I've noticed that if my bike is parked up for 3-4 days then there is a fair amount of smoke coming from the front cylinder rocker cover. Initially it looked like a few drops of oil on the exhaust, but it has been getting worse and seems to come from the cover now. It also smells a bit odd (not like burning oil). When I use the bike everyday it doesn't happen just after a gap over the weekend. Once the bike is warm it stops. I was thinking it might be a rocker cover gasket? What were the symptoms of leaky cylinder heads?
again dont know the bike but is there a breather pipe coming off that area,split and leaking perhaps ? not something silly like you spraying wd40 over engine?. umm,...ummm...coolant overflow? any gasket leak would just get worse all the time spesh while running,engine pressure up etc..
the symptoms are that starting the bike up becomes more and more difficult. there is a coolant/antifreeze smell and additional vapour (not smoke - more like a cold morning mist) on start up. as it gets worse - over days or weeks (doesn't take long to get worse once starts) the temperature will not settle at 70-80 C you will notice it creeps to 100 or more and doesn't come down and starts hitting "HI". And your coolant bottle at the front will empty. ...bugs.
Sounds like you might have a coolant leak above the front cylinder, maybe a hose or something..? Have you checked your coolant level?
Is yours a single spark engine and if so, have you had new cylinder heads? If the answers to the above are yes then no, you may have the faulty, anti-freeze corroded cyclinder heads which need replacing. Should be a warranty (read not fit for purpose) job as I believe it is a few grands worth of work? Mine stank really weirdly (not oil) when running and steamed out of the cam belt covers.
Mine had similar wisps of smoke from the front cylinder head as it warmed up. The tell tale sign is the condensation smoke at start up even when the engine is warm. Then it's time for the dealer to diagnose and most likely have your heads replaced. That is assuming you have an earlier single spark engine. If you do a search you should find more info posted previously.
Thanks for the feedback, I'll clean everything off and have a better look at the weekend. I have a single spark engine and the coolant was replaced some time ago. As I say it's only when it's been left for 2-3 days on a Monday morning if I haven't been out over the weekend. When I after just one day or later the same day for the ride home it's fine.
My 2010 only "failed" after I had the coolant changed to the right type. That "change" of coolant obviously exacerbated the corrosion that had already occurred?
I am interested in this as had my 2010 MS serviced recently then did not use it for a month. The smoking thing happened to me as well. Is it 100% covered under recall work or is it a case of arguing? Before the service this never happened.
It's now such a well known problem that you should not have any problems even though the bike is outside of warranty. If it is the coolant corrosion problem then make sure they change both cylinder heads (likely only one pot has gone). Search the forums for the full details so that you are armed but if you go to a good dealer then should be no problem. They can identify with a compression check if in doubt.
Twin4me - I had the exact same thing happen to my Multi 1 year ago last Feb. I first noticed a little steam from the horizontal cylinder where the header pipe connects to the cat - smelled like coolant. It got worse over about a weeks time than began starting up on only one cylinder with the 2nd kicking in several seconds later. Corroded head. Ducati replaced both at their cost, but I was still under warranty at the time. Good luck with this one. It's major.
Rick - did the steam stop after about 30 seconds though? This is what happens on mine. I'll post a video to show what happens.
Twin4me - Yes. As soon as the bike warmed up, it stopped and ran just fine. I did notice that it was running a bit hot, but other than that, it ran fine.
Here is a video of the bike at start up after being parked for 6 days. This morning (after 1 day) it did not smoke at all.
Booked in at P&H for them to have a look at it on Monday, they said it sounds like it might the heads. They said Ducati look at this on a case by case basis but if you have a full service history they are usually pretty reasonable at approving a good will repair. I know shit happens and I've owned Italian bikes in the past but I will be very upset if they turn a claim down on such a well documented problem.
Definitely a porous head leaking coolant into the exhaust. Mine did the same a year ago at 22,000 miles. Ducati covered it although the bike was more than a year out of warranty and the work was done by Ducati Glasgow. It took about 3 weeks from me reporting the problem to them to getting the bike back with 2 new heads fitted.
Yup, same as mine. I would not buy a single spark bike that hadn't had the heads replaced as this is all too common. Just wonder how many years Ducatis "good will" can last?
