Oily mess

[Ric]

[Stephanie]

Hi Ric: I just happen to have a 2001 750SS with only 9000km on it and its been leaking now for about 3000km. Tell me, did your bike sit for a long period of time without being used? I bought mine last October with only 1134 km on it. I wonder if a seal has rotted away and blown. Or, did you happen to overfill with oil recently? I think I may have when we changed the oil in the fall before storing the bike.

We think it may be the base gasket. I get enough oil in the area behind the rear cylinder that it pours down the left side of the bike when it is on its stand, and there are streams of it down the right side of the engine as well.

The shop told me 'this is normal, all air-cooled Ducati's leak there' but I find this an unacceptable response. My Monster didn't leak at all in 32000km of riding. Our plan is to change the base gasket if we can't find another issue somewhere else like the base of the breather.

Please let me know if you find a cure and I'll keep you posted on mine as well.

Stephanie
near Ottawa

[Stephen W.]

Factory breathers are known to fail and allow oil to blow by. Some last forever some not as long. Mine started to show signs after only a couple of thousand kilometres so I replaced it with a fancy blue anodized one.

(check out the Goodies and Performance Modifications page on my website)
http://www2.reach.net/seven/900ssfe/FE_index.htm

Also, the base gaskets on the vertical (rear) cylinder are prone to leaking due in part to dry assembly. It's known to be a problem on some models. Both my wife's and a fellow club member's M600's started leaking within weeks of each others.

[Stephanie]

Just curious how much it cost to get the base gasket changed on the M600? We've been quoted $650 so we're going to do it ourselves.

How were you able to tell if it was the gasket or the breather? Is it obvious? It sure looks like the gasket to us but tracing oil leaks can be tricky.

Stephanie
near Ottawa

[Ric]

OK,sorry to take so long to respond to my own thread (work ) It's all fixed,removed the breather,cleaned the crankcase threads with alcohol,applied silicone gasket maker to the threads and o-ring.Presto! No more "oily mess" Ric

[Rocket Rick]

Hey Steph! you & Mike still together? just get everything cleaned up behind the cylinder, run the bike for a bit & look. If you still can't tell start over & run it for a shorter time. If you have to pull the barrel, It's not too hard.

[Stephanie]

Hi Rocket Rick, yes we are still together. Mike is riding an 1150GS (it suits his long legs) and I've got the SS and an F650GS. We don't have any of our old bikes anymore. I sometimes wonder what happened to my old 350 Desmo - have you ever run across it? When it left my care it had a twin plug conversion, pumper carb and a homemade high pipe made from the dirt model high pipe. It was one of the silver metalflake 350s. I sold it in about 1990 or so to a lady from Guelph. I had dropped it on 511 so it had a tiny scratch on the left side of the gas tank.

As far as my leak goes, I did ride the bike to Mosport on Saturday, it hardly leaked at all, in 610km. I'm going to spend some more time investigating the problem before doing anything rash. My gasket set is in so I'll pick it up tomorrow and keep it on hand. I really hope it is the breather.....

Stephanie
near Ottawa

[Rocket Rick]

It's good to hear from you after all these years. And Hi to Mike. Your sparkle-tone 350 hasn't shown up at any of the events I've been to. That was a bike worth keeping though, there were only 35 of them in all 3 sizes, brought to Canada through the importers (Norstar, in Montreal). None were officially imported to the states, although some came in with US service men returning from overseas duty (possibly some with cdn forces as well). So It's quite a rare item on this continent, and I'm glad I still have my sparkle-tone 450.
I was just checking an Ally for a similar leak a few days ago. Clean the area, drive it for a mile, check it, repeat. It was the base gasket, and the eventual decision was live with it until the bike's parked for the winter. Our current heatwave may have had considerable influence on this decision.

[Stephanie]

Hi Rocket Rick -

Yesterday we determined that it is probably the o-ring next to the right rear head bolt - see this photo:

http://www.cyberus.ca/~scoulshaw/photos/oil-leak.jpg

We sprayed deodorant on the area, worked well to hightlight the area.

We are going to leave this until winter - I can soak up the oil with a chunk of foam stuffed in there.

Stephanie
near Ottawa

[Rocket Rick]

Hi Steph,
That looks like the cylinder base to case joint to me. There is no O ring there, only a paper gasket (unless Ducati's changed the design). Great winter project, though. Lot'sa B.S. stuff to disconnect compaired to a single, make sure you got everything before you swing the motor forward on the lower back motor bolt.

[Mike_D]

[Mike_D]

[Rocket Rick]

The base shims can probably be dispensed with. You'll have to verify the piston crown to squishband clearance (I wouldn't go less than 0.040"). Put a light smear of your favourite gasket goo in place of the gasket.
No need to helicoil. Pull the studs & use the appropriate length bolt, with a wave washer under the head. They don't have to be torqued up beyond 14-20ftlb. Use a low strength locking compound if you want.
It sounds like you didn't get the timing marks correct. The belts cannot jump a tooth if properly tensioned. The Haynes manual says 10lb force on the tensioner as measured with a spring scale. I've heard of all sorts of other ways to get the correct tension, but I just pinch the belt between thumb & forefinger, remember how much the free side deflects when I'm pinching as hard as I can, and pinch that hard with the tensioner under the thumb & tighten the bolts.

[Mike_D]

[Stephanie]

I'll just mention that it felt like it slipped, sorta like a slipping clutch without the increasing exhaust noise, or a slipping back wheel.

And it continued running but had much less power....

Stephanie