1098 excessive oil use

[Grampa]

A lil heads up for those of you who have a 1098

My bike drank a quart of oil in about 500 miles. weeeeeee
No leaks, and no real smoking noticed.

The bike has a lil over 6000 miles on her, and she's never been ridden super aggressively.

I took the bike into Modesto Ducati to see what the problem was, and was told  that in a few cases, it has been found that for some reason, the horizontal piston, was placed on the vertical slot, causing abnormal piston ring failure. They tore the bike down, and sure enough, damage to the vertical cylinder. 

They are replacing the vertical piston and cylinder (parts should be in today  )

From what I've been told...... all the ones that have gone bad, happen around the same milage.

weeeeeee.... free 7k service

For any of you anywhere close to them.... I highly recommend Modesto Ducati for sales and service. It's a 6 hour round trip for me and I even drive/ride pass a closer dealer, because their service is that good.

[zooom]

my friend here who rarely pops on here anymore (because he is more an interwebz luddite - Mongomakefit from the old board - now MongoReturns I think) had the exact same thing happen with his towards the end of last summer...complete motor teardown and rebuild courtesy of DNA performed expertly by DucPond!

[swampduc]

That's some quick turnaround, BP.
But on the downside, I guess Duc quality control (or lack thereof) strikes again. Any long-term issues expected from this?

[Grampa]

That's some quick turnaround, BP.
But on the downside, I guess Duc quality control (or lack thereof) strikes again. Any long-term issues expected from this?

none that I have heard.

but I have been told that as well as the bike ran before...expect  a lil better 

my only real concern is.... if the "a" piston is in the "b" slot, is the 'b" piston in the "a" spot?,  or did it have two of the same...... and will that become an issue later?

[MikeZ]

my only real concern is.... if the "a" piston is in the "b" slot, is the 'b" piston in the "a" spot?,  or did it have two of the same...... and will that become an issue later?

Wouldn't that be easy to check while it's being torn down?

[Grampa]

Wouldn't that be easy to check while it's being torn down?

I assume they did that.... I'll ask when I pick it up.

[silentbob]

Couldn't you just ride a wheelie, then the vertical cylinder would be horizontal and vice versa?

[MadDuck]

That is so curious. Is the horizontal piston a completely different part from the vertical piston?

[Grampa]

Couldn't you just ride a wheelie, then the vertical cylinder would be horizontal and vice versa?

I dont have your skillset

[Speeddog]

Not likely that they took the horizontal cylinder off, unless that's part of the warranty bulletin.

And it *should* run better afterward, as it won't be slurping all of that oil.

Not sure if you're still running the stock exhaust, but all of that oil likely FUBARed the catalytic converter.

Parts catalogue says both pistons are the same, as are the rings.

[Grampa]

Not likely that they took the horizontal cylinder off, unless that's part of the warranty bulletin.

And it *should* run better afterward, as it won't be slurping all of that oil.

Not sure if you're still running the stock exhaust, but all of that oil likely FUBARed the catalytic converter.

Parts catalogue says both pistons are the same, as are the rings.

exhaust is still stock

[aaronb]

Not likely that they took the horizontal cylinder off, unless that's part of the warranty bulletin.

And it *should* run better afterward, as it won't be slurping all of that oil.

Not sure if you're still running the stock exhaust, but all of that oil likely FUBARed the catalytic converter.

Parts catalogue says both pistons are the same, as are the rings.

do the air cooled bikes have different pistons, due higher temps at the rear cylinder?  that would make sense, kinda, but i would think that the water cooled bike would have pretty consistent temps between the two cylinders

[Langanobob]

Parts catalogue says both pistons are the same, as are the rings.

The Plot Thickens.  Must be more to this story? 

[Speeddog]

do the air cooled bikes have different pistons, due higher temps at the rear cylinder?  that would make sense, kinda, but i would think that the water cooled bike would have pretty consistent temps between the two cylinders

I didn't do an exhaustive search, but AFAIK, the air-cooled bikes use the same pistons between horizontal and vertical.

The Plot Thickens.  Must be more to this story? 

I think so.

The OEM cast iron oil rings are quite easy to break. DAMHIK.
- edit - Don't know if the 1098 uses cast iron oil rings or not - /edit -

Perhaps they had some installation difficulties at the factory resulting in broken/cracked oil rings.
Seems odd that it would take that kind of mileage to rack up to see the issue if that was the case.

Maybe it was just bad oil rings or bad machining of the ring groove.
But that would lead one to think it wouldn't just happen on verticals.

[sugarcrook]

For any of you anywhere close to them.... I highly recommend Modesto Ducati for sales and service. It's a 6 hour round trip for me and I even drive/ride pass a closer dealer, because their service is that good.

Glad they worked it out for you.  Modesto didn't seem interested in looking at my problem.