[spacemonkey]

So yeah... I have my the bike back together after having gone through most of the basics to get it track ready. Go to start it again for good measure and it just dies out on me. Thinking it was electrical (cause isn't it always!!??) I start looking through the loom and diagnosing the problem to no avail.

low and behold the BRAND NEW spark plugs are completely fouled and covered in oil. So me thinks the engine decided to forgo a day at the track in exchange for an exceptionally LONG string of four letter words...

I am assuming this means oils getting in via piston rings or some other gasket or seal is busted. This also means the engine needs to come apart and that is not going to happen prior to Friday afternoon. You have NO IDEA the level of disapointment here.

Thankfully I have long ago realized the best way to make a reliable ducati is to have two of them. The track body work, tank, rearsets, etc are going on the other one tomorrow and I'll have to refit the frame sliders as well. And what's worse is that I have newer tires on the track bike... (should be a no brainer to switch you say) but I ask how can I switch wheels from 2 bikes with one set of stands :-\
grrr just grrr

Now my questions for everyone is simple:
Any suggestions now that I'm taking the engine apart?
Any things to look for?
Any tips/ tricks?
Any goodies that I should look to add while the case is open?
Any body want a 748 engine with High compression pistons?!

Suggestions comments welcome.

 

[ChrisRam]

Clean the plugs and run the bike long enough to get them to operating temps. Then take them out and see what they look like. When I was getting my CBR ready for track days last year I would run it for a few just to hear it and eventually the plugs would foul. I was also running it without the air runners installed and it caused the plugs to foul.

Does this sound like something you may have done?

 

[st2lemans]

Take it for a ride, and then check the plugs.

Could just be oil from the airbox (from the breather) that was sucked in on startup and didn't get burned off.

Otherwise, I would think valve guides or seals before rings.

Tom

 

[tye1138]

Oil on the plugs in most cases, isn't from a blown motor. Most of the time you'll have other symptoms if the motor had a catastrophic failure like that.

If you can be a bit more detailed on exactly what else is wrong with the bike, besides oil on the plugs, that would be great start to helping diagnose the issue.

We also don't know the age of the bike and what the mileage is...

 

[gcardamone]

Thankfully I have long ago realized the best way to make a reliable ducati is to have two of them. The track body work, tank, rearsets, etc are going on the other one tomorrow and I'll have to refit the frame sliders as well. And what's worse is that I have newer tires on the track bike... (should be a no brainer to switch you say) but I ask how can I switch wheels from 2 bikes with one set of stands :-\
grrr just grrr

You can use a set of jack stands and put them under one of the bikes rearsets. that way you have the stand on one bike and the other's rear tire is in the air.

The front is somewhat more perplexing, but I believe that you could keep the jack stands under the rearsets and then also add some kind of support
under the horizontal cylinder to keep the front off the ground. Just throwing it out there for ya.

Geoff C

 

[spacemonkey]

Clean the plugs and run the bike long enough to get them to operating temps. Then take them out and see what they look like. When I was getting my CBR ready for track days last year I would run it for a few just to hear it and eventually the plugs would foul. I was also running it without the air runners installed and it caused the plugs to foul.

Does this sound like something you may have done?

Yes I did run it until reaching operating temp several time to verify operation and to work out the idle.
It was most definately run without the runners.

Tye:
It has roughly 22k miles on it. It was rebuilt roughly 4k ago with the high compression pistons.

Looking into both spark plug holes you can see quite a bit of oil and dirt debris (though this could be due to the previous owners neglect of the stock air filters. It was all but gone so I surmise it was sucked in piece by piece.)

Basically the bike just doesn't want to turn over. As stated the starter relay was burned out to this end
Hooked the battery directly to the starter and it still tries to fire up the engine but it is not turning on.

I will clean the plugs next week, reinstall and test.

How long should I run it for? (assuming it makes it?) What should I look for after?

Geoff,

Thanks for the tip man hows the bike treating you? I see you really went into it after that track day coupon. Do you still ride on the street at all?



Chris-

 

[tye1138]

I'd pull the tank off, get the valve covers off and try to turn it over by hand. See how much resistance there is to turning it over by hand. Sounds to me like you could have damaged something, but its hard to tell without testing. Maybe the guy who put the high-comp pistons in, forgot to measure squish and it finally touched something? Just a wild guess...

