The clutch on my 06 749 went recently so i did a roadside bleed/refill as the reservoir was totally drained. A week later it has done it again, and i have noticed fluid running down the clutch lever when it's on the side stand. Is there anything i can check there to see where the leak is coming from, hopefully a small inexpensive part has failed, or could this be something more sinister? A google has said it's quite common for the 749 master cylinder to go, should i just replace it? Not very mechanically minded so hopefully it could be something obvious. Thanks
Sounds like a leak on the master cylinder, seal kits are not available through Ducati but possibly a Brembo stockist or a manufacturer that use this type of master cylinder may have a seal kit listed. Try taking the lever off and see if it is leaking from the seal that the lever bears upon.
Had the lever off as in the pic. When I push in to the black concave part fluid leaks out from the micro switch below. Would anyone with more knowledge than me know what part I need to replace? Thanks.
I'd say the seal in the master cylinder has gone, you cannot buy a seal kit from Ducati but if you find a manufacturer like KTM that use the same master cylinder from Brembo then you might be able to get a seal kit. The fluid is probably building up in the dust boot and then leaking out. You could try stripping and rebuilding it to see if that solves the problem. I did that with a radial master cylinder recently and it cured the problem and I have no idea why it should. The proper grease might have helped in this case though, use the red stuff.
Ask yourself where all that fluid is going! I can't see any fluid in your pics, so it doesn't look like the master is at fault to me. The little weep you're gettting round the switch isn't enough to lose *all* the fluid, is it? It's far more likely to be the seal on the clutch slave. Take the 3 bolts out of the slave cylinder and check if it's wet.
I had the microswitch off, and to the nearside of that (along/next to the holes that take it's prongs) is a tiny 1mm hole, and that is where it is coming out of. It does drip from there as i checked the lever pressure before leaving for work, was wet. I'll check the slave tonight. Remove three bolts, should they be wet? Thanks mate.
If you take the slave cylinder off, there's a seal on the mating side around the push rod, a bit like in the pic (yours will be different design)... http://homepage.ntlworld.com/j.riach/me/916/clutch%20slave%20ass.jpg Check if it's wet around there. Clean it off, make it dry, pump the clutch and see if more fluid flows. If you're losing that much fluid that quickly, any leak will be easy to spot!
Thought I'd give this thread a little bump. I had a similar problem today on my baby r. Mine didn't empty the reservoir but there was fluid around the dust seal. When I removed the lever a couple of mililitres came out. I have followed the advice on here and stripped the master. I figured I would post an image up so people can see it stripped and explain how simple it was. I was a little unsure of how to do it but I went with it anyway. A fine tip flat head screwdriver to remove the dust seal which holds the piston. Slide the piston out followed by the spring and holder thing which keeps the spring in place. I always thought it strange that there was no capability to bleed just the master at the lever end. I now know that the little 6mm nut/bolt is the bleed nipple as I can see daylight through the hole into the cylinder. I also checked the slave for fluid and all was well. I'll re-assemble tomorrow and hopefully it'll be ok. If not I'm sure I can find the seals somewhere rather than replace the whole unit.
Thanks for that scrawn. Been a bit busy so not had a chance to try and remedy mine yet. I haven't ridden it for a couple of weeks now, had a look today and the clutch lever is completely loose and the reservoir is empty. On the floor is all the clutch fluid, and I can see it dripping off the underneath of the pipe, just back from where the breather pipe hangs. Is there anywhere immediately obvious I should look now, or just do what Antonye said above?
Yours sounds a little more terminal than mine. I have ridden mine a fair bit since I stripped it and all seems well.
Yep, master strip is easy. And you can bleed the master via the bleed nipple in the reservoir .... However, you can not buy a rebuild kit for the standard master fitted by Ducati grrrrrrrrrrr The unit is a Brembo radial master, however, it is not designed to be re-built. If leaking, it is a matter of replacing the full master cylinder, either with new unit at approx £160 ish, or used of eBay at £95 ish. Went through the same heartache and problems 2 yr ago on my 749.
Found this site for an American company, who sell loads of Brembo seal repair kits. they are listed by the diameter of the piston. 110 Series, Switches, Piston Kits, Clamps Anyone know the size of the 999 Master cylinder?
if it is a Brembo, and they haven't changed their part number system, the last 2 numbers of the (used to be finely stamped) part number are the piston size in mm's.
Yoyodyne are good to deal with and I have bought parts from them before, they used to have an English distributor but I am not sure If they still have.
Still got this problem I've got the slave off and all seemed ok in there, although this was as the bike has been standing for a while so no clutch fluid remains (apart from on the garage floor) so i refilled the reservoir, pumped it through and it started to bubble slightly at the little hole in the picture. Is this how it should be? Thanks. http://i.imgur.com/fqZDjrq.jpg
Ended up ordering an Oberon slave in the end to see if that was the reason for the leak (as the puddle on the garage floor was just in front of the rear wheel) and seems to have cured it. Not sure why there was a tiny weep at the master. A local bike mechanic thinks maybe i overfilled the reservoir. Other Oberon owners, do you find the lever now needs to be pulled further to engage the clutch? I had to flip the adjuster on my lever to 6, was set at 4 with the standard. Is a hell of a lot lighter action though.
