Currently just over a week into a 3-month USA & Canada tour on my UK 2018 Multi 1260 PP. 9,500 miles on the clock. A couple of days ago when coming off the Blue Ridge Parkway in Cherokee, North Carolina, after 7+ hours in torrential rain and wind. My bloody engine management light pops up! The bike appears to run okay so I limp it into the motel and start to look for a Ducati dealer to get it looked at.... Closest one is 150 miles away in Chatanooga, Tennessee (Pandoras European Motorcycles) but fortunately they say come in the next day. The Tech/Mechanic hooks up the computer and comes back with code P0012 - Cam Timing Incorrect / Not Reaching Max! He says it's the worst code you could have and my heart sinks... The options given were: Option 1, Let the engine run both hot, cold, under load etc while the diagnostics monitor the cam timing. Data from the DDS says it found 105kv and 75kv. Once the code was removed, it didn't/hasn't returned. I told the Tech to take it out for a test ride, and ride it hard. He does around 20 miles and comes back with the all clear. Option 2, Open her up and confirm the timing manually. At the cost of around $1,200. As I'm on tour and want to be absolutely sure the bike is sorted, I suggest we confirm manually but the Tech said he 99.9% believes it was a glitch due to being in the rain for 7+ hours as the cam sensor is exposed to the elements on the front cylinder. The bike has full Ducati history and an invoice from Pro Twins for the belts at 6,500 miles. A point worth noting... Just minutes before the light popped up, I'd changed into Sport mode, from Touring and been using the quick shifter aggressively. Moments after going back to Touring mode, the light pops up?? If anyone has knowledge or experienced this code/fault before, any advice would be great. The bike had done 300 miles today and not missed a beat but I'm still thinking I may drop by a Dealer in the next day or two to confirm the timing is correct via another DDS/Diagnostic. Thanks in advance James
If you’ve done 300 odd miles and it feels ok surely you’d feel it in the engine if the timing was out. Have to say it sounds like the rain could have been a contributing factor. Did you fly the bike to the States or ship it? Do you mind if I ask how much for the bike’s return trip? Sounds interesting and why not post up pics and info from your tour?
Sounds like an amazing trip, i hope the error doesn’t come back. Let’s have some pictures from the trip!
Keep riding, more than likely some water ingress somewhere due to all the rain if you have done 300 miles with no returning error I think you should be safe
I know it’s not the same but a few years ago we had just started out on a European tour and whilst heading towards Paris on the Autoroute my bike totally cut out at about 85mph. I coasted to the hard shoulder, turned off and on again and it seemed fine. But it then did it another three times before we got to the Autotrain. We took the bike into a Ducati dealer but no fault codes were logged? I was really worried for a few days but the issue never came back and the bike was fine so eventually I was able to relax and enjoy riding. Hopefully yours is just a one off and you have a fabulous trip.
Had the light on my 1260s come on, yellow, not red, on the autoroute in the south of France a couple of years back. Stopped, checked and cycled ignition to no avail. Cleared itself later that day after a few ignition cycles with riding in between. Checked codes once back in the UK and it stated rear wheel sensor error. Quite why that illuminated the engine management light? Can't have separate lights for everything I suppose. Took the sensor out and found light damage to the sensor surface, still worked and had done so ever since. Must have been a bit of road debris. Not the same thing but still a temporary glitch with no onward consequences. My money is on the water theory.
Thanks for the responses guys. I'm just about to head out and join the Natchez Trace scenic byway at Tupelo heading south towards Baton Rouge / New Orleans. I'm not one for social media but I'll get some pics uploaded this evening. Thanks again.
Air freight from Heathrow to JFK. Outbound costs all in £2,500. I've decided to air freight from Vancouver to UK on the return leg too. Return should be a bit cheaper at around £1,800.
I think the lesson we can all learn here is that Ducati’s don’t like motorways. I’ve never had these issues, and never ride on motorways, so there’s the answer.
I've had my bike on nothing but motorways for 14+ hours in a single day. It chewed through a ltr of oil (expected and topped up), outside of that, it was a breeze of a journey. On the flip side, I've had a short Sunday blast of no more than 2h before where the orange engine light cropped up for no reason and went after cycling ignition, with that in mind. I'd say it's just a Ducati thing, still not tanks but they at least don't fall apart as quickly anymore
