Ducati Sporting Club UK > Model Specific - Discussion, Technical Problems and Help > 851 / 888 > Ho Hum.....2

[alan_db]

Remarkably similar to Paul's post......

Took 888 for a run yesterday and engine was running a dream until I was making my way back through town to go home. Looked down and steam coming from left hand side of bike......coolant everywhere.

Is this normal when bike gets hot......thought there was an expansion tank to counter this?

Let bike cool down for a few hours and tried running bike again. Let the bike warm up for quite a while in garage until the expansion tank was full of coolant and then fluid started to come out of valve on cap.........I assume this is normal???

Second problem.........oil filler cap.
Again when bike is hot oil leaks (sorry.....seeps) past the cap. Hot oil dripping onto roasting exhaust = not nice burning smell.
Just been and got a new o-ring for cap to try and solve problem. Anyone else have bother with this????

Cheers Alan...

[keith888]

Mine certainly does none of those. Antifreeze is very good at finding its way out past very small holes. The dried residue should give you a clue where it came from.

Leaking past the filler cap might suggest excessive crankcase pressurisation. Unless the o-ring has got clear damage then I would have thought it shouldn't leak under normal circumstances. I'm not very familiar with these engines (yet) but is it possible that a blown head gasket could be pressurising both oil and water?

Keith

[alan_db]

growing concerned......

removed and replaced o-ring on oil filler cap. Both old and new o-ring appear perfect yet there is still a leak.
Checked seal pocket for cap and it looks OK too, no scratches / marks at all.

At least radiator / header tank was fine last night........

Bit more investigating required I think.....

[keith888]

Might be worth checking that the crankcase breather system is not obstructed as that would raise your crankcase pressure. Again, I've not looked at the system in any detail so I might be talking complete rubbish....

Keith

[Screwy]

Originally posted by keith888
Might be worth checking that the crankcase breather system is not obstructed as that would raise your crankcase pressure.
Keith

Good suggestion

Also regards overheating , it could possibly be an air lock in the system try the 851 group message board HERE
for a thread on 888 overheating problems .

Paul

[Clippy]

The water problem sounds like air somewhere in the system that's not finding it's way back to the header tank.

Had this on a Westfield I used to drive - trapped air would expand and force water back to fill/overflow the header tank. The temp gauge never went mad as the air pocket was away from the sender where the water was nice and cool...

Giles

[alan_db]

cheers for all advice......just got back home after couple of days away.

Will have a good look at bike over weekend, sounding like the radiator has an airlock or the expansion tank has been overfilled.

Oil leaking.........still unsure. Local dealer reckons it could be blockage in crankcase breather too.
Bike runs great apart from leaking a bit of oil....kind of rules out knackered head gasket dealer reckons.

Will let you all know how I get on

Alan...