Yesterday emailed a query to the only Ducati dealer have so far found here in Bulgaria asking about service costs for a 98 Monster 600 that am told needs the valve clearances adjusted it's been sericed elsewhere but the mechanic say he cannot do the valves. here is their quotes:- "Checking the valves costs 235 BGN. If they need to be adjusted it costs anywhere between 400 and 600 BGN" "Annual service - belt and bearing= 550 BGN + 350 mechanic’s work. Oil + filter = 164.36 BGN + 117.60 for mechanic’s work." Man'o'man just how long does it take to do an oil and filter change on the naked 600 Monster? I bet for a lot of workig people here that 117.60 is at least a third to half their weekly wage and how long does it take to check the clearances??? An hour if one has never done it before?
As you’ve posted on a uk forum I’ll respond in sterling. 117BGN seems to equate to 50quid so probably less than most garages hourly labour rate here in Blighty. An old monster won’t be under a warranty (of any worth) so I would say it’s probably worth learning how to do oil/filter changes yourself, they are pretty simple on the old air cooled desmo engines . Belts aren’t hard but need some understanding of the consequences of getting it wrong & valves are fiddly with sometimes awkward access so best left to someone with skills to do so. There are plenty of online guides/videos on all of the above if the maintenance costs of these are problematic. Note once the valves are adjusted they tend to stay in spec for a while if there is nothing worn out in the valve train & sometimes new collects bring changes in clearance back in spec. Anyways I’d say for the jobs you cant do yourself your probably best find an independent Duc mechanic over main dealers for the older bikes.
Ducatis aren't cheap to buy or maintain. My Desmo service in '22 cost around £850 (about 1,900 BGN) at my local independent Ducati guy. That was a comprehensive job; valve clearances (all in spec), change cam belts, oil and filter change, new air filter, new plugs, brake and clutch fluid change as well as a comprehensive check-over. All parts genuine OEM parts, oil Shell 4t Ultra 15W-50. I dread to think what that would have cost at a franchised dealer.
Thnks for the input while 117 leva might be around £55 the cost of living here is vastly diffeent to the UK and wages are also vastly different now oil and filter changes are no problems and fairly adapt at mechanics have just stripped out the hydragas spheres on my MGF and shipped them off to be checked over and regassed they came back and have refitted them and pumped up the suspension to the correct level. Now to remove the rear spheres requires removing lots of stuff like coolant header tank, needed to replace the two front rad hoses so drained the system, the ECU has the be removed and completly unpluged to get it out of the way just before this changed the alternator as the casing had cracked causing it to charge at a reduced rate. Changed the cam belt coolant pump, belt tensioner and fitted a complete new thermostat and housing and oil and filter change is next along with two new rear dampers. So changing the oil on a Monster 600 is not a problem how long does it take? Twenty minutes to half and hour maybe it's not like your draning a couple of gallons of oil out now is it!! Just did a quick online check and the average wage/salary here is about 550 lever per week so as I guessed they want what amounts to a quarter of weeks wages to drop the oil unscrew a filter then screw on a new filter and fill with oil hopefully to the correct level and of the correct grade. Now for some reason oils are damned expensive here and no idea as to why that is. Back to the 600 servicing although I can check the valve clearances fairly easily myself they have already been done and found to be in need of adjustment and as I do not have a handy selection of Ducati shims thought would ask the "experts" whom sadly are in the capital about 270km away not a disatance that makes it viable to pull it down measure what is fitted and pop around in the hope that have the correct shims in stock. Now their charge for adjusting the clearances no doubt they will insisit of checking them first so adding that fee to the bill means that it will cost nearly 1,000 leva that's somewhere near £900 for a couple of hours work now how does that seem reasonable? So far this dealer is the ONLY Ducati one have found am going to ask the dealer and service shop about 1/2 hours drive away if they can do it and how much however it seems to make sense ot not buy this 600 and buy the newer 620ie that only has 7677 miles on it's not that much dearer and it's closer so easier to et it home. No cannot ride it as it's not registered and needs tank cleaned out as has some rust in there. Then can hopefully find somewhere closer than can do the valves when they need doing. Oh looks like I just bought that 2002 Monster Dark 620ie. Plezier Plezier
Ahhh well luckily we will only be doing small mileages heck have only done a bit over 3000km since laste December in the car and over 500 of that was last Friday on my trip to Sofia and back yesterday was another 200 km to Ruse and back to look at that 900 Monster. Anyhow have just minutes ago agreed to buy the 620ie Dark it will be a few days as translator who assisits me in registration with KAT dealings is going over the contract and filling in the details required in Bulgarian for me. Plezier
Expensive everywhere. Just bought two litres of Shell 4T Ultra 15W-50, looked around for best price. Cost £27.00 (62 BGN, 31 BGN/litre)
I looked while I was in the motorcycle shop when I bought my universal paddock stand last Monday not sure if they were 1 1/2 or 2 litre bottles Motul was one make did not see one priced at under 120 leva which is just shy of £60 and that was the cheapest price I noticed the rest were all higher and some a lot higher like over 200 leva per bottle. I forget how much had to pay for 2 gallons of 20/50 for the TVR but that was 6 years ago. Cheap 10/40 from the bulk drum at the gas station is about 50 leva for 5 litres (bring your own bottle) the oil for the Discovery TD5 when I had that changed just before selling it was 248 leva. That's about £116!!!! Will find out soon as will have to buy oil and a filter for the oil change.
