So travelling home the other day, went to pop it into sport mode and I get des error and 'check engine light'. Worried me slightly as anything with check engine light normally means expensive. Consulted the manual when at home - basically something wrong with suspension ecu. Took it into stealers (new ducati place in dublin) and they plugged it into the computer. Suspension ECU is fried. They said late 2010, early 2011 bikes had ohlins ecus - new ones ducatis. The ohlins ones give up after a while so says tech... Luckily it did it now, I have 2 months left of warranty!! *phew* Hopefully this will be it and nothing wrong with the forks/shock itself.
Same thing has happen to mine, will be takin it up to Rossa Ducati Dublin soon, also dash is flashin like a christmas tree except my warranty expired last month but Ducati are standin by it untill Dublin opened so need to get up there ASAP.
great stuff... they seem to have a slick outfit but not much in the way of ducatis... plenty of triumphs and tassle bikes (harleys). Hope they make a go of it - loads of places in dublin dissappear over night.
Same happened here last September, It would not be so bad with only an error, but the dash lights up and the indicators flash, so you cant even ride to the dealer. Well u can, but the old bill might see you and wonder what you were up to with all the flashing lights
Maigrait, same for me. went to start bike in the morning having riden the day before. switched on des error displayed. ridable still but gone in for new ecu only. i asked about the shock but told ecu fault only. month and a half left on warranty.
Yep. just had mine inspected at Riders. they wanted to change the shock and ecu but Ducati wouldnt let them. By trial and error they found out it was the shock that needs replacing. Only happens when switching out of Urban mode on mine.
So how do they know it's the shock too? When mine went, dealer said it may be the shock, but in the end they only replaced the ecu...
yeh thats worrying if it could be the shock as well. Ah well my argument will be I registered the problem with you before warranty is up so they have to do whatever to get it through...
They had to swap out each one to confirm which part needed replacing. They werent too happy with Ducati about it as it took them twice as long to locate the problem
The DES error can be caused by a failure in the Ohlins rear shock reservoir, it uses nylon gears to drive the fluid for compression settings and they have been known to strip. The solution is a whole new Ohlins rear shock unit (under warranty). If you cant hear the motor running and cant see the back end rising when selecting the Rider + Luggage setting it could be the rear shock.
my suspension ecu replaced under warranty only, not shock. seems the job but will use veetwin's test too confirm it. Vee where is the best place to look to see the movement please.
just watch the whole rear end rise up when selecting Rider + Luggage and then drop again when selecting rider only - works in any mode. I dont know the gap between the top of the tyre and underside of pillion seat but it is very noticeable. If the Rear Shock motor is not running / pumping then there will be no movement and no whirring noise from the unit.
Or to put it even more simply, set one setting to rear preload = 1, and another to rear preload = 16. That will ensure you are going from minimum to maximum (and back, if you so choose), so you will "see" the maximum amount of movement.
If you change from sport to urban or urban to sport and watch the top of the rear shock you will notice the piston moving in and out! See Ducati Multistrada 1200 Ohlins Electronic Preload Adjustment - YouTube
Thanks guys all working now and bike feels much sharper (all in the mind maybe) but i wonder if before you get the error message if the suspension is already failing to some degree?
Hi, first post here, just found this site searching for this problem (used to use Ducatisti). My 1200S came up with the D-ES preload error on Sunday at 10,500 miles - was diagnosed as a faulty rear unit yesterday. My bike is literally a couple of weeks beyond 2 years old, but thankfully I took out the 1 year extension, so a new unit is on order! Shame as I am heading off for a 3k mile euro trip next week and the unit won't be replaced until I get back, but at least it is "stuck" in Sport mode - would be a bummer if stuck in Enduro? This bike was going to be a long term keeper (I had originally ordered a base model), but these kind of electrical glitches do worry me going forward, as they are always mega-bucks to repair.
With mine the error is gone once the bike has been switched off and stationary for a while. All booked in next week for the fix.
Holy sh1t, 2 weeks of warranty left & I get the error message last night whilst out for a little jaunt. My bike is a July 2010 model, and has only done some 3500 miles. It's booked in for it's annual service next Thursday at Riders in Bridgwater, they've been very helpful on the phone and say they'll do what they can to fix it on the day. If it's a new suspension unit though (2 grands' worth!!!) they'll have to order one in & I'll have to go all the way up from Cornwall again. Fingers crossed for some sunny weather!!!!!!
Jabs. I was up there for the second time today from Plymouth to get the shock done. All ok now. Just for info GT in Plymouth now do Ducati servicing. I had already been up to Riders so decided to stick with them after their diagnosis.
Cheers for that mate. On past experience however, I'd rather ride to Outer Mongolia for service than let G.T. Mechanics touch my bike.
