[BobbyBoy]

So, as I came around the last sweeper, one which is normally taken around 150kph + I came onto the straight. WOT, up through the gears, I noticed 220kph on the last gear change, again WOT. Thats when i started to shake my ass around a bit thinking momentarily Termi's a bit hot today. All of a sudden it was like a blowtorch burning my ass, not them teeny little one ones but the big MF's the builders use. I turned my head slightly and saw flames, well... you think Dovi is good on the brakes, I was on fire! No way was I jumping ship, I'm the guy who never gives up. All the time whilst braking I was burning, it was days later I noticed the zip tie on the fork and laughed out loud. When finally I came to a stop the flames all came upwards lighting up the fuel cap, that was the moment I thought I could very possibly die here so I jumped off breaking the left mirror as the bike hit the ground. Straight away I was back to the bike, I turned off the ignition cutting the fuel flow and started in vain to put out the fire with my hands. My hands were burning and the flames were laughing and dancing that fkn' fire dance knowing I had zero chance of putting it out. From nowhere a car had stopped behind me and a guy approached with a dry powder extinguisher (sent by the Ducati God no less), seconds later the fire was out, Bob was saved. Police and Fire Dept arrived some time later when I was waiting for recovery. Police here are cool, they don't chase you or try to stop you, the officer had to ask my plate number for the report as mine must have burned off in the fire. > High five to CY Police. I got 2nd degree burns to my ass and inner thighs, my boots got burned as did my leathers. Folks always ask me why I always wear full gear when its 30+c, I tell them its because you never know how your rides going to end. Looking forward to getting it all fixed up and back on the road/track riding again.

WHY?
Well, I've had seven days to research this and I'm not the first 749/999 to burst into flames. Common denominator IS plastic 'Quick Disconnectors'. These are positioned directly under the tank and on top of the engine where heat cycles have over time degraded them. I have to assume those on my bike were originals therefor 12 yo, I'm p*ssed I never knew about this as its not much money for an easy fix and piece of mind. Now I have huge expense as the only insurance cover available in this country for motorcycles is 'Third Party Only" sucks right. So my advice is..... if you have plastic QD's change them regularly! Personally ill change mine from now forward every 12-18 month, once bitten... Big thanks to Jussi and Tally for all of the background help over on the 749/999 FB Forum. Ride Safe.

 

[BobbyBoy]

Apologies for the ass shot. :grin2:

 

[Monster4Lee]

Yikes. I hope the monkey butt heals up quickly.
Is the bike fixable? It looks lightly toasted from here.
Good advice to change that bit.

 

[mlukason]

Holy crap!

 

[draganc]

"...So my advice is..... if you have plastic QD's change them regularly!..." Rid.

101% agree!!!

I just replaced both QC on my S, with OEM parts, for $40 shipped.

What a day and night difference!

When new, they work as intended. You can disconnect and connect in seconds w/o any leaks.

From now on, I will try to replace them every time I do the belts.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[draganc]

PS: sorry about your bike!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[BobbyBoy]

Is the bike fixable? It looks lightly toasted from here.
Good advice to change that bit.

A lot of wires got fried, it was running when I shut it down so might be lucky, its fixable for sure.

 

[BobbyBoy]

101% agree!!!

I just replaced both QC on my S, with OEM parts, for $40 shipped.

From now on, I will try to replace them every time I do the belts.

Gotta get the message out there, I'm on my second Duc in almost 8 years and never heard of this problem. Not sure what other Duc's use plastic QD but they are known for using the same parts bin to save some money. If you search Youtube a lot of Ducati's are burning, I was lucky, a 999 is seen burning for 13 minutes in Oz. Every time you change the belts is a great idea, won't forget that way. Cheers.

 

[forsythem]

I'm going to order a couple of new quick-connects. I did a service on my 2010 848 last weekend, including tank off etc. to do valve clearances. Everything seemed good when I did the first short test ride afterwards, but started noticing a strong fuel smell on the way home from work the following day. Got off the bike to watch the fuel drip-drip-dripping onto the rear header from one of the connectors....:surprise:

Disconnect and reconnect sorted it out, but 8 years old, and taken on and off a number of times through servicing through 60K kms of riding etc. means I now don't trust them.

 

[ducvet]

Yes they are not as good as earlier versions I am sure it is cost.

That said I have been working on them since they were introduced and the issue has been 100% operator error in my experiences, this happens to the earlier versions as well. If you break the plastic ring then it will not stay locked in the tank as there is little pressure holding it locked. This is usually someone using tools to squeeze them apart instead of finger pressure, very rare from what I have seen. This would have completely spit the connector out of the tank and the tank line is NOT a dry break like the older versions were, if the ring is not broken it may not have been fully seated/locked in place.

The greatest threat is cut O-rings on the disconnect, I do see this plenty as people remove and re-install the disconnect dry. You should always inspect the O-rings (both) and if there are any nicks replace them. A cut/nicked o-ring can give you a high pressure spray of soon to be atomized fuel right above that very hot exhaust pipe, a recipe for a fire. Always have spares around and always lube them EVERY time you re-connect as the fuel spilling out of the line washes off the lube each time.

Glad you and the bike are okay, it is a great story though.

