I wrote to Ducati Customer Service in Italy and asked them regarding belts and life cycle. I had info from a major OEM automotive company to back up that the 2 year change was totally unnecessary. They didn't reply to my enquiry which leads me to believe it is a scam. My car is happy at 130,000 miles on it's original belts, now it's got that far it is uneconomical to change them so the risk is not there anymore for me.
they didn't reply to your enquiry because of all the ball breaking you did with your 999. They probably just thought "Eh, Giacomo... whena dissa cock gonna roll over en die?" You should have gone in wearing a false name and one of those silly nose and glasses combos - all in disguise like and buttered them up that way
This is a very good topic. Gates produce millions of belts for millions of vehicles that do many untold thousands of miles and years of running and standing without the two year obligatory change that Ducati recommend. My Skoda 1.9 tdi has now done 75000 miles since the last belt change five years ago and I never give the belt a thought, so why I am I so paranoid when it comes to my Ducatis? They sit for six months of the year and then maybe do 3000 miles between them if I am lucky. Each very tiny camshaft is driven by one very strong belt and is hardly over stressed so why the urgency to replace after two years? Could this be a severe case of over caution? Exige, any chance of posting the info from the OEM automotive company?
I turn my engine every couple of weeks when its stored, and always have and always will change belts at 12,000 miles or 2 years, whichever is soonest. I'd rather it that way than risk it.
Afraid not, it was a discussion at work with an acquaintance who runs a UK engine plant. He checked with his people and suggested it should much greater than 2 years and they were stiffing us. In 'years' there was no reason to be different for similar timescales to the cars using similar belts but perhaps with reduced mileage due to the slightly increased work environment of the belt. Even if you quarter it this will be 5 years or 15,000 miles. Here is an honest quote from someone who makes a living out of servicing Ducati's (Ducati John in Leeds). Not used him but only heard good things and his info on his web site is very open. He shares his knowledge on things to look for on there too! 'The most frequently asked question I receive is about cam belts, no prizes for guessing that. They are more durable than people think, I've only ever seen one snapped belt on a road bike and that was a well neglected specimen. However I do support the change every 2 year regime as the result of a snapped belt is, again no prizes for this, catastrophic!!' So, for someone working on Ducati's for a living for nearly 20 years - starting in British Superbikes, it is quite surprising he has only ever seen one failure (which showed neglect anyway) don't you think?
And don't forget that although the belt has a to run a tighter radius than most car belts due to a smaller pulley, it has pretty much no load on it at all. You can turn a desmo cam set by hand with ease, try doing that on anything with proper valve springs! It's already been mentioned, and I have also found, that belts when removed go straight back to the oval shape they have when new. I've probably got close to a dozen hanging in my workshop, all the same.
But aren't you making the point here of why they should have different intervals: 1) "They sit for six months of the year" - the quote below from Mr R's earlier post shows experience of belts "holding shape" when the bike has been sitting. Surely if they're holding shape they have been affected structurally in some way? 2) "Each very tiny camshaft" - the cam pulleys on your Ducati are probably much smaller than on a VW diesel therefore the belt has to be "deformed" more in each rotation. I doubt you rev your TDi like you do your Ducati and there's another reason for the difference. I dare say that the lower volume manufacturing by Ducati can lead to greater tolerances in the first place that need to be accounted for - guessing here though. Maybe the heat dissipation is different in a car as well as bikes are ruled more by packaging the components than anything else. So there are many different reasons that the service interval of the belts should be different. Ducati have stated the service intervals and it's up to the owner how much risk they're willing to accept. As I'm paranoid I bought my belts from a Ducati dealer, they were only about £90 and it's a straightforward job so it's not like it's such a big deal. Obviously if your bike is in warranty it's expensive but no more of a rip off than what you pay for an oil/filter service so not sure on why there's always a hang up on belts. Ducati will change to chains at some point and then following the demise of dry clutches we'll have "Italian Hondas" and everyone will be happy!
It is not detrimental for either amorphous or crystalline materials to take a set such as seen in this application, why would it be? It's a physical property of all polymer based structures, some more than others agreed, but not detrimental at all. The tighter the turn and the more time in one position the more you will see, but it won't generally be more than gravity will overcome anyway. Not detrimental or significant to this conversation (my view only of course but I work in the automotive sector in a senior Technical Management roll in polymer engineering & component design - albeit not in the process that makes timing belts). It is of course personal choice as to what people believe and do on their own bikes. I think it is well worth discussing the truth however, to allow people to make 'informed decisions'. I know one Engine manufacturer who says we are being duped - there are not many engine manufacturers in the UK - they make hundreds of thousands of Engines and know what they are talking about far more than any of us and likely far more than Ducati do to with their massive R&D. All the factors were discussed that have been mentioned and they say it is daylight robbery so I will believe them - I have made my personal decision and I'm happy with it, especially when Ducati refused to comment.
When it comes to bike we are being conned. How do the dealers make their money apart from sales? It comes from servicing. The Citroen turbo diesel engines have a 150,000 mile cam belt change interval so why does the bike not - because the dealers need to keep some work coming in. BMW is a prime example. Their cars have service intervals of 30,000+ miles for an oil oil change but their bikes need one at 6,000, why, because the bike dealers need to earn a living where car buyers want a car that is cheap to run and cheap to service.
Pretty much, there are a few other considerations which would lessen the service and belt intervals on bikes but not to the extent of what is the current reality, belts on Ducati's in particular. Personally I would keep the oil changes as current but ignore somewhat the belt interval of 2 years.
The timing chain on my works 330d went at 46k miles and less than 2 years old. The BMW workshop know of 14 others that have failed but BMW won't admit to there being a problem. Maybe they should change the chain at 30k when they do the oil ! BBC One - Watchdog - BMW deny engine failures are due to manufacturing fault
Was the chain the cause or was it elsewhere that caused the chain failure - if the chain is faulty it could go anytime - perhaps more in line with Ducati servicing intervals would help
Okay so you don't believe that it is 30+seconds, let us assume that you have a well designed engine and use a thin oil so it only takes 15 seconds to reach the furthest camshaft away from the oil pump. You start your bike with the fast idle lever on as it is cold and when cold the oil is thick. Upon start up the revs go to 1600 rpm, so in the 15 seconds your engine has turned over 400 times and the camshaft 200 times without oil! That will cause some wear.
