Looking @ a 748???'s

[duganc1717]

So I'm going to look @ a 00' 748 this weekend, what are the trouble spots?
Any PO's want to chime in?

[Mr. Kurtz]

Judging by my limited experience(one of my teammates races one), I'd say the weak point would be the area between the front and rear tires.

Seriously though, he's a Ducati guy, and just had a run of bad luck with this one.

[naked-daytrader]

An 00' Ducati? You're just asking for trouble...anything over 3-4 yrs old is going to be a pain in the ass in my opinion. Just make sure it has meticulous maintenance records.

[Paul_E_D]

The cams had a wear problem.

[pasta-rocket]

I have had many 748's with great luck. Dont worry!

[DesmoTull]

An 00' Ducati? You're just asking for trouble...anything over 3-4 yrs old is going to be a pain in the ass in my opinion. Just make sure it has meticulous maintenance records.

flaking cam rockers can be a problem. Other service not so much. Every Ducati that I have bought used, I would do a full service on *anyway* as soon as I got it. Just force of habit. Non Testastretta heads means a harder time doing valve services, but again, not WWIII like some people make it out to be.

Have the owner confirm if rockers have been looked at / replaced. I would even have him pull off the valve covers, and check for this:



That is bad....

[BCT748]

The cams had a wear problem.

The cams only wear if the rockers flake and aren't replaced.

Here is a list of some common 748 problems.

Flaking rockers.
It's a hit or miss problem. Some motors can have all of them go bad and some don't have any. I've never had one go bad but if you do you can either have them re-plated or buy new ones with better plating from megacycles.

Charging problems.
Pretty common especially with the older, '98 and older, bikes with the 2 phase charging systems. Easy fix is to replace the wires from the stator with a larger gauge, separating them so they dissipate heat better and keeping it on a charger. I'm having this problem now but I've been too lazy to fix it.

Coolant tank leak.
The expansion tank can crack. Usually happens if the rubber wraps on the frame fall off or move and when the system heats up the tank expands and pushes against the frame. New ones are only about $40 but are a pain in the ass to change. I've never had this problem.

Soft rear brake.
The bleeder is on the bottom of the caliper so it is impossible to get all of the air out when bleeding unless you unbolt it and flip it so the bleeder is on top when bleeding. I've heard of people spending a small fortune replacing parts instead of bleeding it correctly trying to fix the problem. The rear brake is only good for holding the bike at a stop light anyway so I lived with it for a year before I got off my ass and bled it out.

Fuel leaks.
There are a few causes. The one I had was the sending unit nut is plastic and ends up cracking. You can't get a new nut from Ducati, they want to sell you the whole pump assembly. There is a guy on Ducati.ms that makes a replacement nut out of billet aluminum for $40, it's even drilled for safety wire.
Another one is brittle fuel lines. Easily replaced with fuel line from Auto Zone for a few bucks. Mine were already replaced when I bought the bike.
Quick connect fittings and o-rings. The quick connects are plastic and can crack. There are a few vendors out there that sell replacement metal ones. The o-rings for the quick connects can rip too, I've only seen it happen because someone tried to force the connectors together crooked. My Quick connectors were already replaced when I got the bike and I've never had a problem with them or the o-rings.

Fuel pump relay.
For some reason the fuel pump relays go fairly often. I had mine crap out on me coming back from Vermont. Ducati wants something like $40 for it. You can get them from NAPA for $12. The NAPA ones last longer but are a slightly different shape so they don't fit as well in the holding strap but they with fit with a little persuasion.

Fly wheel nut.
Some people have had the fly wheel nut back out on them and if it does it destroys the crank and side cover. Nichols sells two smaller nuts to replace the one larger one to fix this. I've never had this happen but I'm pretty sure they are under $50.

Sticking/slipping clutch.
Pretty much every Ducati with a dry clutch can have this problem. The sticking is from the clutch packs getting too hot. The fix is getting an open clutch cover to allow it to cool. The slipping is from clutch dust building up. You can either get an open cover to let the dust out or take the cover off every so often and blow it out with compressed air. I have an open cover on mine.

Broken chain taking out the motor.
If the chain snaps there is about a 99% chance it is going to smash a hole in the left side of the case. There are a few vendors that sell "case savers" for $40 to protect the case if the chain ever lets go. Never had this happen to me but this is what it looks like if it ever does:


That is everything I can think of right now. Don't let the list scare you I've put over 15K on mine and it has left me stranded that one time coming back from Vermont because of the fuel pump relay. When I figured out what it was I realized that I could have taken the directional relay out and put it in place of the fuel pump relay and I could have riden home instead of standing in the rain for 4 hours FYI AAA in MA will not tow a bike even if you have the optional RV/Motorcycle coverage

[duganc1717]

So the reliability is the complete opposite of my SV.

Thanks for the list.

[BCT748]

So the reliability is the complete opposite of my SV.

Thanks for the list.

All depends if you get a good one or a bad one. I have friends with newer jap bikes with less miles that have had more problems then I've had with my 10 year old almost 20K mile 748. On the other hand I've heard of people buying 748's that have been nothing but a basket case even with records to show it's been well taken care of.

