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Problem finding neutral

8K views 25 replies 9 participants last post by  S1MMA 
#1 ·
Hi guys,

Bike is a 2005 F4 1000s with 6k miles on it.

Started to see some problems with the neutral light flickering on/off when bike warm and putting it in neutral whilst waiting at stop lights etc. Bike is defo in neutral, but the light flickers on/off. Sometimes rocking the bike a bit sorts it out. Sometimes the light doesn't even come on at all. Bulb is fine, lights up when turning ignition on from cold.

Other day, went to start it from cold, and it wasn't finding the neutral light. I was cycling through 1st, neutral, 2nd, back to neutral, back to 1st, did this maybe 8 times and it woudn't find the light and wouldn't start. Finally I moved the bike a bit and I was able to find the light eventually.

This will be annoying if it continues, so what do you guys think is wrong? Anything quick and easy I can check? Bike has been fully serviced about 300km ago, and was working fine since, this problem started about 100km back and has been getting slowly worse on each subsequent ride.

thanks for your help
 
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#2 ·
There's a bullet connector that routes round the back of the engine, between it and the swingarm for the Neutral light - I had the same issue on my 750 - the connector had become loose, pushed it back together and it fixed the issue on mine.

The reason it wouldnt start is cause I'm guessing the sidestand was down, and / or the clutch was out.

I'm sure its a light green wire on mine - if not i'm sure someone will correct me.
 
#4 ·
I had a play with the battery and pulled on all the wires, didn't change anything. I sat on the bike and cycled through 1/N/2 and even rode it a tiny bit to get the gears moving, and it was finding neutral fine every time. Could this be neutral sensor if it's sproadically going wrong?
 
#5 ·
I didnt see this till this morning - I'll see if I can get a shot of its location this evening - apologies if i've read your post wrong, but the bullet connector isnt near the battery, mine sits pretty much behind the RHS footrest hanger.

If thats not your issue, i'm afraid I'm not sure on the possibility of the sensor itself failing - I'm sure Donsy, Joe, or one of the other guys who had had theirs stripped a number of times will be able to advise on that though.
 
#6 ·
neutered neutral?

more than likely the bullet connector is loose/corroded

it is a grounding switch...disconnect the bullet connector
put a paper clip or wire in the harness side, touch it to the motor (key on) you should have a bright neutral light
check the switch with an Ohm meter....in neutral it should show good continuity ground, less than an Ohm......they do fail

double check the switch.....because to change it, you WILL be standing on your head:stickpoke

if you had an EU-3 Brutale......you'd have to pull the cat too:jsm:
and if you had the welded in cat also......you'd set fire to it.....

less trouble:stickpoke
 
#8 ·
Your neutral switch is sticking remove it apply wd40 and wiggle and free up the switch. Or buy a new switch from ducati part no.53940201A cheaper.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Motorcycle.com Free App
 
#11 ·
I have a technical question in connection with the neutral switch. How do you take this lil sucker out? The reason why i'm asking it is because my bike was always in N when i bought it and it turned out that the neutral sensor is attached to the harness with an alligator clip...:banghead: Removed the clip and took a photo how it looks like now:
 

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#16 · (Edited)
No hammers plz !!




ahhh crap ! You are right and looking closer there seems to be some witness marks of hostile actions to get it out.

It is possible ( maybe ) that someone has used a socket which wouldn't sit right deep enough and has just rounded off the outer part of the 13mm hex. With a bit of luck it may just be possible to turn it using a nice deep 13mm box spanner with a thin enough wall to get down deep into the non rounded off part...This may just work.. Hard to tell from the pic

Worst scenario is to drop the sump off and take it out in a civilized fashion. Some metal bashing wizard might be able to weld something on to spin it out in situ ?...What a pain in the backside tho !

This is why the English drink tea...Sometimes you just have to acknowledge it ain't gonna be quick and settle down to doing the job right...

joe
 
#17 ·
#19 · (Edited)
Nah




Easy fix buddy. If you don't feel like pulling the sump off to get that broken switch out, get one of those self drilling "easy-out" tools in there and remove it that way.
Drain your oil afterwards if you're worried about metal getting left behind in the motor. Give me 5 min and I'll post a picture of the inside of the motor.

Done- under 5 min :laughing:
 

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#24 ·
Victory! It turned out that i was right about that penny-sized copper-colored thingy. Indeed, it was a washer! Once i removed that i gained about 2-3 mills of stick-out. It wasn't quite easy to grab hold of the stud because of the limited space around the switch. It took about an hour to walk out the lil sucker with a pair of modified pliers. Luckily I didn't even need to use the easy-outs.. Once again thanks for the tips!cheers
 

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#26 ·
Hi Donsy, I'm the OP.

I pulled loads of the electrics apart and gave the bike a clean up, and after that I haven't had an issue with Neutral. Possibly a loose ground or something related to electrics for me, but seems to be ok now.

I have a battery drain on the bike that I need to look into, but thats for another thread.

Cheers
 
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