Second water pump gone already

Water pump #2 has failed on the same yearly trip the last one failed lol. At least this time the leak was minimal enough to just keep topping up the reservoir each day and not having to tow home mid trip like last year. Feels like this bike has something against me doing 8 day / 3000km trips. This pump only lasted 6-7000kms and is warranty of course, but if the next pump is still going I think I'll be treating it as preventative maintenance and replacing at regular intervals.

Going to have a look at this one and see if there's something that can be modified / manufactured to aid the situation.

The 25 water pump is probably a different revision. They revised the cooling system and hopefully they revised the pump. Would probably need the matching gear if they did. Mines not had an issue. Did you ever change to a lower pressure radiator cap? I changed to a .9 bar down from the 1.6. This would release a drop or two in a hot soak so I went to the 1.1. I think the pumps are driven with a 30/45 gearset. So they're spinning pretty fast.

Mcv4 said:

Going to have a look at this one and see if there's something that can be modified / manufactured to aid the situation.

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Do you know what the part number was for the replacement? They've been revised a few times. Are you using the original coolant?

baggerman said:

The 25 water pump is probably a different revision. They revised the cooling system and hopefully they revised the pump. Would probably need the matching gear if they did. Mines not had an issue. Did you ever change to a lower pressure radiator cap? I changed to a .9 bar down from the 1.6. This would release a drop or two in a hot soak so I went to the 1.1. I think the pumps are driven with a 30/45 gearset. So they're spinning pretty fast.

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Will be interesting to see if there has been a revision to the 25 pump and also if the pump speed has been reduced with gearing. Funnily enough both times the pump has failed is on roads where I use first gear predominantly for long periods of time. Faster engine / pump acceleration and deceleration. I've retained the factory cap pressure.

This sucks. Unbelievable.

BP PanigaleV4S said:

Do you know what the part number was for the replacement? They've been revised a few times. Are you using the original coolant?

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I'll ask about part numbers (previous and new one) when I know the new pump has arrived and report back. Funnily enough the dealer does not issue invoices with part numbers listed for warranty work. They're good guys so I'm sure I'll be able to find out. I can only assume original coolant used as dealer doing under warranty and colour is the same as it came from factory.

SuperDomestique said:

This sucks. Unbelievable.

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Eh, they've all got their issues and over 25,000kms of riding these pumps have been the only bigger issue. I can live with it for how much I enjoy this bike.

I didn’t pay $32k for a basket case. I don’t have high hopes for Ducati’s solution to my bike’s coolant boiling over issue. They didn’t think the water pump was an issue on my bike despite my protestations. That’s why it’s getting the boot.

No chance it wasn't just bled incorrectly and still had air in the system? Bike is getting the boot you mean?

Sorry if I missed it, it this a common issue on a specific year or on all PV4s?

Mcv4 said:

Will be interesting to see if there has been a revision to the 25 pump and also if the pump speed has been reduced with gearing. Funnily enough both times the pump has failed is on roads where I use first gear predominantly for long periods of time. Faster engine / pump acceleration and deceleration. I've retained the factory cap pressure.

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How hot was it running and did it start to leak after a hot soak?

Allegedly it’s fairly common if you stress the engine. Has been happening since the start according to avid PV4 trackday/racing users. I wonder if the high heat soaks cause the seals to fail and the Febur/H2O rads allow the bike to run cooler in general (and hence the 25 major cooling system revision)

beanz690 said:

Sorry if I missed it, it this a common issue on a specific year or on all PV4s?

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All SF and Pani V4's yet seen (don't know about the 25's). The first couple of years are worse as the first revision pumps would fail into the oil and bye bye engine. After that they leak to the outside. 2nd revision (?) adds tubing to bring the leaked fluid out of the V of the motor. It has been my contention since the beginning that this is caused by excessive pressure forcing the seal away from the shaft caused by an inadequate seal/shaft diameter and the pump running at high RPM when the motor is really hot and/or the following hot soak when they're shut down really hot. On my on bike I run a 1.1 bar cap as above and a 25% coolant/distilled water mix with redline waterwetter. And my bike will never see the fifth bar of the temperature gauge and if it running in the fourth bar for any period of time I'll shut it off.