 

[gcardamone]

Yes I did run it until reaching operating temp several time to verify operation and to work out the idle.
It was most definately run without the runners.

Tye:
It has roughly 22k miles on it. It was rebuilt roughly 4k ago with the high compression pistons.

Looking into both spark plug holes you can see quite a bit of oil and dirt debris (though this could be due to the previous owners neglect of the stock air filters. It was all but gone so I surmise it was sucked in piece by piece.)

Basically the bike just doesn't want to turn over. As stated the starter relay was burned out to this end
Hooked the battery directly to the starter and it still tries to fire up the engine but it is not turning on.

I will clean the plugs next week, reinstall and test.

How long should I run it for? (assuming it makes it?) What should I look for after?

Geoff,

Thanks for the tip man hows the bike treating you? I see you really went into it after that track day coupon. Do you still ride on the street at all?



Chris-

Holy shit Chris, I didn't even put 2 and together when I looked at your name and location! Hope you and Becca are doing well, I see your still down south. I just lost my job about a month and a half ago so I am relocating back down to southern NJ. Moving out tomorrow actually.

The bike is actually at the shop right now getting the custom ECU map worked out. I spent so much money getting the bike back together after I lost my job (i was about to pick up a sweet track only 848) and could not part it out like I was supposed to. I have done a few days this year that were already paid for, and I am looking for a job so I can fund some additional ones if possible. I don't do any street riding anymore unfortunately, but I am considering trying to pick up a cheap SV 650 for the street.

Good luck getting things ready for the track this weekend, my guess is that your gonna have a blast! Looks like your getting into track days to since you now have a dedicated toy! You have your work cut out for you swapping things over, but with the fairing off you should be able to support the front from underneath fairly easily. You may also be able to get the bike high enough on the jacks after swapping rears to put some weight onto the rear of the bike to kind of see-saw the weight onto the back so that you can have the front forks fully extended. I don't know how easy that will be tho. Keep me posted. What track are you going to be riding?

 

[spacemonkey]

Sorry to hear about the job man, when I moved down here I had no job (thankfully becca made the big bucks). Still only working part time in marketing while scrambling to get my MBA.

I'm going to Roebling Road this sat then wandering around Savannah GA on sunday

The swap over went easily enough (save the wheels of course).

BUT>>>>Back to the issue and a new twist...

and this is where it gets interesting.

I swapped over everything from the track bike including the tank (yeah I like my street body work.... sue me) and guess what??

It doesn't start!!

So this means another facet of this problem could be the fuel pump.

Turning the ignition on I get the familiar whine of the pump. But after closer inspection (with the cap off) I saw that when starting up there was some splashing going on in the tank like gas was being shot upwards??

Any ideas?

 

[gcardamone]

So this means another facet of this problem could be the fuel pump.

Turning the ignition on I get the familiar whine of the pump. But after closer inspection (with the cap off) I saw that when starting up there was some splashing going on in the tank like gas was being shot upwards??

Any ideas?

Sounds to me like it could be one of three things. Either the fuel filter is clogged with a bunch of crap and is not letting fuel through. When you swapped the tanks are you sure that you put the fuel lines on the correct fittings? You may have them reversed. Or one of the hoses inside the tank split and needs to be replaced.

I would start by checking the lines, that may be it and it would be a quick fix. If they are hooked up fine, the other two are only overflow and breather, and even if they are reversed they would not cause the bike to not start.

If you can get your hands on a fuel pressure gauge you could always check fuel pressure without removing the tank and the pump. If not, then you could drain the tank, remove the pump assembly and check out the filter and the hoses. You can get both parts at any NAPA store. the filter is like $3.50 and is a NAPA 3032 fuel filter. It's a little weird when you fit it into the holder, it took me some fiddling to get it to stay centered. And they have pressureized fuel line as well. You will have to check out the numbering on the old stuff to get the proper diameter line. You may also want to drop over to ducati and get a fuel pump o-ring. I have had alot of success getting a used o-ring to reseal multiple times, but if you pinch it it will be no good. Used a litte petroleum jelly to smear around it to help it side in much easier, with less chance of tearing.

You could always just swap the fuel pump assemblies if you wanted to go that route. You will have two o-rings to try to reuse as long as you don't intend on immediatly sealing up both tanks. Let me know.

Geoff

 

[gcardamone]

any update chris?