796 Oil Leak - Ducati.ms

brown diablo · May 24th, 2010, 11:44 pm

So this is my first Ducati and the hyper was love at first sight brought it home put 2ct's on it an hit the twistys

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About 400mile is when it all started. the vertical head bolt right rear was leaking oil. I called the dealer the next day and they told me to drop it off and they would look at it. " i live 6hrs round trip from the closest dealer" so that weekend i dropped it off
Long story short the desided it was the head gasket an i agreed that what i had thought an we notice it was leaking between the head an cyl but worse out the bolt so they ordered a head gasket. three weeks later they call me and said they got it all done and it had a bad head gasket, but need to test ride it before i drove all that way. i agreed an said ride it take it home its a long trip for me if its not fixed. so the owner said he would ride it home then back to the shop the next day an call me first thing in the morining.
10oclock rolls around an i get a call saying he road it hm an no leak and on the way to the shop this morning he took the long way to work and when he got there......IT WAS LEAKING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! so they washed it off fired it up an no leak" just reving it" so they put it on the dyno an it started leaking again but not as bad as when i brought it in an not from the bolt but somewhere by the back of the head or cyl. they told me they had just got off the phone with ducati and a new head an cyl was on its way.
I have total faith in the dealership an feel like they are doing everthing they can to get it fixed for me an i understand its not there fault it leaked in the first place but I hear from some people ducatis are problems and others there not.i read mrmikes post an it was about the same thing - the tech crashing it for me. i guess what im wondering is are other people having problems with there 796's or did i buy a friday or monday bike? I ordered it waited a month road it three good rides an been in the shop ever sense starting to feel like i made a bad choice buying a ducati???

Nginear · May 25th, 2010, 12:07 am

I just bought my 796 on the 18th and have about 330 miles on it so far so I will keep an eye out. The only issue as of yet (knock on wood) is i have two small spilts starting on my seat towards the right front edge

Fin_Duc · May 25th, 2010, 12:19 am

Sorry to hear that, I have 1800 km on mine with no problems what so ever..

Monstaman · May 25th, 2010, 12:20 am

My 1100 s had a leak in exactly the same place, the stealership larfed it off as owning a Ducati!

Thankfully there is always silver lining to every cloud and my sixth gear shat itself sending metal through everything so they had to fix the top end leak.

I would ask for a new bike!! ... and they can sort out the shit later than keep you off the road, BTW my bike has been off the road 20% of the time it owned me.

brown diablo · May 25th, 2010, 1:05 am

Ya I have looked into lemon laws but I am sure that wont be a fun or easy road to go down. Im just crossing my fingers that its fixed this time. New head an cyl, dont see how there could be any problem after that, but wanted to let others with 796 knw. I just wanna ride my new bike!!!

spindrift · Nov 23rd, 2010, 11:47 am

My 796 started leaking after the first few rides....very slow leak, seemed to be valve cover. Brought it in, they also conclude valve cover, put in new valve cover gasket, I get it home, it's leaking even WORSE. Now it seems to be the head gasket, but I'm not an expert.

Taking it in this week for another shot...sigh...

Dr. John · Nov 23rd, 2010, 3:11 pm

Sorry about your leaks guys, we all want our machines to be flawless, always ready to go.

Having owned many bikes of many brands I understand where you are coming from. Motorcycles have gotten so reliable that riders have forgotten how to service their machines. Many of us don't even carry tools on the bikes anymore and the bike companies provide no tools or manuals for the machines.

Yes a Ducati can be more trouble than almost any Japanese bike made today, but they break, leak and don't start sometimes too.

My 2008 1100 hyper (delivered Nov. 07) is also my first duc. I wanted one for many years but was scared off by the horror stories. It was delivered in almost unridable condition, each fork adjustment was different, rear preload was rock hard, no sag, chain was way too tight and of course it stalled all the time.

All of these issues have been fixed by me without spending any money. It took a month or so to get everything sorted out and now I know a lot more about ducs and it suits me perfectly.

The end result is a bike that I love to ride, it has been a joy for 15,000 mi. The money you would spend on one service will pay for all the tools and manuals you will ever need. Go to it, be a real motorcyclist. I have done this with all my bikes and haven't broken one yet.

Yes, I am a grandfather and have been at this for a while, but I always tell riders to take your bike apart and learn to put them back together the way you like it. The rewards are endless. You are smart enough to figure out almost anything on a motorcycle, it's not rocket surgery.

When the machine gets cranky remember these are bikes, not cars. If you just want to walk out, start it up and drive away, buy a Honda Civic.