my first Ducati failure

[tanken2]

riding in the city , 32 degrees bike in the 90s , diagnostic warning light came on, everyting on dash seemed o.k and bike running o.k . got home and ran thu diagnostic errors , showed up as fan . googled probs and they suggested check fuse , took LH fairng off and blown fuse , LH fan had stone jammed between fan and mounting bracket . New fuse problem solved , great idea digagnostic readout saved a lot of time and money.

[george formby]

riding in the city , 32 degrees bike in the 90s , diagnostic warning light came on, everyting on dash seemed o.k and bike running o.k . got home and ran thu diagnostic errors , showed up as fan . googled probs and they suggested check fuse , took LH fairng off and blown fuse , LH fan had stone jammed between fan and mounting bracket . New fuse problem solved , great idea digagnostic readout saved a lot of time and money.

I must admit, this modern electrickery is impressive. None of my bikes have it....

Car does. It tells me when I need to change a bulb. Message pops up stating which bulb has gone. :shit:

So far that's it. I am dreading the expected sensor failure.. $$$

[onearmedbandit]

I must admit, this modern electrickery is impressive. None of my bikes have it....

Car does. It tells me when I need to change a bulb. Message pops up stating which bulb has gone. :shit:

So far that's it. I am dreading the expected sensor failure.. $$$


That system is probably a canbus, my experience with them has been good. Actual sensors though, yeah that's hit and miss.

[OddDuck]

riding in the city , 32 degrees bike in the 90s , diagnostic warning light came on, everyting on dash seemed o.k and bike running o.k . got home and ran thu diagnostic errors , showed up as fan . googled probs and they suggested check fuse , took LH fairng off and blown fuse , LH fan had stone jammed between fan and mounting bracket . New fuse problem solved , great idea digagnostic readout saved a lot of time and money.

Nice :niceone: I wish a few more things on the 900SS would be this easy!

[WALRUS]

I had my first "Italian moment" on day one of ownership.. No rego', no numberplate but I did have a permit to ride it from the top of my state (off the Ferry) to my home at the time (around 280kms) which was almost entirely 110kmph highway.. Pretty boring stuff but it was the shortest route and the only one my permit allowed.

So about 20km in, my speedo cable broke so for the rest of the trip I had no idea how fast I was going on a road which always has speed cameras all over it. Luckily I had no numberplate so I just got to a speed I was comfy to cruise at and toddled home in 6th gear at around 6,000~ RPM.. I think it's around 140-150 :/

Anywho, that was the first of several times that the Duc' has come over all Italian

The most recent was when I went for a hoon on the 25th of December and noticed that my starter button stuck ON... Thankfully I noticed and killswitched it before I burnt out my poor, old starter motor

[george formby]

The most recent was when I went for a hoon on the 25th of December and noticed that my starter button stuck ON... Thankfully I noticed and killswitched it before I burnt out my poor, old starter motor

Similar happened to my Dad's Multistrada, rode for a morning with the starter motor engaged.

[Laava]

ducati problem.
Welcome to the brotherhood.
why do we do it?

[OddDuck]

Welcome to the brotherhood.
why do we do it?

Red*. Loud. Italian. Sexy**.

Can't wait to bust the 900SS out again!!



* unless it's yellow, silver or black, or maybe Matrix green
** unless it's a Multistrada, what a robot looking bike, I'd still have one though

[Fresh Oats]

Always owned japanese. Always starts on the first go.

[Honest Andy]

Red*. Loud. Italian. Sexy**.
* unless it's yellow, silver or black, or maybe Matrix green

or orange...? :yes:

[Voltaire]

My first Ducati failure was Easter 1987 when the FEDFA had the site on strike again, so took the Darmah from Sydney across to Adelaide for the long weekend. 700kms is a long way two up on a Darmah but on filling up noticed that there were only 3 bolts of the 6 holding the cush drive onto the hub so had to stay the night until the Holden dealer opened.
With that sorted turned out the next petrol station was 300 kms away.....
Its pretty much retired these days only the Club run.
Pic is lost on way to a rally in NSW.

[AllanB]

That's not a failure - it's a fuse doing it's job after the fan was jammed. Could happen to any bike.

[Viking01]

Reading an earlier post on this thread brought a smile to my face.

While I have never been a Ducati owner, one of my regular riding friends
had an ST4S for several years, and we had several experiences of Ducati
"character" on our travels. It got so that I always carried a few extra
tools in my topbox - just in case .... 8-)

One trip on return from the Ngawi lighthouse in the Wairarapa led to the
thermostat packing up, and not being able to get the Duc started again.
Luckily, this occurred whilst still in Ngawi township.

