Well what a chuffing PITA that was ....
Good old Ducati had changed the wiring between my 2001 S4 and the Workshop manual I have for the 2002 S4 ..... and what had they changed ..... they have removed the stupidly, stupid capacitor/diode/piece of crap thingy that is hidden in the wiring loom on the side light circuit from the switch.
By pure luck I cut into the "bulky part" of the loom just behind the head stock to find than either side of a well hidden "lump" on the side light circuit I was getting no continuity ..... offending item bypassed as a test and all works ..... so now has been permanently removed and the two ends of the wire correctly connected and all is good again ..... you have got to love 18 year old dodgy italien electrics
For those interested here is the chuffing part that is dead and causing all the problems ....
Thanks all for your help - we got there in the end
