Yes it could but that's ultra rare, unfortunately collapsed radiator cores or porous cylinder heads on early 1200's aren't.
Just a long shot any chance you could have a air lock in the system try draining and refiling, not a huge amount time or expense don't think you got much to loose by trying.
Yep, that's the next thing to try - history suggests that, in decreasing order of possibility, it would be radiator, thermostat, water pump. I'll pull the rad right off and see what happens when I try to flush it.
No sign of airlocks in't system. Called Ducati Glasgow today and talked it through with them: they're in agreement that it's most likely the rad - just over £900 supply & fit, so they're going to see if Ducati will help on the goodwill side - mine was one of the first handful of 1200s, I've had owner-as-guinea-pig levels of quality issues and the bike only has 15,000 miles on it and FSH. We'll see what happens.
Mine was under 2nd hand dealer warranty when mine went and they replaced it free of charge. I bet you a squillion pounds they just put it through Ducati as a warranty claim though rather than paying out of their own pockets. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
On cars if the thermostat is in the lower hose or water housing on the block and it gets stuck shut the top hose and first few inches of the top of the radiator can be piping hot and the whole lower area if the radiator can be stone cold ..... new thermostat fixes it . Not saying the Rads on the multi are not faulty ..... don't guess ...carry out relevant tests e.g. remove thermostat then re bleed and try again . What if you fit £600 radiator and its excatly the same ?
Indeed. Doing it step-by-step: thermostat first, then fully strip the cooling system, flush out the hoses, see what flow is like through the rad and take it from there. After that, it's a new rad, a ebay second-hander or getting it recored at a specialist. I'm currently trying to get my head around the flow pattern to work out plausible possibilities. A mallet may be involved.
To test the radiator for blockages it might be worth trying to remove it and block the top and bottom hose connections. Then fill it slowly through the cap from a boiled kettle, hopefully you could feel any hot and cold areas to indicate internal blockages. Worth a try? My mate went through all this with his 2010 and hate to say it but his heads were replaced at the 15,000 mile service. Although it was 4 years old and 3rd owner Ducati didn't quibble because it had FSH, he just had to pay for the cost of a Desmo service.
I'm fervently hoping it isn't the heads: there's none of the tell-tale steam coming from them and the bike had the coolant recall done quite early in its mileage. Had the full Desmo service at DG last year and no problems were apparent then. Fingers crossed…
My multi is officially shagged. Finance company should be taking it off my hands I think so it may end up going away as scrap. Basically a brand new rad on it though. Will see what I can wangle. Should know in a week Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