The gentleman with a house directly opposite where we stopped had been
a keen biker in the past, so offered to garage it until we could come over
with the van and collect it. And as it happened, his neighbour was out at
the bach that week-end and was just about to head home (he lived only
1-2 kms away from my friend in Kelburn) .... some people are just lucky.

Later, on a trip up around Northland and the East Cape back in 2011, we
had a number of other little "events". On the way up, one pannier bracket
lost a bolt and suddenly one pannier started to flap vigorously. A very fast
stop followed (on both our parts).

Overtaking an unmarked police car at speed was interesting. Luckily for
him, just a fine (not quite fast enough to have to hand over his keys).

As if two stubby aerials on the top of the boot of the car might not have
been a heads-up, and warranted a further look before the overtake. Still
goes on about this to this day .... about how unlucky he was ... 8-)

And on the way home, the speedo cable decided to part company while
in Gisborne. Luckily, 5th gear at 4,500 rpm (thereabouts) was approx
100 km/hour, so he managed to avoid further roadside contributions.

At that point, we thought we'd used up our "store of good luck", and
that we'd stick to the main roads the rest of the way home (thought
the inland road through Tiniroto might have been pushing the envelope).

Happy days.

[tanken2]

[QUOTE=OddDuck;1131120752]Red*. Loud. Italian. Sexy**.

Can't wait to bust the 900SS out again!!



* unless it's yellow, silver or black, or maybe Matrix green
** unless it's a Multistrada, what a robot looking bike, I'd still have one though[/QUOTE

exactly , and I must stop saying V twin , its a bloody L twin.

read recent article by well known scribe saying Ducatis dropping of the L twin configuration could be suicidal. Porsche decided that the flat aircooled six was done and front engined watercooled V8 ws the go until a new manager arrived and put them straight after seeing how the factory staff reacted.

[tanken2]

[QUOTE=AllanB;1131120772]That's not a failure - it's a fuse doing it's job after the fan was jammed. Could happen to any bike.[/QUOTE

quite true, a slight misshap then

[Voltaire]

[QUOTE=OddDuck;1131120752]Red*. Loud. Italian. Sexy**.

Can't wait to bust the 900SS out again!!



* unless it's yellow, silver or black, or maybe Matrix green
** unless it's a Multistrada, what a robot looking bike, I'd still have one though[/QUOTE

exactly , and I must stop saying V twin , its a bloody L twin.

read recent article by well known scribe saying Ducatis dropping of the L twin configuration could be suicidal. Porsche decided that the flat aircooled six was done and front engined watercooled V8 ws the go until a new manager arrived and put them straight after seeing how the factory staff reacted.

Ducati's parallel twin was hardly a roaring success...
Nor was their scooter.

[WALRUS]

I must stop saying V twin , its a bloody L twin.

Eh, I'll always call it a V-Twin.

They'll still be making 90 Degree twins (both single and dual cam, to my knowledge) for Monsters, Multistradas, etc etc.

[AllanB]

Eh, I'll always call it a V-Twin.

They'll still be making 90 Degree twins (both single and dual cam, to my knowledge) for Monsters, Multistradas, etc etc.


Sure are - I think it's a marketing or owner related thing the 'L' to try and separate the design from the general masses of narrower 'v' twins (HD for example .....).

So if 90 degrees makes the perfect 'L' and any thing under 90 falls into a 'V' configuration (logical) then what would a engine layout exceeding the perfect 'L' be called?

It just becomes a wider 'V' until it hits 180 degrees and them becomes a BMW horizontally opposed twin.

Having written that the 'L' twin jargon makes some sense.

Accepting that I shall now call all BMW boxer engines 'I' twins. BMW should adopt this as anything 'i' is trendy with the younger crowd and hipsters and could be a new marketing tool.

The new 'i-twin' from BMW, complete with brown leather seat and pipe wrap.

[AllanB]

[QUOTE=OddDuck;1131120752]

read recent article by well known scribe saying Ducatis dropping of the L twin configuration could be suicidal.


They certainly don't feel comfortable dropping the Desmo heads.

The introduction of the V4 has been successful in attracting the existing Ducati owners and new ones - interesting they stuck to 90 with that engine layout. It's technically excellent for balancing without the need for extra counter balances, but that does not stop Aprilia or Honda making superb V4 engines.

It would be a interesting exercise to see if changing the L to a narrower V would lose sales. It's probably akin to the discussions at HD about updating their engines - can't change the angle, must leave the gearbox separate, must leave the air filter in the way of your leg .....

[tanken2]

never liked the V ROD just didn't have that Harley look. Only Harley that I would contemplate buying would be the sportster. But then I think some of the Buells are o.k