happy as a sandboy and idles away happily at 1200 rpm as it should.

So its something wrong with the cold start mechanism I reckon. How does it work on these bikes? is it a simple mechanical system like on the twin carbed versions or is it more complicated - sensors and all the rest? can someone please let me know?

[Melnie Mouse]

It is quite a common problem actually, even on injection models of all types... I've ridden a few, the 749s was the worst, I had to ride along when outside temperature was cold with the 'advancer' (choke lever but obviously not choke as injection) permanately on!... it is usually outside temperature, not bike temperature so not really found a solution yet... the Ducati Technical bloke has been down, he can tweak something, but didn't really make a difference... so, sorry, just ride along when cold with advancer slightly on....

[nid]

thanks melnie, but the prob is still here evn though its got a lot warmer (and wetter) so.....
I have been looking into the matter and for anyone of you who have a phd in ducati (and have an interest in the ie engines) might want to look at this site: www.sigmaperformance.com/weber.html

Its a pretty good article.

I'm going to see if I can work it out.

[gary tompkins]

I've ridden my 900ie in sub zero conditions many times, and never experienced any icing problems with the bike. It's usually just me that freezes up, and struggles to get off at the end of the ride :rolleyes:

[YourOldNemesis]

A non-carbed engine doesn't have the components that are normally affected by carb-icing. I've never heard of injector icing.

It sounds to me like a problem with
a) one of the sensors for the ECU
b) map problem

[Melnie Mouse]

yes Gary same here, I sometimes feel like those 2 on Dumb & dumber if you've seen them frozen on your bike!

[nid]

oh boll****. So Now I have sorted it a bit but have found out that it is doing really strange things. Basically, whenever I start the bike and then move off, the first time it comes back down to idle the engine cuts out. After that it is fine, although the self induced stalling becomes more upredictable in slow traffic. It is as if the bike can't really sense what the temp of the engine is and it takes too long to realise so the mixture is a bit screwed up for a bit. As soon as the temp is more stable then everything is fine.

Where do I find the temp sensor?

HELP!

[gary tompkins]

Nid,
On fully faired bikes like the 748/916 the ambient temperature sensor's up front around the headlamp/headstock area, but I'm buggered if I know where it is on a monster. As I said before if the bikes newish & still in warrentee I would get it to a dealer, or failing that a decent tuner that knows how to check & set up EFI systems properly on a rolling road - i.e. PDQ

[YourOldNemesis]

It's the coolant temp that affects the ECU, the temp sensor for that is normally located in the radiator. Couldn't tell you for sure though. If you find it, get something to plug the hole with then whip out the sensor and plug it.

Test the resistance of the sensor, then stick it in the kettle while you keep measuring the resistance. You should see it change as it heats up, if you don't, it's your problem.

[nid]

So I've fixed it! and it was the simplest but the most obscure thing in the world. I thought I'd better let you guys know because I bet that there are some other ie owners who are suffering the same.
Well, you can see the symptoms above. Then when I went to fill up I noticed that it was heavier on fuel compared to how it used to be. Definately the fuel management system then.
Then I found where the temperature sensor for those engines is - right on the top of the horizontal cylinder right near the front behind the oil cooler. Hmm...... muck I thought - especially with all the wet weather we have been having. So I pulled off the clip (its a spring clip which slides out to leave a square cross section push in plastic connector) and it was all damp. I let it dry for an afternoon - and bobs me muvva's bruvva!
What was happening is that the water in the connection was changing the resistance of the temperature sensor so the management chip thought that the engine was running colder than it actually was. It therefore kept the mixture richer than was required and so all the stalling farting bad running etc.

:lol:

[Jay]

My 600, right, has got a sensor (I assume temp) by the front fairing, which used to attached to the underside of my old clocks. What the hell's it doing there, and why have I got one, it's a carbed bike (which is still running like poo!, but due to be fixed next week - hooray).

[gary tompkins]

Nemesis wrote....It's the coolant temp that affects the ECU, the temp sensor for that is normally located in the radiator. Couldn't tell you for sure though. If you find it, get something to plug the hole with then whip out the sensor and plug it.

It might have been if the 900ie was watercooled, but seeing as it's aircooled & hasn't got a radiator .... er, I think not :rolleyes:

Jay,

As yours is pre EFI, it sure won't have any sort of sensor either.

Barking up the wrong tree methinks.

I still think it's crap in the carbs, get 'em stripped cleaned and properly set up mate :D

[Jay]

Are you calling me mad sir!!?? I saw it with my own two bad eyes!

It is a bit odd cos it's got it in the schematic of my bike (that I dowloaded from the Ducati website thingy), and plugs into the electrics, but what it does... who knows!?

Yup it's gotta be something fuel related cos electrics seem okay

[gary tompkins]

It could be the black box flight recorder - I think it was standard on that model :confused: ;)

[Jay]

Well if it is, it ain't been recording any movement recently! Buggery!! :mad: