[Kruz]

Second oil change at 3086 miles, first change was at 662 miles. Using the recommended Shell 15W50 Advance 4T oil.


I didn't have any of these obviously ferrous slivers after the 600 mile change, is this normal for a Ducati or something I should be concerned about?


Never seen any of this before with any of my Jap I-4s, just the usual aluminum sparkles in the oil drain pan from the clutch basket.


Thanks!

 

[Kruz]

The DQS or Ducati Quick Shifter was my first thought as the culprit along with normal break in metal shavings. I wiped all that mess off the drain plug with a paper towel and 95% of it was what I call black paste, superfine steel wear particles that form a kind of black mush. I picked out as many of the slivers as I could see on the towel with a tweezer and here they are with a ball point pen for reference. There were only seven particles that were large enough to recover and the largest is about 4.5 mm long. I'm guessing just normal wear in from closely fit parts becoming intimate for the first time. I'll check again in about 3000 miles and see if it settles down. The oil pan had the usual aluminum sparkles from the clutch basket and some flecks of red paint I'm not sure from where.

 

[Kruz]

Nobody else ever had fuzz on their magnetic drain plug?

 

[D-StyleNZL]

Nobody else ever had fuzz on their magnetic drain plug?

Normal.

Plenty of people have (1299 forum has alot of threads on it)

 

[Ducshopeful]

Pretty normal tbh.

First oil change done by Dealer at 1000kms, with the next one due at 12,000 which i thought was a bit too far out (some ppl disagree, i'm paying for it so whatever).

Did a second oil change myself at 6,000kms. Don't have any pictures but oil that i removed was almost black, with the back of the magnetic drain plug covered in metal flakes. Researched it - Normal.

One thing i would mention about the black sludge on your drain plug @Kruz - its probably excess threebond mixed with oil.
There have been a few guys here who've had that issue.

 

[Kruz]

Pretty normal tbh.

First oil change done by Dealer at 1000kms, with the next one due at 12,000 which i thought was a bit too far out (some ppl disagree, i'm paying for it so whatever).

Did a second oil change myself at 6,000kms. Don't have any pictures but oil that i removed was almost black, with the back of the magnetic drain plug covered in metal flakes. Researched it - Normal.

One thing i would mention about the black sludge on your drain plug @Kruz - its probably excess threebond mixed with oil.
There have been a few guys here who've had that issue.

Thank you sir, this is my first Ducati so I'm not really sure what to watch for, what is normal. I'll check again after 2000 miles when I do the next oil change. I think the machining operations on the Ducati may not be as tight as what the Japs do and things need to bed in a bit, establish wear patterns and mate parts. I noticed that the Ducati is mechanically very noisy when compared to a typical Jap I-4, all that clattering is probably down to looser tolerances and parts fits. 12000 kM seems high to me, I typically change oil at around 3300 kM (2000 miles ) on all my machines, I've noticed a degradation in oil viscosity after this amount of time probably due to the shearing action of the transmission gears and wet clutch. Oil is a lot cheaper than metal in my opinion.

 

[Kruz]

Normal.

Plenty of people have (1299 forum has alot of threads on it)

Thanks, I'll quit worrying and just enjoy the bike.

 

[Dbrisson]

Mine was exactly the same, second oil change at 2500miles

 

[Kruz]

Thanks for the confirmation Dbrisson, I'm going to stop worrying about it now.....

 

[dougo1199]

Hey @Kruz, Yes, I too have experienced this in the early stages of the bikes. (1199/959) Nothing to worry about. The only time I should have thought twice was when I found a fair amount of copper & steel shavings on the drain plug and in the oil pan on the Monster. It turned out the 3 stator bolts had worked themselves loose from the outer case and it started to rub against the basket. Didn't find out until the bike left me stranded over 2 hours away due to the battery eventually dying. To make matters worse, I replaced the stator but over-torqued the bolts which cracked the side case on the shakedown run! Eventually found a new-used case on eBay and torqued the bolts to the proper specs. No issues since. (red loctited the bolts too)

 

[Kruz]

Hey @Kruz , Yes, I too have experienced this in the early stages of the bikes. (1199/959) Nothing to worry about. The only time I should have thought twice was when I found a fair amount of copper & steel shavings on the drain plug and in the oil pan on the Monster. It turned out the 3 stator bolts had worked themselves loose from the outer case and it started to rub against the basket. Didn't find out until the bike left me stranded over 2 hours away due to the battery eventually dying. To make matters worse, I replaced the stator but over-torqued the bolts which cracked the side case on the shakedown run! Eventually found a new-used case on eBay and torqued the bolts to the proper specs. No issues since. (red loctited the bolts too)

Thanks Doug, I think I'll be fine, no copper, just those very fine slivers of steel totalling about 7 in all, the rest just ultrafine particles of steel it looked like.

 

[MiamiJAG]

Hey @Kruz, Yes, I too have experienced this in the early stages of the bikes. (1199/959) Nothing to worry about. The only time I should have thought twice was when I found a fair amount of copper & steel shavings on the drain plug and in the oil pan on the Monster. It turned out the 3 stator bolts had worked themselves loose from the outer case and it started to rub against the basket. Didn't find out until the bike left me stranded over 2 hours away due to the battery eventually dying. To make matters worse, I replaced the stator but over-torqued the bolts which cracked the side case on the shakedown run! Eventually found a new-used case on eBay and torqued the bolts to the proper specs. No issues since. (red loctited the bolts too)

Ouch, looks nasty.
But at the same time glad it didn't turn into something major.

 

[dougo1199]

Ouch, looks nasty.
But at the same time glad it didn't turn into something major.

That's for sure. Ran kerosene through the motor several times to clean out any leftover particles, and now the bike is currently running as good as new.

 

[D-StyleNZL]

Thank you sir, this is my first Ducati so I'm not really sure what to watch for, what is normal. I'll check again after 2000 miles when I do the next oil change. I think the machining operations on the Ducati may not be as tight as what the Japs do and things need to bed in a bit, establish wear patterns and mate parts. I noticed that the Ducati is mechanically very noisy when compared to a typical Jap I-4, all that clattering is probably down to looser tolerances and parts fits. 12000 kM seems high to me, I typically change oil at around 3300 kM (2000 miles ) on all my machines, I've noticed a degradation in oil viscosity after this amount of time probably due to the shearing action of the transmission gears and wet clutch. Oil is a lot cheaper than metal in my opinion.

Welcome to the Desmo engine. Most of the noise is due to the valve train and use of thin metal on engine covers (lightweight) Thou the superquattro motor is quieter than the previous testastretta with a dry clutch!

Also Loctite every thing on Ducati.

I change my oil around 5000-7000kms depending on how many track days ive done and color of oil. I live in a hot environment so temps arent nice to oil. My next service I need to drop the sump and clean the oil pick up so thats going to be fun.

 

[Kruz]

D-Style, dropping that sump is a pretty good job, what with the exhaust removal and all. How many miles for that one?


I need to check with the serious Ducatisti on here and find out what to keep an eye on with the 959, nuts, bolts, screws, etc.

 

[Kruz]

Also Loctite every thing on Ducati.

I did Loctite that oil drain plug, it's aluminum and only gets 15 N-M torque, about half what a typical steel drain bolt gets.

 

[dougo1199]

@Kruz - Anything that I consider a critical safety fastener, IE: caliper bolts, Axel nuts, etc. I safety wire. Other fasteners, IE: triple clamp bolts, foot levers, shifting components I mark with a paint marker to get a quick visual on any movement. But like @D-StyleNZL mentioned, it's always a good idea to at least "blue" loctite most everything.