Neutral Light

vincep · Oct 22, 2013

Have had my Strada for about 2 months and 2,500 miles. Saturday was heading out into West Virginia for the weekend to check out the colors, rolled bike out of garage and hit the starter to warm up bike. Was on the center stand and side stand down. Started right up then about 20 seconds later just stopped. I noticed the neutral light was not on. Went through the gears and could not get the light to come on even when in neutral.
Because the neutral light wasn't on the bike would only start with the clutch engaged. Anyway, about 2 hours into the ride it came good.
Same thing happened Sunday morning and cleared later in the day.
I will wait until the heated grips get fitted to have the dealer look at it.

gatdammit · Oct 22, 2013

vincep,

have you checked or adjusted clutch free-play? I did have trouble finding neutral when I first started adjusting clutch. You're about in the window. Slipping out of neutral is odd. Maybe it was just barely out of the cogs.

vincep · Oct 22, 2013

Not the clutch adjustment - finds neutral easy. Wherever the switch is that senses neutral is where the problem is I suspect.

R6chase · Oct 23, 2013

Mine has been doing this allot too. When the dealer had it they told me they could not replicate the problem, my neutral switch never finds neutral till the bike is warm now. So next time the bike is at the dealer they will have to deal with it.

Skindoner · May 9, 2014

My bike w show the neutral light, but if u put it in gear before it is warm it does not show the neutral light until it warms up.

ambientscape · May 9, 2014

Ive told by the ducati technician that overfilling the engine oil will lead to difficulty in engaging neutral and also might lead to clutch slip from 5th to 6th gear. I've solved mine....might want to give it a try

Lotusblossom82 · May 11, 2014

I've had this problem too. The way I resolved it was to warm up the bike on the center stand and put the side stand up. From my experience the neutral issue seems to stem from the side stand. I've also had issues with the bike having a false neutral between 5th-6th, however it also seems that I only have these neutral issues when the outside temperture is under 65 F out, silly I know. I took the bike in to service this past week and they can't seem to replicate the problem. I have a little over 9,000 miles on the bike and the neutral has only been an issue a hand full of times so the dealership testing the bike only over course of 10 miles won't help.

Zeke · May 13, 2014

My bike will not find light on side stand. have to put on center stand to start. Neutral not the problem neutral start switch is . Real pain in Butt I use bike as a daily commuter, bright side it has center stand. On it goes but no other bike in the world I would trade for !

GuyW · May 13, 2014

I had a problem with an intermittent neutral light. I traced it to a loose connector on the neutral switch.

Look for an elongated rubber plug on the rear of the engine, right hand side, just in front of the exhaust headers. Look in the area behind the rear brake master cylinder.

If you pull the plug out it has the neutral switch wire behind it. The connector on the end was loose on the neutral switch. I tightened it up slightly with some pliers and put it back together begin careful to run the wire out the bottom of the plug.

No more issues after that.

niiico · May 16, 2014

Hi,

I also have problems with the neutral light, especially when the engine is cold in the morning. I can't start the engine because there is no neutral light and I have to pull the left lever to start (what is the word in English for this lever?). A few seconds after the start, the neutral light appears...

bigbrownbuku · May 19, 2014

niiico said:
Hi,

I also have problems with the neutral light, especially when the engine is cold in the morning. I can't start the engine because there is no neutral light and I have to pull the left lever to start (what is the word in English for this lever?). A few seconds after the start, the neutral light appears...

Its the clutch lever.

vincep · May 19, 2014

bigbrownbuku said:
Its the clutch lever.

If you have no neutral light - when the bike is in neutral - it is very likely the neutral switch on the back of the engine. Faulty neutral switch = bike thinks it is in gear, therefore will only start with the clutch engaged.
Dealer states that it is not uncommon and it is the same switch on all modern belt Ducatis. He stated that he does a handful per year.

niiico · May 20, 2014

Thank you for the hint and the english lesson

Guy · May 24, 2014

Mine started doing this a couple of weeks ago. I phoned dealer and it is having new switch fitted on 7 June. Until then Will start it with clutch pulled in.

weczerniczek · May 26, 2014

I had similar problem as few of you described, but in my case the bike started fine on the side stand but when i sat on it and shifted first gear, the engine stopped. as GuyW described, my issue was the connector behind the engine on the right hand side behind the rear brake, its very tight space and this side stand sensor connector was loose, just needed click in.
hope it helps.

Guy · Jun 8, 2014

Guy said:
Mine started doing this a couple of weeks ago. I phoned dealer and it is having new switch fitted on 7 June. Until then Will start it with clutch pulled in.

Dealer has fitted new switch and all is working again☺

niiico · Jul 10, 2014

I have just pushed a little firmly on the switch cover and never had the problem since then...

Ducamok · Apr 18, 2020

GuyW said:
I had a problem with an intermittent neutral light. I traced it to a loose connector on the neutral switch.

Look for an elongated rubber plug on the rear of the engine, right hand side, just in front of the exhaust headers. Look in the area behind the rear brake master cylinder.

If you pull the plug out it has the neutral switch wire behind it. The connector on the end was loose on the neutral switch. I tightened it up slightly with some pliers and put it back together begin careful to run the wire out the bottom of the plug.

No more issues after that.

This really helped me. Bike was dead on the button with no neutral light. Wiggled the wire and back to normal. Thanks

Neutral Light

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