 

[BobbyBoy]

Yes they are not as good as earlier versions I am sure it is cost.
That said I have been working on them since they were introduced and the issue has been 100% operator error in my experiences, this happens to the earlier versions as well.
Glad you and the bike are okay, it is a great story though.

Thanks for the information ducvet.

The last time the connectors were disconnected/reconnected would have been late 2017 when my tech removed the tank for new paint. I have ridden several thousand kms since. The period between my 'fire' ride and the previous ride I had removed the seat which is bolted to the tank, you will know the tank has to be raised slightly to do this. I have thought about this many times and discounted it as the reason for the fire as I was out riding for over two hours fast in the hills and only when on the highway going home did the failure occur. A fire investigator with 30 year experience did an analysis and the fire started from the R.H. connector, reasons for failure were not established.

I ordered new parts from a Ducati dealer and at the same time asked the question "how often should the QD be changed" the reply follows;

Hi Frank,

Great, thanks for the order. I will get the ball rolling and email when it's ready to be posted out.

Those fuel line connectors are common to all 749/999 models and many other Ducatis as well.

As a general rule, whenever we have to disconnect a pair of those connectors, we renew them. They have a tendency to lose their locking properties very easily, so to avoid issues, we just whack new ones on.


From this day forward I will replace at belt change intervals or if ever they have been disconnected. The cost I have been quoted is 18.88 GBP +VAT for the complete set, not much at all considering the damage it can prevent.

I have slowly been cleaning the fire damage, its looking better every day! :grin2:

Frank

 

[BobbyBoy]

I'm going to order a couple of new quick-connects. I did a service on my 2010 848 last weekend, including tank off etc. to do valve clearances. Everything seemed good when I did the first short test ride afterwards, but started noticing a strong fuel smell on the way home from work the following day. Got off the bike to watch the fuel drip-drip-dripping onto the rear header from one of the connectors....:surprise:

Disconnect and reconnect sorted it out, but 8 years old, and taken on and off a number of times through servicing through 60K kms of riding etc. means I now don't trust them.

Lucky, lucky guy, go straight to church and light a candle. 0 I believe you can trust them as long as you change them regularly and don't mess with them. I now view them same as Durex, use once and replace for new.

My previous post is now my practice, been on fire once and don't want to be that guy again. :|

 

[ducvet]

I do not see changing the seat having anything to do with the connections unless they were not in great shape already. Usually if the connector is weak it will blow the whole connector off, if it is the feed you should lose fuel shortly but if the feed (M) hose then you will pump fuel out. You may have simply pushed a slightly bad part over the edge and it finally popped while in use. I do not think a bad o-ring would have lasted as long without a leak so I agree with you it is unlikely to be that.

Changing quick disconnects every service should be crazy overkill. we never did that at the dealership and IIRC we never had a bike burn, That said. .... You might be a bit sensitive and I certainly would not fault you for being a bit overcautious. Not the kind of Barbecue anyone wants to attend.

 

[John]

Glad to see you are doing OK and your bike as well

Wow, what an experience and good thing a prepared citizen happened to come up when he did with the fire extinguisher, one that worked. Otherwise, your bike would have been toast. Glad to see you came out of this OK and thanks for sharing the information about the QDs. I've had my tank raised several times on my 999R and once I recall pushing it up pretty aggressively to install a Leo Vince full system. Do you have the part numbers for these QDs handy?

 

[BobbyBoy]

Wow, what an experience and good thing a prepared citizen happened to come up when he did with the fire extinguisher, one that worked. Otherwise, your bike would have been toast. Glad to see you came out of this OK and thanks for sharing the information about the QDs. I've had my tank raised several times on my 999R and once I recall pushing it up pretty aggressively to install a Leo Vince full system. Do you have the part numbers for these QDs handy?

Hi John,

Thanks for your comments.

STOCK CODE - 81440101A. FUEL QUICK-FITTING /03

Happy to share.

 

[greg328]

I use the following metal fuel tank base and fuel line connectors on my 2007 1098, in place of the flimsy plastic OE junk:

https://motowheels.com/i-10788272-c...-sport-classic-m696-796-1100-hm-796-1100.html

The only way to go!
Greg
Austin, TX USA

 

[BobbyBoy]

I use the following metal fuel tank base and fuel line connectors on my 2007 1098, in place of the flimsy plastic OE junk:

https://motowheels.com/i-10788272-c...-sport-classic-m696-796-1100-hm-796-1100.html

The only way to go!
Greg
Austin, TX USA

Totally agree with you Greg, I have already been pointed in that direction as they manufacture for the 749/999 also. If money was no problem for sure I would buy having just had my fire experience. I am going to 'risk manage' the issue and change QD's every belt service or if disconnected, its 20 euro on top of the service cost.

 

[ProphetPVD]

Sorry... definitely NOT making light of your situation, but I had to at least take a swing at this...

 

[BobbyBoy]

Sorry... definitely NOT making light of your situation, but I had to at least take a swing at this...

Being an ex-Military man I can totally relate to your comment, when sh*t happens you laugh it off otherwise its a long slippery slope. Much appreciated PVD.

With some luck, i'll be riding before end of the month as long as my monkey ass heals in time. :crying::crying::crying:

 

[C-simian]

Hey BobbyBoy,

Thanks for the head's up - I've got spare in the garage, so I'll swap out the old for the new before my next ride.

Hope you monkey-butt heals up soon. Ouch!

Ron