Does sound right to you? Update: Got my bike back!

[JulesMaximus]

My bike has been stalling when cold for a couple months now. If I start it and let it idle it will stall and then it is hard to start after that. I have to hold the throttle at around 2000rpms to keep it running and once it has been running for 20 seconds or so it idles and runs fine so I took to to the dealer I bought it from and they adjusted the air/fuel mixture a little but that didn't help so I took it to another dealer down in San Diego.

Other things they tried, new ECU, replaced stepper valve, fixed a pinched ground wire for the ECU. Ducati then instructed them to run a check on all the vital stats of the engine, compression, etc.

Well, we're going on 3 weeks now that they've had my bike and they think they've finally figured out what the problem is. One of the exhaust valves was set too tight at the factory. Does this seem plausible? This wasn't really ever a problem until the weather cooled off a bit.

Bike is a 2012 Ducati Monster 1100 EVO, I bought it new in June and have 4500 miles on it.

Ducati picked up everything, they towed the bike from my house, everything covered under warranty so I have to give them a big thumbsup for making this as easy as possible... well, aside from me being without my bike of course.

updateWell, I picked my bike up today and rode it home. Seems like everything is sorted and she's running like a champ. Couldn't be happier.

 

[LTC8K6]

You won't know until you test it, I suppose. If they solved it, then it's reasonable to think the reason given is valid, since they were to blame.

 

[SpatiallyAware]

Hmm.. I know my 1098 was extremely sensitive to the throttle bodies being out of adjustment. On mine, it would sometimes stall when decelerating. This all stopped when I had termis installed and had my TB synced (although it could've been the new ecu)

 

[JulesMaximus]

Hmm.. I know my 1098 was extremely sensitive to the throttle bodies being out of adjustment. On mine, it would sometimes stall when decelerating. This all stopped when I had termis installed and had my TB synced (although it could've been the new ecu)

I'm thinking they should throw a Termi exhuast on just for my troubles. :biggrin:

I'd love to have the Termignoni exhaust on my bike but it costs $1800!!! For the slipons!!! 😱

I'll probably spring for it eventually but christ that's expensive! It seems to be the only option for my bike that includes a tuned ECU though.

You won't know until you test it, I suppose. If they solved it, then it's reasonable to think the reason given is valid, since they were to blame.

They said it solved the problem. They started it cold after making the adjustment and it didn't stall. They were going to check it again in the evening when the engine had cooled off completely and again this morning. I'll definitely know for sure after a few weeks back in my garage because I ride it a couple times a week to work and on weekends.

 

[amish]

Ducati picked up everything, they towed the bike from my house, everything covered under warranty so I have to give them a big thumbsup for making this as easy as possible... well, aside from me being without my bike of course.

wow, i'm impressed. if i rode bikes i would check them out just because of their customer service.

 

[JulesMaximus]

wow, i'm impressed. if i rode bikes i would check them out just because of their customer service.

My bike came with a 2 year, unlimited mileage warranty with free roadside assistance. My last bike had a 1 year warranty... never had to use it though and I owned it for a little over 3 years and put almost 17,000 miles on it during that time.

 

[manimal]

Nice to see Ducati stepped up and did right by you. I am a bit skeptical about their eventual diagnosis. They probably fixed one problem with the parts and corrected another when they redid your top end. Odd that they threw parts at it like noobs....

 

[ThatsABigOne]

Sorry to be off topic but that is one heck of a nice bike. 😀

 

[manimal]

Sorry to be off topic but that is one heck of a nice bike. 😀

Never off topic to give the thumbs up!

 

[satyajitmenon]

My bike came with a 2 year, unlimited mileage warranty with free roadside assistance. My last bike had a 1 year warranty... never had to use it though and I owned it for a little over 3 years and put almost 17,000 miles on it during that time.

The best warranty is the one you never have to use. 😛

Having said that, they've done a good job taking care of the issue under warranty. With no out of pocket expenses for you.

The icing on the cake would have been if they gave you a Panigale as spare bike while your Evo was in the shop. :biggrin:

 

[JulesMaximus]

The best warranty is the one you never have to use. 😛

Having said that, they've done a good job taking care of the issue under warranty. With no out of pocket expenses for you.

The icing on the cake would have been if they gave you a Panigale as spare bike while your Evo was in the shop. :biggrin:

:biggrin: They rent the 848 and Multistrada so I was kind of thinking they should give me one as a loaner but I never brought it up.

I hear you on the warranty too which is one of the reasons I'm not at all drawn to car companies that advertise 100k warranties. Frequently it is just to ease the consumer of concerns over reliability issues.

I know that Ducati has been making these motors for decades though so I'm pretty confident that with this issue out of the way I should get years of trouble free use out of it.

 

[soccerballtux]

exhaust valve hm seems odd, I don't know about that. Unless it was WAY out of alignment, but how? First thing I would have checked would be throttle bodies and throttle body sensor and secondary throttle bodies & sensor. If those are a bit out of alignment it can make a pretty big difference since they're butterfly valves, but an exhaust valve in contrast is a linear valve by nature and less likely to cause an engine stall if it's out of alignment....

 

[JulesMaximus]

exhaust valve hm seems odd, I don't know about that. Unless it was WAY out of alignment, but how? First thing I would have checked would be throttle bodies and throttle body sensor and secondary throttle bodies & sensor. If those are a bit out of alignment it can make a pretty big difference since they're butterfly valves, but an exhaust valve in contrast is a linear valve by nature and less likely to cause an engine stall if it's out of alignment....

There are two exhaust valves, one for each cylinder (2 valve motor) and the shop said both were tighter than the spec Ducati normally recommends-since this was set at the factory they are covering it under the factory warranty (obviously). Anyway, you want to have a certain amount of gap between the shims and the rocker arms and apparently mine was below that spec.

Here is an explanation of how the Desmodromic valve train works on a Ducati motorcycle.