[CEO]

^whoa, he's alive!

[The Outlaw]

Hi there.

I'm Kurtz teammate. Yup had a few issues with my race bike this year. some are just dump luck and others are from racing a 12 year old bike. I race a 98 748. BCT748 summed up pretty much most of the issues. I'll add a few things though.

-Charging system (Funny since Ducati started as an electronics company)
Another issues that is common is the voltage regulator dies due to the issues BCT748 mentioned. They can be replaced with a much better one. CA cycle works sells them pretty cheap.

-Flaking Rockers.
Ask the owner if he had this issue and if the rockers have been replaced. Most Ducati's had this issue. The severity is not always that bad but should be addressed if you plan on really riding the bike. Easy way to tell is pull the oil strainer. The strainer is in the right side right in front of the site window. If you pull this out and see a bunch of metal flakes it's time to replace the rockers. Guy Martin (www.mbpducati.ca) will do a swap with you for the new ones.

-Coolant tank
Yup big issue with these. Another reason they go is putting to much water in it and the pressure causes the leaks.

-Belts
Make sure you change the belts. Even if the guy says he changed the belts the minute before you got there change them yourself. They are about $70 bucks and will save you big $$$$$$ if you snap one. They should be changed every 12000 miles or 2 years. More if you ride the bike hard. I would recommend picking up one of these if you plan to do them yourself. (Ducati cam belt lock) I had a belt snap right after I bought my first Duc. Cost me about a $1000 to rebuild the front cylinder. (Learned a ton though)

-Valves
What makes a Duc a Duc is the Desmo system. This means valve clearances and checking them. This is not that hard of a job and gets pretty easy after you do it once or twice. I would recommend buying a GOOD shim kit. (EMS DUC) This will save you alot of time when having to change shim to get the valves in spec. I would also recommend replacing the collets with these. (MBP Collets). The stock collets are round and get smashed. This is what causes the valves to go out of spec they are also kind brittle and tend to break.

-Reference books
I would recommend picking up this book. (Haynes Manual) It gives you step by step direction on how to do pretty much everything with the bike. It also shows you alternatives to the Ducati specialty tools that are required to do some maintenance on the bike.

What I've always tell people who ask me about buying a Ducati. Are you rich? If not learn to work on the bike. Are you mechanically inclined? Yes. Good you'll need it.

I love my Ducati's. they are great bikes and will do you just fine as long as you do the basic stuff to them. They are not a jap get on and ride and forget about it bike.

Good luck with the bike and I bet you'll find plenty of people around here to help you out if you have issues with the bike.

I will give you another pointer. Ducati is well known for using left over parts. So say you have a 2000 bike and need a part for it. Make sure the part is not from a 1999. IE. In 2000 Ducati changed the front brake caliper from 1 pin to a 2 pin retaining system. There are a bunch of other little things like this that come up.

[scottieducati]

You've got a good list here, and the fortune we have being in New England, is there are several TOP NOTCH Ducati shops within reasonable distance, and a few very, very well recognized tech's that do independent work. Have someone who knows their stuff do a full service on one of these, and you will have very few things to worry about.

[Kurlon]

One note to the above, belts should be changed every 12000 miles or every 2 years.

[whynot]

I've owned three Ducatis and always found great on-line help and forum support and some good dealers.

For DIY maintenance, check out
http://ducatisuite.com/basicmaintenance.html

... and a good source of essential parts and know-how:
http://desmotimes.com/
-- get his "Ducati Desmoquattro Maintenance & Modification Guide - 3ed Edition"
He sells the "case saver" insert -- E-Z install.

Maybe join www.nedoc.org and http://www.ducati.ms/ and look around there.
Bikes FS at http://nedoc.org/forums/index.php?board=9.0

Also http://www.bevelheaven.com/ (mostly older Ducs).

For dealer support, I went to mostly to Seacoast (Derry NH), then BCM (Laconia), Great Bay (No. Hampton), and Riverside in Somerville.

HTH,

-Kurt

[The Outlaw]

One note to the above, belts should be changed every 12000 miles or every 2 years.

You are correct. I changed it.

[danny86]

There was a ducati in PA, pearl white 848 , 2008 5k miles for 9K.

Id jump on it except Im looking for an 1198

PM me if you want his email/pics/etc

[Jim]

sounds like the 748 is as awesome as AIDS. rather just save up and get an 848

[duganc1717]

There was a ducati in PA, pearl white 848 , 2008 5k miles for 9K.

Id jump on it except Im looking for an 1198

PM me if you want his email/pics/etc

Way more than what I want to spend. Thanks though.

sounds like the 748 is as awesome as AIDS. rather just save up and get an 848

Saving for a bike is pretty nonexistent with a mortgage and daycare that cost more than my mortgage.

[BCT748]

So did you go to look at it or did you get scared off?

sounds like the 748 is as awesome as AIDS. rather just save up and get an 848

Jim wants my AIDS