Cooked wiring???

[smashweights]

Recently took my 2012 Ducati Monster 1100 EVO out of storage for the season. About 3 weeks ago it took a few seconds to start up for the first time since November, not unexpected, rode it for about 5 minutes to the gas station to fill up and brought it back home. Fired it up a few days ago and got some white smoke from the area of the lower cylinder after turning over for about 3-4 seconds without it starting. Gave it a few minutes, tried to start it up again and got a spark from what seemed like the starter, didn't start. Freaked me out. Assumed maybe the starter was toast. Today I gave it one more shot and got a spark from behind a panel near the frame. Took it off and found that the wiring to the starter and to the kickstand sensor had some serious erosion/burn right where they touch where the battery is grounded to the crankcase (see pictures). The wires looked like they had some imprints from a ziptie right where the insulation was cooked off that makes me wonder if it rubbed against the motor enough to wear a small enough hole through that the wiring allowed some electric arc to pass to the ground wire burning the insulation. There's a touch of corrosion on the screw holding the ground wire in place and a tiny bit of char on the crankcase a few millimeters away. I threw a few layers of electrical tape over each of the damaged wires and then over the whole wire bundle. Bike started up flawlessly multiple times.

I'm curious if this set up is safe to ride as is or if I must replace the wiring? Is there anything else I should be considering in terms of why this happened or that I might still need to inspect?

[mello dude]

Fix it!

[ReconRat]

Arcing, corrosion, heat, vibration and maybe some resistance in the ground lug bolt too. Remove and repair or replace all damaged components.

(Replace starter cable, ground lug bolt/screw, lock washer, and maybe ground cable. Both are cheap. Try to repair the stand switch.)

Look for more damage to fix, and improve the conditions there so it won't happen again. (re-engineer it)

51410562A - BATTERY - SOLENOID STARTER CABLE - $12.22

53910236B - SWITCH, STAND -Regular price $72.43

77240391C -PACK- SCREW TBEIF M6X10 -Regular price $5.10

edit: I think that's the right part numbers, but whatever, the cables are cheap. Any steel bolt from the hardware that fits is fine, but don't use stainless steel on aluminum. It corrodes quickly.

 

Edited May 8, 2019 by ReconRat

[serpentracer]

I've seen many a wires cut by zip ties being on too tight.  but like reconRat says, that bolt is probably the source of heat that melted the jacket on the other wire. when I worked at the dealership often recalls involved wrapping rubber sheets/ jackets around spots suspected of cutting wiring.  

Edited May 12, 2019 by serpentracer

[smashweights]

Curious, I have an SAE connector for hooking up a battery tender. I might check and see for sure but if the negative end of the battery tender is there instead of the terminal on the battery could that do it? Not sure why that area would get hot otherwise since I don't put many miles on the bike...