Ducati Sporting Club UK > Model Specific - Discussion, Technical Problems and Help > 999 / 749 > Suppose it had to break ..2nd update....

[bradders]

...mmm...not BP was it???? common problem for them, if it is try and claim off them, I know they have paid out on some mis-fuellings because the unleaded and diesel ultimate are easily mistaken

[fab]

the bikes in the garage so i cant check it, however the pump was green i ve been back up and checked photographed the thing aswell, and its the right hand side pump, the diesel one is black and the petrol unusually was a penny dearer than the diesel, which was strange but correct at this particular place, again double checked tonight and million percent that it was not disel that was put in.

[Edited on 5-10-2005 by fab]

[Crunchy]

Sounds very fishy to me. If you say you were empty and then filled up, supposedly with diesel, I doubt whether you would have got 1 mile down the road.
Aren't petrol taps a different size from diesel in the UK? They are in Germany. That means you can't fit the diesel tap in a petrol tank.

Have you smelt the fuel filter from the bike? If the dealer fooked up then maybe they are trying to hide something.

[fab]

Well this is what im concerned of whether someone is trying to hide their tracks but i dont know? im always very suspicious about things like this..

Will have to see what the 2nd upate results in today..

Re the nozzles, i guess they may be different sizes here, however with the 749 the hole is so large that you could probably get a firemans hose down there (oo err)!

Its stressing me out a bit is this now, i just want my baby back without it costing me, and why should it thru no fault of my own?

[ScottyB]

100% with Crunchy on this one.

Oldest trick in the book teflon shoulder the problem onto something/someone else.

You would not have got anymore than a mile with diesel so that is a complete load of staines.

You are running around trying to disprove the diesel theory while the real culprit is watching you wasting your energy.

Best thing to do is tell them you are paying for an independant engineers report to be done, watch them turn a funny shade of white. Ask for the fuel filter as you want to send it off for analysis (They will go a nice clammy blue colour) and finish your sentence by making clear in no uncertain terms that if it turns out to be there fault they will be picking up the tab for your time and outlays.

Without delay speak to your Local trading standards and get them onside, they are a fairly approachable bunch as i had the pleasure of finding out a few years ago when i bought a duffer 748R which lasted a day before dying.

They may well help organise the above for you.

I can't make clear enough how important it is to not accept liability for what has happened, if you do you are knackered!

If all that fails do what i did and tip up at the garage with a fellow DSC'er and threaten to pull the manager and his brother who co owned the garage over the counter for a good kicking, it worked for me!

Most important of all keep your sense of humour, you are going to need it!

Regards

ScottyB

[fab]

Theres absolutely no way im accepting any liability over this, as you say scotty, allegedly the garage have said they have sent the fuel for analysis and that they cleared it all out and put new fuel in to see if it was ok, the concern is that my friend has used the same fuel and hasnt broken down.

I have to say i agree with you guys that the bike coule not have run with the diesel fuel and performed as it was doing up until the point where it broke down.

I must advise that after it did break down it continued to run, its just that it was smoking like as bar stuard and i didnt want to risk any catastrophic failure by riding it.

Can any one categorically state this the engine would not run? if this is the case i can simply say that its knack*rs. convinced it must be dodgy petrol and not diesel.

Again just to reiterate - it would run and tick over, rev up and down the rev range ok, just didnt feel quite right and smoked llike no ones business.

[Edited on 6-10-2005 by fab]

[Crunchy]

Originally posted by ScottyB




Ask for the fuel filter as you want to send it off for analysis (They will go a nice clammy blue colour) and finish your sentence by making clear in no uncertain terms that if it turns out to be there fault they will be picking up the tab for your time and outlays.


ScottyB

Agree with ScottyB, but don't ask for the filter over the phone. Do it all at the dealers.

Another point, what was the AA man's diagnostic. Surely he must have smelt diesel. Try ringing him and ask what he thinks to the dealers claim. If he's with you, you might need him as a witness

[Crunchy]

Originally posted by fab
.

Again just to reiterate - it would run and tick over, rev up and down the rev range ok, just didnt feel quite right and smoked llike no ones business.

If there was a very small amount of diesel in the tank then it would run as you said. But you said that you filled her up. In that case what was being burned would have been almost pure diesel and while the duc's have a high compression I don't think it is high enough for diesel.

[fab]

Well the garage called me back today and have said they are convinced it was diesel I didnt want to say anything further at this stage to them, i have agreed to pick it back up tommorow at the cost of £140.....

Basically i have spoken to the garage and they have confirmed that the transaction as paid in cash cant be re traced and the pumps themselves cant confirm what fuel was pumped from it. Only the amount for the day not individual transaction.

I guess i will have to await the results of sample test, but this hasnt gone my way it seems and going to have to put it down to an expensive learning curve, ( i could take this is if wasnt the fact that im so positive that i didnt put the fccking diesel in it). Im going to do a little more investigation pending the results of the test on the fuel and then see if i try and take it any further.

The thing that makes it even harder to swallow, AA man didnt run a diag on the bike, and the fact that hte advice on here and from 2 ducati and other engineers have confirmed to me that this bike could not run with that amount of diesel onboard. (again to clarify, which makes me think the fuel itself is dodgy and contaminated)

[Edited on 6-10-2005 by fab]

[posiden]

just a thought but could you get hold of the CCTV from the petrol station? That would prove you used the unleaded pump? and did they make you take your helmet off?