Had my SF1098S serviced with new belts, all filters, all fluids, plugs, clutch basket cleaned and set and it felt like a new bike, think it was £700 which I think, for the result was money well spent. The newer bikes have 2 hours of updates and a wipe over and they never feel any different..
But it’s not just the change of oil and filter is it? There are about 30 other checks that should be done whilst the bike is there and that doesn’t include being thorough and demounting brake callipers, removing pads, cleaning the pistons and making sure they move freely and aren’t stuck, then reassembling same.
Yes it is if I take the bike in for an oil and filter change that is what I expect to have done! However if I take it in for a full service that is another matter entirely. Also where possible I would be checking on the parts used like the filter type and make as it's not unknown for cheaper pattern parts to be used by customer billed for more expensive OEM stuff like I said it's just greed. Well so far here only have personal experience of Mercedes Main dealer service and to say that I was less than impressed is a huge understatement in fact my experience with garage services here is less than steller the only thing that IS guaranteed is that the will NOT listen to you! They then do what they think and that means the chances of what you took the vehicle in for will not even be looked at never mind resolved. If I take a vehicle in for an oil change and new filter that is what I expect now if they happen to notice something then yes i would expect them to point it out which is what we did when I worked in a service place 27 odd years ago unless it was obviously dangerous you just informed them and it was up to them then what to do about it. However on an oil and filter change that is what was done you did not go poking around the brakes, removing pads and caliper pistons what the heck have they got to do with an engine oil change that's just drumming up work and padding out the bill. Hmmmm perhaps when the valves on the 620 do need doing maybe i'll just pop the heads off and just take the heads in to be done . That reminds me must go and put together the universal paddock stand that I bought ready for the 620 when it gets here.
Maybe it’s a communication issue between you and the dealer then for if you ask an official Ducati franchised dealer for an oil service they have a list, from Ducati, of other things they are supposed to check at the same time as part of the ‘oil service’. Thus to you the oil service is drain the oil, change the filter, refill the oil, whereas to the official dealer it’s that plus 30 other things they’re expected to check.
A suggestion for you, as mentioned above, you can learn to do everything yourself, and a good start is to buy L T Snyder’s book Desmodue from Desmotimes.com https://desmotimes.com/product-category/products/books-promotional-items/ it really is an excellent guide
Thankyou for that am going to be downloading a service manual as although it's baely run in with such low mileage time means that things need renewing and lube/grease with have dried and brke fluid will have absorbed moisture after all it is 22 years old. In my research and reading so far have found that things like head stock bearing are known to dry out then wear so those will be cleaned and repacked with new grease the rear suspension linkage will be cleaned and greased need to get some chain lube. Cables lubed and linkages lubed. The cam belts were changed he said but that was in 2010. Plezier
Oil change - They probably book 1 hr or more if they do checks over the bike - As a franchise, they would need to do routine check on all the bikes going via them, no matter that a mechanic looked over the bike before. Brake system, air system, tightness of bolts, plays in wheels / pivots, etc. Oil is also majorly expensive now. For valve clearances, it is relatively easy to check, quite another job to adjust. Opening clearance is quite easy but closers have quite a bit more involved, especially with the engine in the bike. You don't want somebody who drops a valve or loses half a ring in the heads. Yes there is the time to do the work, but also the know-how, the stock of opening/closing shims to replace with, and the liability for getting it wrong. All this has a price.
For books - I have bought a few and the Red Barron Desmo Manual is probably the best one for me, though I only have old versions of Desmotimes. I should probably buy the new ones. Lots of details for all models, good photos, well explained.
I don't think that you'll get answers to your challenges if you have already made up your mind that all dealers are daylight robbers and that all Ducati centres can be painted with the same tar brush as Mercedes dealerships. I have spent time looking at dealers because I was suspecting that work wasn't being done and also developed some ability (and a large quantity of tools) to work on the bikes myself. It made me appreciate a lot better the work involved in certain tasks (like resetting a valve clearance). And yes, there are some garages where I would probably not go, but I also know many Ducati service centres where they do the job properly, and yes it costs, because they have developed the skills, trained, take the time to do it right, have the adequate tools, etc, etc.
From Pipercross via eBay. In fact it was a little cheaper than that as I bought 2 with the quantity discount.
Went to the local bike dealer/shop to get the rear tyre but it seems they have to order it in should be a cople of days so maybe Wednesday? The visit cost enough as bought 4 litres of Motul 5100 10-50w at 110 leva, 2x plugs, oil filter, chain cleaner, chain lube, brake cleaner adaptors for my front paddock stand to fit the forks stop/tail bulbs. Have put the rear wheel back in so bike can be moved. It still is a bitch to start even with new plugs the petrol in the tank is horrid orange colour so drained the tank and removed it. Damn that filler thing is a right bar-steward to get off. One of the breather hoses just snapped off so tomorrow go into town and see if can get some new submersible fuel hose and a new fuel filter have taken some photos of the inside of the tank just need to download them. Looks like will have to get someone else to pull out the fuel pump and my forearm is too big to get ito the tank through that hole. The darned rubber seal for the fuel filler broke up so that's something else Ducati wise need to order. Will also have to order the cam belts myself as where ever they get their parts from are expensive though asking it seems that yes they can do Ducati 2 valve clearance adjustment and have shims. Plezier
