Ducati Sporting Club UK > Model Specific - Discussion, Technical Problems and Help > 998 / 996 / 916 / 748 > Failing rockers

[Yellow Bip]

just had my bike serviced by nelly (CORNERSPEED) and it needed 3 rockers 2 in vertical head not badly gone but gone and 1 in the front head badly gone, not bad for 5000 miles and just over 3 years old. talking to nelly he mentioned there was a test done about the time it takes the oil to reach the vertical cylinder which is 9 seconds, i always do warm the bike up b4 i go on a run but the first initial start must bo some damage.

[Red-leader]

Just put my 998 2002 into Snells for 11,000 service and rocker check. Lets see if the newer design has been any better. Will let you know shortly.
Is 11,000 miles normal for a year !!!
Longest lay up period 7 days so far, and that was coz i was in Spain.
R-L

[turbopacs]

Had £2,500 worth of rockers and cams changed at first service.....the issue of chroming is really a red hearing...metal should not be touching metal....either there is no oil there or the film is failing....if there was a real oil supply problem all of these engines would fail which they dont...therefore it comes down to the oil film....I use RS Castrol 10-60 car oil...we have a dry clutch and so do not need to use bike oil which has to contend with wet clutches...the film strength is considerably higher than bike oils and seems to have sorted this problem.....hope that this helps..

[rcgbob44]

An intersting coment Turbopac!
As has been said b4 about oil additives etc, i run Slick 50 in a diesel Fiesta (stop laughing all of you!) and the difference it made was astounding, very slipery stuff.

Has anybody ever tried this additive in there own Ducati and had rocker problems?. And b4 anybody asks, I only use the recomended shell oil in my baby.

[keith_mann1959]

Turbopacs, I would suggest your oil choice has not sorted the problem if you needed £2.5 k of work at the first service.
60 weight oil is all wrong for these engines, if i were your warranty agent i would refuse a claim if i knew you used this oil.
Car oils do not by definition have higher film strength than bike oils. The revs bikes use is more of a problem than a clutch or even a common gearbox for that matter. Remember if you double the revs the stress increases 4 fold.

[Red-leader]

Well my bike is back from the dealers after a major service. All rocker checked and no problems.
The story i have is form them,
NO problems with any 998s at all
ONE 996 SPS with two faulty rockers
MANY 748s WITH ROCKER PROBLEMS !!!
Story they have from the factory is the rockers have faulty chrome, but due to the way they where stored ie altogether Ducati have no idea what bikes they are fitted to. So cannot recal as they would have to recal every bike built from the last few years.
This does not inspire confidents in the future of my bike, only hope that mine was manufactured after all the faulty rockers had been used.
My Dealer Snells of Alton.
Bargin service £480-00 with dsc discount result !!!

R-L,

Just admit it ..

You saw the heading "Failing Rockers" and was expecting an article on Henners decline into senile dementia weren't you ..???

Has he got those 50mm's yet ..??

[Red-leader]

Thought it was cockney rhyming slang.