2003 800Sie MONSTER COUGHING, MISFIRING, RUNNING ROUGH - Ducati.ms

ke4ogn · May 5th, 2008, 10:12 pm

I am owner of a 2003 800Sie Monster of only 6000 miles. I have had problems for quite sometime with the engine bucking and coughing/misfiring up through the air cleaner at 3-4k on the tach. This problem started out very slowly in 2004 after almost one year of ownership and was very intermittent. Now the bike is almost unridable. In May 2007 I talked to a dealer in Pennsylvania and was told to disconnect the fuel vapor recirculation system because this had a history of causing poor performance. This fix helped but again only temporarily. As a technician myself, I realize the importance of the “process of elimination” and this was the first step in a series of attempts to solve the problem. Next in February 2008 the dealer here in Santa Barbara, CA first inspected the bike and blamed the poor running engine on a Power Commander which I had installed to compensate for the seemingly lean mix and misfiring. I was also told the Power Commander may have damaged the ECU. They removed the Power Commander, adjusted a few things on the bike and recommended I bring the bike in sometime for its 6k service and have the ECU replaced. Wow! The bike ran great! Problem solved? No. After a week of commuting back and forth to work the bucking and misfiring came back with a vengeance. Ok… trusting the dealer to know what they were doing, I brought the bike in for the recommended 6k service and on their recommendation replaced the ECU by purchasing the Ducati high performance mod kit which included the carbon fiber pipes, air cleaner and ECU for only $90 more than if I had just ordered the ECU alone. $2300 later I pick up my bike and think this should have finally done it. Wouldn’t you know the bike runs great for another week and the problem returns again! On one morning thereafter I wake up to see in the mirror the faint letters on my forehead that resembled “sucker”. I keep riding the bike for the next two weeks just to see how the bike fares. By the second week the bike was unrideable. I forgot to mention that my dash board/instrument panel went bad a few weeks prior. My instrument panel high beam, turn signal and fuel light were on constantly with "FUEL" blinking on LCD. Just another $1100 but I realize this may not be related to the original problem, or could it? A call to the dealer again and I bring the bike in for instrument panel replacement and possible tune up again. After replacing the panel the dealership owner rides the bike and says “leave it with me”. I’m not going to go into any details about the dealer giving me my bike back dirty or that brake fluid was spilled on my engine paint or that bolts were loose and missing on my new mufflers or the fact that one time no one was there but the salesman to turn the bike over to me without all my keys and the same existing problems it was taken in for and each time I brought it in to the shop I got a different story as to what the problem could be. This wouldn’t be objective would it? The letters on my forehead are becoming more pronounced… Both the dealer and I have gone over the bike several times looking over all the electrics and hoses and discussed anything that might cause this yet we have been unable to repair the problem. The coughing and missing is always back after only 50-100 miles of commuting. After all the time and money spent I am considering taking the bike to another dealer much further away for a second opinion but at this time I am broke. I keep thinking this has been an easy fix the whole time that I have not chanced upon yet. Where is that bad hose or loose connection??? Ducati North America was very helpful. They said if the dealer can’t fix it, they should contact the regional manager for help. They do not answer technical questions even thought I followed the technical link on the web page. This problem still exists though not as bad as before. The bike is rideable but not fun anymore. Anyone out there who’s seen or heard of this problem before, please help me if possible. I loved this bike. Went to look at Jap bikes yesterday. Hmmm…