Hyper-Disaster: Triptus Interruptus

My planned 3 day ride was not to be. Dead Ducati ... or as friends referred to
her ... DUCA-CA

After about 100 miles of paved roads and only 10 miles of rough Forest Service road my Hyperstrada lost one cylinder, lost power ... and died.

For a while it would re-start .. sort of .. and run on one cylinder but would not take any throttle.

Will go back to dealer tomorrow (Tuesday) to see what's up. I've got an aftermarket extended warranty ... so we shall see what that is worth. :roll eyes:

Only unusual thing that happened before the failure was the red light in middle of console was briefly and intermitting flashing before she died. Also, a few times engine would briefly cut out (less than one second) then back on OK.
It always took full throttle, but the cut out happened at lower RPM.

I had NO IDEA what the flashing red light was. Oil was FULL, coolant temp around 200F and fuel was FULL.

Any insight or help would be much appreciated.

As an aside, getting home from Kettenpom, CA (RSL will know this area- it's EAST of Garberville) is not easy. This is possibly THE most remote area of California with nasty, tight, bumpy roads for 70 miles in every direction. Zero services.

Fun riding on a bike (that's running!) ... not so much for my girlfriend (+ 4 dogs) driving my Van!

kuksul08 said:

Darn! That sucks!

Are you sure it was running on one cylinder, or could it have been the traction control kicking in repeatedly and preventing forward movement? Did you try disabling DTC completely? My first thought was an ABS wheel speed sensor rubbing up against the brake rotor - easily dislodged when changing a wheel.

If it is indeed a misfire, next step would be identifying the cylinder at fault and tracing back the fuel injector and ignition wiring. These coils are known to suck and cause major electrical issues - I would not be surprised if one failed.

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Thanks for the tips, I passed your thoughts onto the service manager and head tech.

The dealer won't get to the bike until tomorrow. I'll report back when I know what's up.

Yea, could have been in limp mode .. bike would not take any throttle at all, barely ran but no knocking I remember ... just sounded like one cylinder to me. Then, it would stall ... and finally would not re-start at all.

I was in SPORT mode at time of failure (should have stopped, switched to RAIN when dirt section began). DTC was in default for sport. I never
changed it.

After the failure I tried changing riding mode from SPORT to TOURING. No change. Also disconnected batt cables ... then re-connected. No change, no luck.

Checked all fuses and all connections I could find. Nothing loose or broken that I noticed.

Hopefully will hear something from dealer today. They are swamped ... as you would expect mid Summer.

Stopped by the dealer today, my bike was partially apart, so they've made some progress.

Bad news ... shredded cam timing belt. They have not gone further in yet but will do so later today or tomorrow.

Will pull Cylinders off, just about everything torn down for inspection.

Parts lists will be assembled.

As most of you probably know, this Ducati uses an interference fit type system, so when a belt breaks damage can happen to valves/piston.

I did not hear any unnerving sounds when failure happened, but who knows?

All covered under warranty and dealer vows to check spec on EVERYTHING throughout the motor for damage/suspicion.

These guys are slow ... So probably no further word until next week.

Will up date when I know more.

appliance821 said:

Can't remember - did you get this used? How many miles were on the belts? Just curious as to what may have caused this.

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Yes, bought used, 19K on the clock.

Dealer claimed 18K service was just done ... not sure I believe it as belt looked bit old to me. They sort of hinted that the "now fired" tech who did the work may have screwed something up. None of this bodes well for me.

IMO, they're lying .. and they never did the 18K service at all.

I'm a bit nervous letting these guys do a complete rebuild. Not sure if anyone there is up to date on the Ducati service schools or has a clue at all.

I do know of a really good Ducati guy in San Jose, may have to make a move there if the warranty will still cover (It should).

As to the real cause? I've no clue at this point and not sure they will know for certain even when engine is stripped down. Belts should not just randomly shred. Something's going on here.

kuksul08 said:

If the 18k service was done, my vote is it wasn't tensioned properly and skipped or fell off. Think about it... very similar drive belts are in service on cars for 100k miles without direct cooling airflow like on the Ducati. The 18k service is preventive, I imagine the belts would be good for much longer than this.

Or, they didn't put the valve back together right, and it locked up, shredding the belt.

Or a tensioner bearing locked up, heating up the belt and melting it? IDK just some ideas.

If you don't mind sharing, where is this being worked on? I know a shop or two that I would stay away from. Sorry to hear of your problems with the Hyper.

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Marin Speed Shop in San Rafael. They sell Ducati and Triumph. Used to be Hattar motors. I knew the owner there, sorry to see those guys leave.

Thanks for the comments on this. YES, the tech mentioned tensioner bearing locking up as a possible ... but I could spin both the ones I could reach. (cover was off) Will update.

appliance821 said:

Whatever happens, ask them to give you the old parts. Hopefully they fix things and all is good. If not, those parts are the clues to how it all happened. Auto repair places are required to give you the replaced parts - don't know about MC places.

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Yes, great idea. I meant to mention this today, but did not. Will call tomorrow and advise. I think MC shops operate under same law ... old parts must be saved and offered to customer.

Thanks for helpful comments. Any further tips and advice much appreciated.

Patrick

thePUNISHER said:

Sorry to hear about your trouble man that's rough. Hope they get your Hyper sorted right. I know it's probably too late to take the bike somewhere else, and this place isn't exactly across the street for you, but if you want the best guy you could have working on your bike take it to Don Babb at California Speed Sports in Livermore. He used to own Modesto Ducati a few years back. People would bring their Ducs from all over California because they knew they could trust him and his shop. If I were going to have anyone working on my Duc it would be him.

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Thanks for the recommendation. I'll give them a call and check to see how busy they are. The guy in San Jose comes highly recommended by MANY members on BARF forum for Ducati. He is VERY BUSY ... a month out for my bike. My dealer claims he'll have the bike back up and running in 3 weeks if parts come in ... which of course they never do.

Already been through this with the rear brake/frame piece they broke ... took forever to get parts. They ended up UNBOLTING parts from a new
Hyperstrada ... hey, maybe they'll just give me the WHOLE engine out of that new bike!