So bought the bike 1200s dvt 2017 last year and always had a slight miss low down around 2-3k on light throttle. I’ve not swapped anything out or had a look over it yet but it’s just touched 10k miles, full Ducati service history and had belts done last year by chris walker Ducati. The bike runs and starts bob on but just has this slight stutter, first thing I’m thinking is checking the timing is spot on, watched a few vids and looks easy enough to check but wonder if anyone else had any tips on removing covers etc
They’re a f&&king right pain in the arse !. There are 2 bolts that hold the irremovibile* bit of plastic in place on the vertical cylinder, which are accessed through a hole in the rear sub frame for the rear most one and only via a 45 degree angle around the trellis frame for the foremost one. The best thing I’ve found is a long reach ball ended hex key and a hope and prayer the previous mechanic hasn’t overtightened them or else you have to get inventive. And then there’s the inaccessible vertical tensioner idler nut - oh, it’s all fun and games. Patience is the best tip I can give. * I used irremovibile (is that even a word?) for whilst it’s possible to loosen it it’s impossible to remove it without removing the engine from the frame.
As a rule of thumb with the DVT motors, if it’s running ok and you’ve got no errors relating to cam timing, then it’s as it should be. There’s no “timing” as such to adjust. The ECU does it. The ecu self checks cam timings using cam position sensors. If it wrong, say being out a tooth after a belt change, then the errors start to flag. As mentioned by Paul, access to the rear is a pain in the arse… As far as the stutter is concerned, the DVT motors suffered with HT issues. Usually the centre front lead. There’s upgraded leads available from Ducati to resolve the issue.
Perfect thanks guys, I’m having a new set of Pirelli angel’s fitted tomorrow and might ask my mate to plug his computer in and see what the parameters are saying for the timing but I’ll check those leads out for sure, it’s only the ever slightest stutter when cruising along and sometimes I feel like its gone then a few days later i feel it again. Run nothing but the posh e5 fuel and going to dump a bottle of injector cleaner in the tank too. At now 10k and I bought it last year with 8k im pretty sure it will only have ever had oil changes so might throw an air filter in it too.
That’s a 2+ hour job too, you’ve got to remove the fuel tank to do so. Best done with an empty tank so run it low beforehand.
dam I just brimmed the tank lol new tyres tomorrow and I'll bung some fuel system cleaner in the tank then might go on a good ride out and watch the bsb practice at donnington at weekend and see how she goes!
Don’t even start me on the side plug, vertical cylinder . Again, you’ll have to get inventive. I’ve a 14mm ring spanner which I ground the edges down to make it thin enough to be able to get between the spark plug nut and the edge of the cylinder head. It takes as long to get that one out/in as the other 3 combined. Its also not that easy to get the plug cap back on correctly but persist and make sure it does click home or else you’ll have a misfire and a subsequent EML.
cheers guys, I think next few days im gonna take tank and fairings off and then check timing it all spot on with the marks and I'll just use the rear wheel in gear to rotate the engine. just wanna make sure they fitted it all spot on and lined up and I'll check the map sensor hoses too as I believe they can split and cause low down stuttering.
Be aware the timing marks don’t line up in the conventional sense. The mark on the lower pulleys will be almost a full tooth out, to the left of the line in the clutch cover iirc. They don’t rotate at half engine speed either which means two turns of the crank, won’t put them in the same spot. It’s not an easy motor to time up without a few timing tools. Because the DVT cam pulleys are bigger than the lay shaft pulleys, the lay shaft is geared so the cams still rotate at half engine speed. It’s something that could throw you out and cause you to go try correcting something that isn’t required.
Plus 1 for what Nelly says. There is no timing mark on the lay shaft. Well there is a mark ie a punched dot and it may even have yellow paint on it but don’t for one moment think that when it is lined up with the groove on the crankcase cover that’s your timing mark - it ain’t. (Well it will be one time in XX revolutions but mostly it’s not. As Nelly said above the timing on the DVT engine is constantly variable, controlled by pumping oil into chambers in the cam pulleys which causes the inner part which is connected to the camshaft to alter in relation to the outer toothed wheel which is connected to the timing belts.
. I had one this week where the Fuji nut on the tensioner had been rounder off by a previous individual. You can just see it in these photos if you look carefully, they were taken from above, looking down. It made it impossible to get a spanner on it, and when I could it just slipped off. I’d swear the thing had been tightened well in excess of 25Nm too. I ended up having to cut it off. Could just get the tip of a burr grinder onto it and had to grind away one face of the nut until it was weak enough to split and come off. Over an hour’s work on one nut
Oh, and looking at those photos @glenandem reminds me, the crankcase breather pipe is in the way too, and has to be dealt with. Another PITA. Detach at the crankcase end not the airbox end, you’ll never get it back onto the airbox spigot, it’s hard enough getting it back onto the crankcase spigot. Are you sure you really want to go in there just to check the timing? It won’t be a tooth out, honestly.
Can I ask you both how and what you use to tighten the tensioner bolt to 25 NM? Especially how do you get a torque wrench on it?
