look what MY BASE does!

after session 3 at Roebling i detected a minor oil leak, called it quits for the day.





had done an oil change the night before (20W-50 valvoline full synth), had some smoke at startup in the morning, checked the level, all fine.

well, anywho, had the bike picked up by the dealer all under warrany, ducati roadside assistance ...

mechanic took it apart. leak came from rear cylinder head valve covers - because the valve cover screws became loose!!!

i told him to loctite them , i will see what safety wire options there are.

almost 10k miles on the bike, not any issue until now.

no reason to rant over a bit of oil, right

bike will be running again tomorrow.

Based on the fact this appears to be a fairly common failure and that warranties will start to expire early ish next year...Do we know roughly the amount of time the repair of this takes and therefore cost???

Stw said:

Based on the fact this appears to be a fairly common failure and that warranties will start to expire early ish next year...Do we know roughly the amount of time the repair of this takes and therefore cost???

Click to expand...

i will ask my mechanic.

i already asked him to secure the bolts, and if it would make sense to leave the new plastic heat shield covers off.

reason is, the bike was outside the night before it happened (under the canopy, at the track) and it was around 35F or a little more. pretty chilly. from there i went to session 1 in the morning (up to 220F on the motor (maybe even hotter in some areas)) rolling off the track back to my place in the infield.

so we have contraction of the head cover bolts when cold and expansion when hot, plus more/different vibrations when on the track.

The problem is all the crap you have to remove to get to the valve covers. It's a really simply fix, but I can only get to the right side vertical cylinder rearmost bolt without removing anything. The others and the front cylinder require a whole bunch of stuff to come off so that's going to require a lot more time making the job go from piece of cake to PITA.

just drill holes straight to the bolts


solved

Capt CF said:

The problem is all the crap you have to remove to get to the valve covers. It's a really simply fix, but I can only get to the right side vertical cylinder rearmost bolt without removing anything. The others and the front cylinder require a whole bunch of stuff to come off so that's going to require a lot more time making the job go from piece of cake to PITA.

Click to expand...

Quit with them negative waves dude............

Stw said:

Quit with them negative waves dude............

Click to expand...

lol.. My leak is minor compared to Phil's so I am going to leave it alone and let the dealer fix it this winter when I take it in for service. I hope they can be re-torqued, loctited, whatever so this isn't a recurring problem though.

After the 2nd time my tech went nuts with the gray gasket glue and it's been ok ever since.

With all I hear and read, 99% of occurrences seem to happen at the track. Prolly a bigger pressure buildup due to higher revs.

fireman1251 said:

After the 2nd time my tech went nuts with the gray gasket glue and it's been ok ever since.

With all I hear and read, 99% of occurrences seem to happen at the track. Prolly a bigger pressure buildup due to higher revs.

Click to expand...

tech says it's rather vibration... i think it's a combination of all factors.

high revs -higher pressures, higher temps, higher (different) vibrations.

Phil said:

tech says it's rather vibration... i think it's a combination of all factors.

high revs -higher pressures, higher temps, higher (different) vibrations.

Click to expand...

All of which should have been analyzed during testing and development of the bike and engineered into the valve cover design. Again, love the bike, but another example of half-assery from our Italian buddies.

not everyone can be german

Phil said:

not everyone can be german

Click to expand...

Achtung, Ducati!

ducati thinks things through fully half way

mark419ny said:

ducati thinks things through fully half way

Click to expand...

It seems most manufacturers have a "Looks great, lets sell it" point, any there are almost always things to be addressed with new things in general, no? It just seems like that comes a little to soon with Ducati and KTM (go through the same BS with my MX bike).

Capt CF said:

All of which should have been analyzed during testing and development of the bike and engineered into the valve cover design. Again, love the bike, but another example of half-assery from our Italian buddies.

Click to expand...

My tech told me the service manual instructions were to put glue only on one side of the gasket. First time he fixed it according to the manual and it lasted for a month. Second time he fixed it according to his own experience and put glue everywhere. 2k miles since and still holding.

fireman1251 said:

My tech told me the service manual instructions were to put glue only on one side of the gasket. First time he fixed it according to the manual and it lasted for a month. Second time he fixed it according to his own experience and put glue everywhere. 2k miles since and still holding.

Click to expand...

Hmm... I'll discuss that when I take it in. Thanks!

My panigale started to leak oil after a track day and took it to the dealer and the problem was a bad valve cover gasket it sucks the gasket was back order and it took 1.month and half to get it fix
Good luck Phil and ride safe

jcnaranjo51 said:

My panigale started to leak oil after a track day and took it to the dealer and the problem was a bad valve cover gasket it sucks the gasket was back order and it took 1.month and half to get it fix
Good luck Phil and ride safe

Click to expand...

You guys do know that you can make your own gaskets right? Granted, easy enough to get replacements from Ducati - especially if it's under warranty.
But faced with a month and a half back order for a valve cover gasket sidelining me from riding, I'd make my own.
http://www.summitracing.com/search/...ial-sheets?SortBy=Default&SortOrder=Ascending

Cut to rough oversize needed, press the valve cover down on it, trim to outline impression made. Then get your tube of Yamabond (or whatever your favorite sealant is) apply appropriately to bonding surfaces, and then close it all up.

..it is recurring. I have 6500kms on clock and I tightened valve cover bolts 3 times till now for leaks..

Stw said:

Based on the fact this appears to be a fairly common failure and that warranties will start to expire early ish next year...Do we know roughly the amount of time the repair of this takes and therefore cost???

Click to expand...

See stw. Thank you. Thats the major friggin problem here. I haven't touched my other thread because I knew it would ultimately be full of wise ass ...., and I just haven't had much time and have only spent about 30minutes on here in total since I posted the thread as I've been working like a crazy man.

This shouldn't happen! No matter what! There is absolutely no excuse. Peoples warranties are going to begin expiring within the next several months (the early buyer with no extended warranty) and then what? Because Ducati makes a .... bike we should have to spend hours of our time fixing their screw up from the factory? Or are you going to bring the bike in to your dealership to have this "fixed?" I'm sure they'd charge at least $400 + tax, + pickup fee if this was done at my dealership. I have NO idea on how long this would take, so I'm just assuming three hours. Its pathetic. Anyone making excuses for 100's of these bikes leaking oil are fools. I've never seen any other motorcycle forum have anywhere near as many reported problems with a single model as this bike. ( I know I'll be flamed for saying this but also, those other models run for 1/3 the cost!)...

Enjoy your 1199's, I'm just gonna ride mine until it blows up