In this situation, there is a danger disease will be transferred into the human food chain from the cow shit (e.g. BSE/mad cow disease) and then you will begin to imagine problems with your bike :biggrin:
Blimey Dave, it does sound like you've had a tough time ! And yes, sounds like you've had pretty much every issue going. Most of us only suffer one or possibly two. mine was in the first batch of bikes delivered to the UK, so I had some of the initial teething problems, and to some extent educated the dealers to things. I don't commute on my bike, or ride it daily, but it does get ridden regularly. Its primary purpose is as a sports tourer for us. We do a lot of weekend and week long trips. So far it has not let us down on any of these. Even this engine issue last June was a distraction rather than a written off trip. Nothing has stopped me from riding the bike, and all service bulletins etc were addressed in a timely manner. I guess its one of those bikes you just love AND hate, at the same time. It is so good we want to forgive it for any of its issues, but in your case I guess its hard to do.
Well John I often read posts such as yours saying they have had a early bike with the niggles , mine isnt a early bike , I bought it just before Christmas of last year and its a 2012 model although registered at end of 2011 , I dont think Ducati have resolved anything at all , the early and later bikes are as near as damn it identical , what further irritates me is this coolant recall ! , I dont want a coolant recall , what is that all about ? Is the motor so fragile that Ducati are having too change the coolant as they envisage major probs ahead ? , changing the coolant wont and shouldnt make a toss of difference to anything at all , I dont belive for one minute that modern motorcycle coolants have much if any different chemical or liquid properties ?, thats like saying bring your bike in we are going to change the oil from Castrol to something else ! I would like a gearbox recall , a back brake recall, a fix the electrical system recall , a fix the ex flapper valve recall , a make the run bike properly when cold recall , etc etc
:biggrin::biggrin::biggrin: Your right they are, but there were issues that were addressed early on. For example, the Exhaust actuator cable did not have the long metal bit on the end of it on the early bikes. Consequently the plastic melted, and in one or two cases nearly caught fire (mine included). Things like excessive movement in the rear light unit (AndyW or Monty came up with a fix that they adopted), and headlights poorly adjusted (more so than now !). Actually there are different types of coolant, and it appears from their findings that the one they were using is the incorrect one. I do agree though that they made the engine, so should have known which type to put in ! The troubling thing is that you should not mix them, so I hope they flush the system well Now your talking ! I was frustrated to find the 'improved' 2013 models don't address any of the long standing issues most of us have, such as the crap rear brake, gearbox (for some), and fitting decent stoppers on the front too. Thats partly why I'm not changing, because I would simply be getting a new bike with improvements I don't really need, but the issues I wanted fixed still there. I can live with mine, and will put some money into improving things myself. Not ideal, but I can then get it exactly how I want it. In this respect the warranty has actually stopped me from changing some things, to ensure I don't invalidate it.
Thats been my train of thought too with regard to the warranty , Im afraid to touch the bloody thing in case its used as a excuse to invalidate the warranty , especially after having my selling dealer telling me im the only Multi customer thats had any prpblems and insinuating that its down to last winters riding around in the ice and salt etc Funny you should mention the rear light as mine along with the whole section flaps up and down when the bikes ticking over and looks like its about to snap off at any minute , this is just one of many little issues that ive not mentioned as ive been more concerned with the serious ones I know many might think im a whinger but I can only compare this bike to others ive had in the past , Im the same person thats treated all my bikes the same way and never have I had a crock of shit us unreliable as this before , I even had a Harley in the 90s for a couple of years and that never missed a beat , Ive had a succession of big Yamahas over the past ten years and had far less trouble with all of them put together than this Ducati , My only memories of bikes as unreliable or nearly as unreliable as this are .... BSA 250 C15 which was 10 years old when I had it and a 1977 440 Maico motocrosser which I attempted to race when the frame wasnt cracking and the thing would actually run for more than 10 minutes
Dave, i have to agree, why do you still have it? I realise that basically you may still have some feeling for it, but get shot of the bloody thing.
and get the cow shit covered thing out of the kitchen because if the GF sees that ..... and he looks so happy in his photo :tongue:
I have no doubt that we have all had bikes from various manufacturers that have had serious issues. I personally would not go near an Aprilia again due to the appalling way they treat their warranty claims. A mate had a Speed Triple that blew up a week out of warranty and Triumph would not help him. RIDE mag had a new CBR600RR blow up on them a couple of years back with no reason given for why. Unfortunately nothing is perfect in this world. Best advice Dave is to get rid and move on.
I nearly went elsewhere for my next bike because of some of these horror stories. However, once you delve a bit deeper you realise its luck of the draw. BMW gs? drive shaft seals, immobiliser failure, rear wheel bearing...and more can all leave you stranded, not to mention dodgy switchgear across many models in the BM range. Breakdowns on bikes I have witnessed 1st hand; Kawasaki 636 (1year old) camshaft position sensor, bike in France for 3 weeks till parts sourced and fitted! Honda vfr 800 overheating Honda (a different vfr800, both low miles examples) Regulator/rectifier failure Suzuki gsxr 1000 K8 (mine!) broke down due to fuse box corrosion...the bike is/was immaculate with only 5k miles at the time (a K8 problem) My Fz1s used to cut out, owned from new and was traced to a sidestand switch.... I wont bore you with more, enough to say that all manufacturers have issues.
Having ridden with mainly Ducati shod riders for a few years now, when we have a breakdown its always the same bike...or a nn Ducati rider who has joined us. All makes and models have issues, look at the car world where every TDI Vw for 2 years had dodgy coils! It happens, but the issue is that if something major does, getting used at a reasonable cost is far more difficult than a Jap equivalent. But thats Ducati; premium brand with premium prices.
Can't believe that the gearbox problem is endemic to this model. Ducati have surely been making much the same gearboxes for aeons and they all work fine. The whole thing sounds like a Friday afternoon bike. If they were all this bad, the reputation of the Multi - and Ducati - would be mud. And it isn't.
I can help with the coolant question, some coolants have silica (fine sand) in them these were used alot in the old days when engines were cast steel they added it to wear any rust down in the water gallerys so they didnt become blocked, these days more often than not they use chemicals to prevent this happening but theres diffrent chemicals depending on the grade of the aluminium and the joints material (gaskests /O rings) that keep them sealed if they use the wrong type it can wear / eat away at parts of the engine and cause it to leak into places it shouldnt like your Sidi's or Alpine stars. And I do also have to agree with some of the chaps that have just posted, Why have you still got it?. If your bike has an electrical fault that is draining your battery it sounds like it might just burst into flames somewhere up the M6 near junction 42 ;-p
Now this is interesting. I had the coolant changed a few weeks before Xmas, rode it home and parked it. It is now in for testing as I noticed a pool of water under it, emanating from the front cylinder head area.
I have to agree, Dave you were unlucky and got a bad un, just sell the bike and move on, my last bike an Aprilia Dorsoduro had an oil leak at 1000 miles and the engine had to be removed to fix it, the reservoir covers corroded twice and had to be replaced under warranty, all makers have problems.....
