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I've been successful once. That's when the filter backed off and lost pressure. I tried to use the manhole for my first oil change and kept cross threading it attempting to reinstall it. Subsequently, I took the pan off.

As I said earlier if you touch a wire from the battery + to the spade connector that bypasses the start circuit Ignition switch and some connectors, this is how the starter should work, not thru a bunch of spaghetti wiring. You have probably seen me rant on about how the solenoid draws over 40 Amps i know of a couple of VIIs that burnt up because the main ground was connected to the bolt of the seat lock rather than a gearbox bolt. The seat lock bolt worked loose so the starter return current found its way back to the battery via the ground wire from the Voltage Regulator to battery negative. If you connect your meter from battery Negative (I mean the actual battery post not the lug) to a grounded bolt on the engine a bad main ground will show up as Voltage drop while cranking, I would expect to see less than 0.5 Volts I think Docc's 2000 may be wired with the Start Relay/30 wired direct from a fuse (not switched) Notice how the starter relay/30 terminal on this earlier bike is powered from an always live fuse 5, these early bikes never suffer Startus Interuptus but if you look down at the starter solenoid like all other Guzzi schematics its drawn wrong, one coil (the Grunt coil) is missing, the one that draws 40 Amps to pull in the solenoid. Fuse 5 can easily provide 50 Amps for a split second, the solenoid will slam the gear into mesh (in about 15 milliseconds) and the starter will spin. Now look at this one from a few years later, Luigi has completely changed the way the start relay is powered, terminal 30 is now fed from the Ignition Switch and a lot of spaghetti wires with several plug in connectors for good measure, he had another attempt at drawing the starter solenoid but again completely missed the Grunt coil. The supply to the starter relay is now seriously compromised, it will sluggishly draw the starter into mesh if it's a good day. Once engaged it will spin ok. On a bad day the Voltage drop will be too much, it won't engage and you get the dreaded click, it might also blow the 15 Amp F4 If you click on this drawing it will be easier to read. BTW, most of the modern Guzzis are compromised in the same way, works ok while everything is nice and new but as the connections start to deteriorate and the switch picks up some resistance the coil inrush current drops off until the grunt coil isn't able to do its job. MPH has made a small fortune selling kits to correct the situation. Both Veleo and Bosh starters have a Grunt Coil, I think the modern starters are a different brand but they will also. BTW, I recently purchased an 07 Griso, I made the starter solenoid operate 3 x as fast as Luigi had it just by increasing the wire size from relay to solenoid. If the factory would only draw the starter properly Startus Interrupts would soon be extinct LOL Sorry I added this just to show the Grunt Coil in the solenoid ( 0.25 Ohm)