Long time lurker, first time poster I’ve had my 2018 1260S for a few weeks now and up until yesterday it was spot on. During a spirited ride into the office I noticed a hesitation type feeling (felt like a misfire) when accelerating hard with the throttle wide open. Thought it was the traction control at first but it happened again on the way home and today also during testing. Took a look at the exhaust flapper and disabled that for a start - no difference (it was moving freely). Hooked up the code reader - nothing logged The bike has just over 7k with full history so the next one is the biggie Desmo. I’m thinking it’s probably leads / plugs going on what I’ve read elsewhere on here. Leads being top of my list (they don’t often throw fault codes in my experience so it “fits” so to speak). Fuel is always super and it’s had a recent Lucas injector cleaner treatment. Steady, progressive, throttle application doesn’t bring out the fault. Only a handful, so it’s high engine load related. Anyone had similar / resolved with new leads / plugs or am I barking up the wrong tree?
Interesting, hadn’t considered that but will deffo pay more attention next time out. It’s more like the engine is holding back if I keep it held open. The initial splutter passes in most cases and then it’s jerky but consistent slow acceleration. The 1260 is well capable of pulling my arms off when it’s singing……it’s more like a feeling of retardation rather than total spark loss, which I’d expect with a QS jumping in, if there makes sense?
I had a similar issue with my 1260 MTS, unrelated to my left foot hovering anywhere near the QS and took mine into Riders, Bridgwater, as it was still under warranty. Hard on the throttle the bike would literally baulk and throw my head towards the screen, almost like total power loss in an instant. Unless my memory is failing me, I recall they replaced the QS, my bike being a March 2018 MTS, with currently circa 13k mileage. Since this was done, no repetition. Perhaps the way to go......
Try it with the QS switched off and see what happens. Also had the QS replaced twice on on my 2018 1260S.
Thanks for the suggestions on the QS. Sod’s law it’s lashing down outside now but will give it a whirl next run out I wouldn’t have expected the QS to behave like that. Clearly I need to learn the “Ducati” way
I've had a couple of similar issues, on a 1200 not 1260, but thought worth a mention just in case. Horizontal top plug lead caused a missfire when damp/wet, where the lead goes into the plug cap, the seal had deteriorated and causing arcing to the head. 2nd issue was the side stand switch, this caused a momentary total cut out at high load/revs possibly coinciding with clutch pull.
First chance for a proper ride today. Disabled the DQS…..no change Next stop - ignition leads and plugs (along with a service). Interestingly, when I set off this morning I managed to stall the bike waiting to come out of a junction. It was then a total pain to start! Took maybe 4 attempts and I had to give it some throttle to bring it back to life. It just stalled without any additional throttle. it’s a big twin. It’s cold. I get that. I was still surprised how hard to was to get going again!
Slight butterfly valve imbalance between the two injector bodies? They're fly by wire on yours, yes? Sounds exactly like a recent problem with my Beemer - yes, feeling exactly like the ignition is retarded a bit.
It's fixed I ended up replacing all the spark plugs (£56 for the 4 x plugs) and all the ignition leads (£134 for the 4 x genuine Ducati ignition leads). Pretty sure if was just the horizontal centre plug that was playing up.......and that would be due to the water that had pooled in the spark plug well . The give-away was the water that was pulled out with the ignition lead cap as it was removed It's the plug that is most exposed to the elements so if the cap isn't 100% sealing water WILL get past it and flow down to the plug. That's the poblem with the Ducati L-Twin design, the plug well is actually downhill from the head face to the sparkplug All in all it was actually a straightforward job to replace all the leads and the plugs. The horizontal cylider is easy and can be done with only having to remove the sump guard and the left fairing (as you look at the bike). Routing the leads isn't hard, bit fidly, but making a good note of how the OEM ones run before you remove them means the reverse process is straightforward. Ducati even make it near impossible to mix up the leads. For each pair, one will have a nylon braid, the other will be plain The vertical secondary sparkplug is the hardest due to the poor clearance. I followed the advice on here and sinply ground a couple of flats onto a 14mm socket and removed / replaced the plug using that. A crow-foot for the torque wrench meant I could tighten it to factory spec without a problem. The upper most ignition lead is a bit more fiddly as it run UNDER the pair valve (at least that's what it looks like to me). Not end of the world stuff, I just needed to remove the bracket that holds the tank rubber position mounts to make it easier. So, with the physical work done I hooked up the diagnostics and cleared the ECU adaptation values. It's recommended for a few jobs, sparkplug replacement being one of them Took it out for a run and it's riding better than I think it ever has since I bought it a few weeks back. Full throttle now just means loads of torque.....as it should do from a 1260 V-twin Took a few piccies: Horizontal (top) plugs (old vs. new) Horizontal (top) ignitition lead boot 1 Horizontal (top) ignitition lead boot 2 Horizontal (top) ignitition lead boot 3 All plugs (old) All ignition leads (old)
It may be worth looking into the Evotech engine guard as it stops most, if not all the direct splash back from the front wheel hitting the front cylinder. https://evotech-performance.com/col...da-1260-s-engine-guard-protector-2018-onwards
He has a point here. Had one of these from new on my 1260s and there's thankfully* one already fitted to my 1260 Pikes Peak. The earlier bike did 25000 miles, I didn't shy away from riding in the rain, and no issues with the HT leads tracking. I also believe that the leads have been improved to try and mitigate this issue. * fitting the head guard to a bike with milage/age can be problematic as it requires removal of a nut on one of the front exhaust studs. You need to be careful that this hasn't seized, especially as it's exposed to road crud and moisture along with heat. There's a risk of shearing the stud.
Hello. Thank you for the tip. I came back from the Ducati dealer today. The cause was indeed a defective spark plug + spark plug cap of the horizontal cylinder. ( rust formation !! ) Water does indeed come into contact with this all the time. Had everything installed new and the engine runs perfectly again. Thank you for the tip! Greetings Alex
