Ducati S4R Gremlins

Hi all,

I have had my 04 S4R for 6 months. I was hoping someone had more insight into the problem that I am having. The bike misfires/cuts out for less than a second while ridding at cruise (2,00rpm-3500,rpm) and is sometimes stubborn to start.


I took it into Rosso Corse a few times. They replaced the fuel filter, increased the idle, enriched the F/A mixture, and replaced the crank pickup. However it still seems to give me grief here and there, which is kinda annoying in traffic. I had a look online and came across people complaining about the Throttle Position Sensor or even ECU mapping. Note the bike has Sil Moto full.

Do you all think it might be something simple like a corroded connection on the TPS?

PS Also looking for fellow Ducati riders in the central/east London area. PM me please.

Had a full open pipe on mine and it ran better than with the std system. I'd suggest the basics like coils (see if you can borrow one) and plugs, open all the connectors and clean with electrical cleaner, etc, etc. TPS can give issues but do the basics first or you'll start chasing your tail. My S4R was always "lumpy" and some times cut out if I was in stop start traffic (i put this down to charater) it was happier above 3000 rpm but the open pipe made it easier to ride around town. Just a thought, how many miles has the bike recently done, the M1000 I now have was a real pain when I first picked it up but after a week of extended commuting its much happier and now runds and starts as it should.

[alan s4]

Remove the headlight and check the wiring. It rubs against the headstock and the wires can get damaged, this can lead to intermittent faults. In my case the engine stop wire has completely severed.

[Darren69]

I had similar problems with my S4, it turned out to be a faulty coil stick on rear cylinder and it would misfire when the bike got warmed up to a certain temperature. I also replaced the crank sensor sometime after as this was sometimes giving read/miscount errors on the canbus, although I don't think this had contributed to the misfire, I just didn't like the thought of it failing altogether and leaving me stranded.

[Kato]

One of the coil sticks usually the front one as it gets all the road grime, but would check both

[Dirty]

1st Saturday of the Month we have a London branch meet. Check the forum usually about a week before for an announcement post.

[bigredduke]

Check the plastic connector from the rectifier under the seat (grey finned metal jobby about 4" x 3"). They can come loose and/or the connectors can get corroded.

[Nickj]

Are you supposed to ride them at such low revs

Thanks for the replies. I forgot to mention he installed new plugs. I had a look at the front one just in case. Connection looks clean. Rectifier cables look good, took a peak behind the head light and the kill switch, they all look clean and fine. I got the bike at 14,700mi or so and put about 200mi on it, no major trips yet.

Let me give y'all a bit more symptoms and see what you think. Issue is worse before fully warmed up. I usually idle it till the temp gauge comes back with a reading then drive off. but that first ~45-60C is the worse. However, it doesn't cut at idle, below 2,500, above 3,000 rpm only during my commute at constant throttle input or little acceleration between ~15-20 mph. If I give it lots of throttle through that spot it doesn't cut out. Haven't looked at TPS.

This wasn't problem until I had the controls adjusted in wards a bit. I am from the US and only have a set of allen wrenches, screw driver, and a flashlight

I am going to give it a ride to the Netherlands next week. Maybe it just needs a good ride.

Originally Posted by ItalianRazer

This wasn't problem until I had the controls adjusted in wards a bit...

That is a bit of a clue
- recheck the wiring and connectors with the utmost attention
- if necessary get hold of a multimeter to do that.