I know you're probably fed up with the whole saga Chris but what about a direct approach to Ducati in Italy? AirConTechnical got stiffed over the Ohlins fork foot issue but is now having it looked at (http://ducatiforum.co.uk/forum/threads/fork-foot-Öhlins-recall.20320/page-3)? Can't do any harm. I'd go down the secondhand engine route as well but hold on to the original just in case it turns out to be not quite as rare an event as made out........ Good luck with the hunt. PS. Apols if you've already tried the Italy approach.
Warranty might be pushing it, but you might have some recourse approaching it from the angle of 'reasonable life and use' - 14,000 is not a reasonable life for a road bike engine. If its got a full service history you could reasonably argue premature failure - Ducati should at least meet the parts cost.
Have to say this saga is astonishing! How ducati can even consider dismissing the claim without a proper investigation is unbelievable. If your Aston Martin blew up with that mileage you'd be horrified . If they don't sort it I'd be dragging it round on the back of a trailer to every ducati dealer I could, with a fucking great bill board on it saying this is what happens if you buy a ducati . Buyers beware!
I should add that it would certainly stop me ever considering buying a ducati outside of warranty,although reading some of the recent threads, having a warranty doesn't seem to guarantee a successful result! Ducati appear to be getting like insurance companies, any excuse to wriggle out of what quite often is piss poor quality. The general opinion appears to be, they don't give a shit about what to them is a few disgruntled owners. I was very fortunate, and had no issues with my 1098s,but have huge sympathy with those that seem to be having the ducati experience ruined by poor quality and a general lack of support from ducati.not good enough for a premium priced product!
That is mental, regardless of warranty, it's not even made it to the first major service - 15K isn't it?. If Ducati are not investigating, how about getting your own independent engineering report done? Possibly cheaper than buying a new engine and on the back of that proceed with either a claim against them or at the very least finding out what went wrong.
Makes me even more happy i have a pcp on mine and worst case its going back and i get nothing left. But wont owe anything nor take a massive bath on it either
Good luck mate, don't let it go it's too much money! Reading so many posts on here with issues and my previous experience with Ducati it is really making me consider buying one even though I took one for a test ride a few weeks ago and loved it. The new S1000r is out so realistically I can get one of those new with full warranty for far less. It's really disappointing that neither the dealer or manufacturer would investigate, a bit like Aprillia really.
The missing service makes the warranty null and void. It's written into every warranty agreement from every manufacturer. It will be the same whether you buy an Aston Martin, Ducati, Honda, Ferrari...whatever.
Back in my Porsche days there were some scary stories regarding early mortality of some engines. Woe betide any owner that missed a service and had this happen! Full dealer service history with warranty - no problems. Full dealer service history, low(ish) mileage, out of warranty - some goodwill was all you could hope for!
Not automatically it doesnt. There is an element of consequence, so eg if a belt snapped and should have been done at last service, which was missed, little chance of help. But if something failed which would never come up, or couldn't have been due to service eg an oil change probably wouldn't make any difference to a gearbox exploding, a small claims judge may take a different view
Ducati UK, until they have looked inside the engine, have no way of knowing what has happened in this case. For all they know it might have been run without any oil, it might have been left revving upside down in a ditch after a crash, it might have been sabotaged deliberately, etc. A manufacturer cannot be expected to issue a blank cheque and promise to pay up, sight unseen, on a bike which is out of warranty and without a full service history. Apparently they have offered to consider paying, depending on what is shown by dismantling - sounds like a pretty fair offer to me. Some people seem to have highly unrealistic expectations!
Pete I agree with you but all was well it had missed a oil change by 5 month, (Winter months) "they may review the situation. Possibly offering a degree of goodwill depending on what was found." If they had said they would sort it if it was found to be a manufacturer fault I'd av it straight in.
In that case I'd ask for further clarification on this part: "they have said if the bike was taken to a genuine Ducati dealership and stripped, and a manufacturing defect was found to be the cause of the problem, they may review the situation. Possibly offering a degree of goodwill depending on what was found." The point here is that IF a manufacturing defect was indeed found then it's highly likely they'd have to pay for everything, not just goodwill as that statement suggest its a defect on their part, not an act of neglect from you the customer. Ok, it doesn't help you missed a service but on reflection it was an oil change, although small it's a lead towards engine issues. My point is that IF (big if) your bike was running low on oil, or was using more oil than it should... or in fact anything else was going wrong with the bike that could've led up to this failure its more likely that a qualified Ducati mechanic would have spotted it over 5 months ago. Because there's no record of what mileage your bike had on it 5 months ago there's no telling how far you've ridden between then and now, only you know that fact and from a neutral standpoint only documented facts help here..... and there isn't any. I do kind of see Ducatis point to a degree as Pete says they cant simply write a blank cheque without knowing the full extent, equally they cant issue a full procedural strip down of the bike unless they know who's paying for it at the end, this is where you come in. Facts are you need to get it agreed that the bike is stripped an inspected, but on finding it wasn't caused from neglect of an oil service that Ducati foot the bill. I'd also suggest to them you're likely to get a independent assessment should the outcome not be favorable on your part. You'd need that for any legal claim anyway. Its not a nice position to be in but you need to get this done with a straight head.
damodici it had a belt change and full service @ 10 K Then the big bang @ 14k if this hadn't happened i would be visiting the dealer about now to sort out what would need doing for the 15k service , maybe I should get in touch with the dealer that serviced it and find out why it was done. When I bought the bike it had only done another 2.5k so I thought it was all up to date. It's a bit of a mess been serviced at two different dealers and bought new at another...... We live n learn!
Well that's a start, if there's only 4000miles between this happening and the last service imo that's good news. If a qualified Ducati mechanic did the service at 10K then its not unreasonable to suggest the bike should of easily been able to take another 4000miles without issue. You need to find out what work was exactly carried out, did they change the oil whilst doing the belts? If it was a full service then i'd of thought so, if they didnt then the blame shifts towards them (which is good). Frankly its irrelevant whos done the servicing and where the bike was from, if they're all ducati certified then that's all that matters, Ducati have to stand by them as they're part of the appointed UK channel and they in effect represent Ducati at a customer facing level.. Oh, there will be some arse covering but such is life. You'll get there mate, but I think at this stage you need a sit down with Ducati Leeds (if thats who you're talking to at the minute) and ask them to invite the Ducati UK manager (Tim is it?) to the table. Again put this in writing, email will suffice, suggest in the email what you'd like to discuss during the meeting (don't outline demands, just what you'd like to cover) and why you think its reasonable that a Ducati representative should attend. im pretty sure if its done like this you'll find it'll get dealt with quickly and positions will change, adults sitting around the table, putting forward their positions in a business type manner face to face will tend to get more flexibility from the situation. The problem with phone calls is that peoples minds are on different things and comments can be flippant. Just keep your cool and come to an agreement.
