Rode bike with a loose ground, what'd I fry?

[N4teTheGreat]

This is mostly a how screwed am I sort of post as I'll assess things tomorrow.

Riding home from getting new shoes yesterday and the the bike threw a code and went into limp mode on 280. I pulled off, shut it off and back on and it started fine. Ok, whatever it's a Ducati, probably a sensor (fried two so far). Proceeded for about 4 miles on 280 at a moderate 75mph before I exited. Got off the bike with it running in neutral and it sputtered and died.

I recalled briefly smelling something but no smoke. At a friends suggestion I checked the ground connection to the battery, it felt tight, but I jiggled it anyway and jiggled the harness where the ground enters the bundle. Turned the key hit the starter and she fires right up. I road home on surface streets with no problems.

Got home, bike starts fine with a few tests. CEL light cleared on the ride home which means whatever fault caused it stopped happening. Neutral indicator has stopped working but that had been flakey previously maybe related maybe not.

Bottom line question, what are the odds I've thoroughly screwed up the electrical system versus gotten lucky and just need to check all my connections and go ride?

 

[ST Guy]

Nearly zero. Check your connections and ride.

 

[auntiebling]

if it ran at all, which it did, there was enough ground to make the system think it's ok.

the problem you're facing is finding which ground is the culprit. it's kinda rare that a wiring harness has only a single path to ground as they tend to get chained together making a bus bar of sorts and that bus gets attached to the chassis/engine and thus battery in several places giving more than one path to ground.

you may have a plug that has a loose set of pins in it, which would be a single point ground failure possibility. i'd find an accurate wiring diagram and study it and start with the harness>chassis/engine connections and go from there. wiggle plugs, etc

 

[auntiebling]

if it ran at all, which it did, there was enough ground to make the system think it's ok.

the problem you're facing is finding which ground is the culprit. it's kinda rare that a wiring harness has only a single path to ground as they tend to get chained together making a bus bar of sorts and that bus gets attached to the chassis/engine and thus battery in several places giving more than one path to ground.

you may have a plug that has a loose set of pins in it, which would be a single point ground failure possibility. i'd find an accurate wiring diagram and study it and start with the harness>chassis/engine connections and go from there. wiggle plugs, etc

 

[N4teTheGreat]

Thank you both. That's good news. The better news is, this probably won't be too hard to track down as it is likely self inflicted. I pulled the gas tank to change the air filter a while back and it's a very tight fit getting it back in, so I make have caused a loose connection. I'll figure out where the ground points are on the engine and then see if I get to pull the tank again. Practice makes perfect?

 

[Tom G]

Thank you both. That's good news. The better news is, this probably won't be too hard to track down as it is likely self inflicted. I pulled the gas tank to change the air filter a while back and it's a very tight fit getting it back in, so I make have caused a loose connection. I'll figure out where the ground points are on the engine and then see if I get to pull the tank again. Practice makes perfect?

Why do you conclude its the ground connection? You mentioned the battery terminals were tight. Did you check the ground wire to the chassis? Tight and no rust? You can also check the voltage over these connections under load. But it may as well be a loose plug.

 

[N4teTheGreat]

Why do you conclude its the ground connection? You mentioned the battery terminals were tight. Did you check the ground wire to the chassis? Tight and no rust? You can also check the voltage over these connections under load. But it may as well be a loose plug.

Battery terminal was tight-ish, but jiggling that connection allowed the bike to start. I checked it last weekend and it was just past finger tight, so clearly jiggling things isn't a good measure of tightness, whodathunk.

Checked the battery terminal for corrosion but everything there was clean. found and check the chassis point and it was tight and visually free of corrosion as well so that plus a problem free ride around the city followed by a problem free (and fun) 100 miles or so on Sunday makes me think it was simply a loose negative connection at the battery.