ST4 Servicing
 

Hi guys,

My ST4 will shortly need its second service service, its done 3200 miles and as I am fairly new to Ducati's I would be pleased to hear how much its likely to cost. Nothing seems to be malfunctioning. When I had the first service done they told me that they needed it for two days for the next big one!!:sniff:

I saw some of the numbers on Hogs thread but have no idea if that is likely to be any sort of indicator.

Living in Salisbury I have some choices in who I use

Moto Marelli - Closest
Bridge Andover - SecondClosest
Two Four Italia - Third Closest
Three Cross - Fourth Closest and where I bought the bike and it had its first service.
Moto Rapido - Probably as far as i would think reasonable

If anyone has received good value for money service at any of these I would be grateful for the reccomendation. I dont know if you are allowed to mention crap service but I would rather know and I guess thats what U2U is for.

Cheers

Hi YMFB
Cannot recommend anyone near you, but from my experience the service should only take 1 day - I do not understand why anyone would take two days unless of course they did not have any consumables in stock or didn't really know what they were doing! Just a thought :P

Hmmm, well it depends if they do that little bit extra as well as the book service such as taking the cams out etc. I dont know whats actually in the schedule for your service but a big one will be belts, shims, engine oil, fork oil, oil, air and fuel filters, brake and clutch fluid, check and locktight flywheel nut etc. I would suggest that if someone can get all that done in one day then they are not doing it right!

Cant see why a bike with 3200 miles on it would need all that doing though unless its been standing for a while.

The service book says Sevice Coupon "B" 10,000 km or twelve months from delivery date, whichever occurs first.

Delivery Date 17.08.04
First Dervice due at 1000 kms 08.09.04, actual 1366 kms

Whilst I want the bike properly serviced I dont want to pay for any unnecessary work and as I have only done 3850 kms since the last service, bike is ridden reguarly but only 150kms a week plus occasional long rides.

What sort of money should I be bracing myself for ?

But I suppose a Ducati specialist is going to do everything by the book and that includes everything. Since my car now includes servicing for the first three years it gets an oil change and thats about it every 15000 miles, BMW wont be paying for anything thats not strictly required until the three years are up, then watch out !!

That'll be a 6000 mile service then (10,000km or 12 months) which Ducati manchester will take £414.19 of your hard earned off you.

Paul,

i hope that the workshops local to my rates are similar to Ducati in Manchester. I will phone for quotes if they will give fixed price but £400 ish is better than i expected.

cheers

It's the next one 12,000/2yr service that'll smart a bit

oh deep joy

Its a lot of money but unfortunatly thats what it costs to run a Ducati! My bike is well out of warranty so it goes to Nelly at Cornerspeed but i try and do as much of the work as possible myself. If your not too worried then its worth looking for an independant in your area becasue at the end of the day, despite what they have on their web site, ducati should still honour any warranty claims as long as its serviced correctly.


The reason huge bills are being quoted is that on the bigger servies the better people (like Nelly) take the cam shafts out to inspect for rocker wear (this isnt part of the official service schedule). Opening rockers are £105 each and there are eight of them. Closers are more expensive but fail less often (still eight of them though!!)

I would advise to get the cams pulled and the rockers checked a few days before your warranty expires then if there is a problem Ducati will have to pick up the bill.

As the valve clearences should be done with the engine stone cold,some dealers/engineers like to leave the bike overnight to achieve that,that moght be why they need it for two days.

Guys
All I can say on the subject is:
I live in Switzerland but purchased (the swiss would not sell me a yellow st4s) and have the bike serviced by a UK main ducati dealer. It has had all its services done on the nail (I enjoy the ride back to Blighty as a good excuse to drink some decent beer) and the servicing costs have been, inc of all items n tax:

500mls - free
6,000mls - £254
12,000mls - £473

Both the 6 n 12 services were concluded in a day (yes I was there before doors open and left at the close of play) and the bike has never missed a beat. All items on the official service schedule (and some others) were dealt with. Also, please note that after leaving the dealer I ride just over a thousand miles to get back home so I place a great deal of trust in my dealer, whose workshop team do me proud. I'll be back for the 18,000 service soon, but as I write the bike runs and sounds wonderful just as it always has done. Maybe I'm just a lucky guy, or maybe I don't abuse the bike and leave things well alone to those who are qualified to do so (which I'm not) and have a quality team servicing it with good old fashioned tender love and care.

:)

Athelstan, would you mind saying who the dealer is that you used ?

I have asked four workshop/dealers for a price for the next service and so far only one has replied.

Make that two but neither is in the ball park compared with what Athelstan paid, maybe they are offering a lot more I will have to check.

YMFB
Sent you a U2U

thanks, you 2 should have u2u

Hi YMFB,

Having been the proud owner of two ST4's, I can say that you are looking at around £200 for the first/alternate service and the upper end of £400 for the second/main service. Expensive I know but she's worth it! I found that a lot of the expence comes from the time taken in the removal and refit of the fairings. Not It's best point.
I would seriously recomend Moto Rapido in Winchester (where I purchased my second steed from) and If you are prepared to go a little further Snells in Alton are excellent. Both services should be complete within the day. I would be very surprised if it took any longer!
Hope you get sorted soon.:burn:

YMFB,

I've just had my ST4S serviced (12k miles - so effectively its year 2 service) at a cost of 630 quid by P&H in Crawley. This is a price set by Ducati UK.

I'm surprised they said they wanted the bike for 2 days. The second service has a book time over 9 hours, but I thought the first / 6k service was less than a days work.
Having said that, they are meant to check belt tension and valve clearances, but in reality I don't think many dealers bother to do this (you have no way of knowing if they have done it or not afterwards).

I'm sure you know that the ST4 has a 916 engine, and so should have a slightly lower service cost than the 4S...:rolleye:


Out of your list I'd take the bike back to where you brought it.

All the best,
John.

[Edited on 10-8-2005 by John W]

cheers guys,

I had a quote of £400 ish from Two Four Italia, 3X and Moto Rapido didnt reply to my e mail so I guess I will have to phone them.