Dilkris

This is a long thread (2 parts) – sorry – but if I don’t give you the background you won’t understand what has already been done.

OK –so I have a 2004 S4R with 7,000 miles on the clock, it is in excellent condition, shows no evidence of ever being thrown down the road, or fallen over from the side stand. I am not a Ducati man, (sorry I personally prefer water cooled Harley’s), but, other than a QD Ex Box Exhaust, the bike appears standard. I have 2 black keys, one red key and the Code Card.

It stood for some years in my garage following the fuel pump failing, (I think – it wasn’t making a noise and the fuse was OK), and I decided a few weeks back to bring her out; I cleaned out the tank and changed the fuel pump and filter, (what a job unless you have arms the size of a child….!!); Note: the replacement items came in “Ducati” boxes. Further to this I changed oil and filter, (including draining the oil cooler), flushed and refilled coolant, changed hydraulic fluid to brakes and clutch.

It wouldn’t start…..

Symptoms: (not in any order) Clocks cycle, fuel pump primes, all 6 lights in the dash panel light and after a couple of seconds they go out, leaving only the Neutral and Oil light illuminated. Note: the flashing immobilizer light also goes out (showing I believe that the bike has accepted the code in the key.) The engine turns over, albeit under the influence of the servoignition system. (See later)

I remove plugs and Ignition Coil assemblies and establish that I do have a sparks – good in fact – but remember there is no compression now and the motor spins over well.

OK – so I am thinking blocked injectors. I remove and clean as best as I can, unlike most injectors you cannot, without the specialised kit, simulate operation on the bench. Yes you can energise the coils to ascertain they are opening, (they were – I could clearly here and “feel” the clicking), but I couldn’t find any way to inject any cleaner into them. The Injectors on the S4R receive fuel via an annular indent which is protected by a very fine gauze filter, running around the circumference of each injector body. This indent, which is positioned between the upper and lower “O” Rings on the injector body, is fed obviously via the throttle body. As such, the only way I guess to “feed” the injectors on a bench would be to remove the injectors complete with the throttle body. Anyway – I didn’t, I left them soaking in “carb cleaner” overnight, cycled the coils a few times and blew them out as best as I could with compressed air.

Whilst all this is going on and with the benefit of the lower air box off, I check every connector, fuse and relay I could find. I separated them, looking for corrosion and sprayed each male and female terminal with electrical contact cleaner.

A reassemble and it starts!! – I run the engine up to 115/120 to ascertain fans are operational – they are. Happy days!!! I head straight to the bar fridge.
Following morning – she won’t start. All symptons good – just no bang.