1199 Hard Starting

Is this a problem with all Ducati's? A brand new bike and if it sits for any amount of time it is incredibly hard to start????

Italian start.

Its fine.

HA! Last bike I could blow on the starter button and it would run. Like a scolded dog I might add, but I just kept getting badgered by all the Duc guys I ride with, so had to go Italian.

I highly recommend keeping it on a tender. Some dealerships install the pigtails so if it doesn't have it, then it might have been sitting. It does take a while to start the Pani, a little longer than the older SBK's; like 5 secs +.

-load test battery
-float charger for storage
-charcoal canister is the debil
-never overfill the tank
-reflash the ECM at your dealer. Get rid of the Gore/Pelosi EPA tune.

-try shaking a chicken over the Panigale while someone else turns the ignition on and pounds on bongo drums. If chickens head isn't perfectly still while shaking it, the voodoo chicken dance will have to be done a second time, a day later.
-Audi has better chickens available. BMW uses an Ostrich. Do not take any advice from a BMW owner.

-Did the battery go dead? Sometimes the tune in Mitsubishi race ECM's can fall off if the battery goes dead or is disconnected. I hate it when my tune falls off.

Obviously there's a million little things that a scan tool can see. Position sensor out of wack? But if you have no check engine light, then I'd start with the above.

The Panigales starter and battery are tiny. My neighbors bloodhound swallowed my spare starter whole. Want a superbike that weighs less than a race prepped 600? Get lightweight superbike problems. Don't ever screw around with the all the cool ECM menu's and settings with the engine off. The fuel pump will drain the battery in 3...2...1...

I had to stand around dealership for 5 hours waiting to take delivery for the "new" battery to be fully charged. Said they could not let the bike leave without a full charge due to Ducati specifications. I see why now! I have noticed if I barley turn and hold the throttle it seems to start a little faster. Wants sure if I should ask the dealer about it. I cringe at the thought of having to deal with those people again!

two questions:

Canister???
Tune???

I got everything else as I am pretty good a wrangling chickens and all the girls want to dance with me at the club!!!

We've noticed that it starts better with the throttle on a little as well. But it shouldn't matter. The ECM ignores throttle inputs until the engine is running. I think 20% is what it opens to?

The charcoal canister was likely removed when you brought the bike back to your dealer with problems. Mine was retuned, and I assume the canister bypassed on it's first scheduled maintenance cycle. 600miles IIRC.

Grass skirts help.

The weakest charger in my collection will completely charge the Panigales battery in only an hour. My dead DRZ400 was charged and running (rough) in just 10 minutes. Why don't bike shop people just tell the truth. They likely spent time somewhere else.

Good charger:

Fully potted, and it looks suspiciously similar to the Katolight and Kohler chargers.

The Shumacher charges at Walmart are decent as well. I have a little 2 amp for storage.

Sellzbooze said:

I had to stand around dealership for 5 hours waiting to take delivery for the "new" battery to be fully charged. Said they could not let the bike leave without a full charge due to Ducati specifications. I see why now! I have noticed if I barley turn and hold the throttle it seems to start a little faster. Wants sure if I should ask the dealer about it. I cringe at the thought of having to deal with those people again!

Click to expand...

What is the dash voltage reading? I scooped a left over '13 too back in Dec that had trouble starting with only 3 miles. The display showed 11.4 then dropped down to 10.3V when cranking.

I let it sit on the tender overnight till it read 12.2 then just pressed the start button for 6 secs and it finally started. That was the only time I had a hard time starting the bike.

Thanks for all of this. I have not gone back for service as I only have around 15 miles on the bike due to the weather. I will tell you that by the time it does go back (to have code cleared as I will service myself) there will be no remnants of a charcoal canister.
I have a couple of Bike Tender battery chargers here at the house with quick connects for all of my bikes (Harley Batteries take a beating with the amount of CCA's it takes to start them). I guess I will putting a quick connect on the Duc for obvious reasons.
Battery voltage seems to be good at engine off at 12.3 and in the 14 range while running and I am not really having any issues getting it to roll over, just seems like it has no gas or spark until I have held it for 5-7 seconds. I will tell you it is embarrassing as hell to have people come up and look at this beautiful piece of work, and ask to hear it and it wont start. Not what you would expect with a "brand new" bike.
Thanks for all of the quick input, and I will make sure I search forum on this stuff before bothering everyone again with a "reoccurring" thread.

I don't know what al the confusion is about in this post....

This has been discussed roughly 67,000 times on this forum.

It is the evaporative charcoal canister.

Remove it and you'll never experience a hard hot start again.

Google "Ducati 1199 forum how to remove charcoal canister."


Welcome to the forum and the eccentricities of owning a Ducati. Still, no other bike in the world rides like a Ducati on the track which is why I'm getting myself into this all again this year!

As I said, I will make sure to search threads before asking "dumb" questions. Not new to bikes, garages, or forums. Just to Ducati's. Fairing is off, $12 spent at auto parts store, just taking a brake before I start cutting hoses. Canister will be in garbage within next 10 minutes.

I plan on installing the upgraded starter cables myself. Did so on my Monster 796 with immediate improvement.

Attempted doing so on my Pani the other day but you have to be a contortionist with pixie sized hands to get to the starter motor connection...

Will try again when I'm more willing to remove parts to get to it.

I don't have an issue with hot starts, but cold starts can still take some effort. I wonder if a lithium battery with some more umph to feed the starter would be beneficial.

The worst is when you start the bike, and turn it off and (try to) restart within a few seconds or minutes.

I've learned to live with it, but its still annoying.

Maybe I could just leave it on the lift and look at it. Who cares if it starts!!!

Sellzbooze said:

Maybe I could just leave it on the lift and look at it. Who cares if it starts!!!

Click to expand...

I keep a Ducati trickle charger (any trickle charger will do) on my 2013 1199R with no problems starting even though it sits 2-3 weeks at a time. I don't have the canister but hot starts can still be a problem unless I crack the throttle while starting.

Get a lithium battery. I started mine this spring after 6 months sitting under a cover and it cranked in the first 3 seconds.

Which lithium battery did you get?

Charcoal canister.......officially removed!!!!!!! Hopefully no more embarrassing hard starts!!!!!!! Hardest part...FAIRINGS!!!!!