Ducati Sporting Club UK > Model Specific - Discussion, Technical Problems and Help > 998 / 996 / 916 / 748 > I Had the Dreaded "Rocker" Call Today.....

[zhed44]

2 openers and 1 closer. B**locks.

That will mean the bike has had a total of 10 new rockers! Luckily, the other 7 were fitted before I bought the bike.

I have read on here and on similar forums that Ducati are (or were) sometimes willing to meet the cost of replacement rockers. Does anyone have any info on this ie: who to contact, what evidence they require etc?

Thanks in advance.

[Lightning Boy]

As far as I'm aware the rocker issue was pre-testastretta which means your looking at an engine around 5 years out of warranty. Quite what the issue is/was has never been conclusively proved. I've got a 2001 748R which has never needed a replacement rocker in its life (14,000 miles). I'd imagine for Ducati GB to even consider a claim you'll need absolute history of authorised dealer servicing with recommended lubricant and filter changes within the specified service intervals.

[John W]

I had some changed 2 years ago, as well as one of the cams. The bike at that time was just on 3 years old, 24k service.

Ducati just weren't interested, despite me emailing and calling them a number of times. I posted copies of various threads about this to show it was a common fault, and even mentioned the number of generations this particular part has gone through. big fat nothing.
In the end I just paid the bill and moved on.

If you can get them to pay you will have done exceptionally well, but I would expect it to be a painful experience for you.

[zhed44]

UPDATE:

Ducati UK agreed to pay for 50% of the cost of the rockers. I also pressed hard for a contribution towards the labour for fitting them, but they wouldn't budge. It's better than a slap in the face with a wet fish I suppose, but it still leaves me about £250 out of pocket (£175 parts + 1.5 hours(?) labour).

IMHO, given that Ducatis are a high-end product with a loyal following, when it became clear this was a manufacturing defect and/or serious quality control issue, the company should really have done the right thing (or more cynically, engaged in PR damage limitation) by instructing service centres to replace any defective rockers FOC on bikes with a FSH as and when the bikes were presented for servicing. This would have avoided a lot of ill-feeling from within the customer base, and would have gone some way to reducing the damage done externally, in the wider marketplace, by the infamous Ducati reputation for unreliability. When you consider how many potential Ducati owners worldwide have probably been put off the brand for life (ie: have spent millions of pounds with rival companies) as a result of rumours about their fragility (for various reasons) or because of a bad experience, changing a few thousand parts every year which probably only cost a couple of quid each to manufacture would seem to me to be a bit of a no-brainer.

[TopiToo]

Hello zhed44

well done that man I am glad you got a result.

I contacted DUK 5yrs ago with the rocker issue, and was told as there was
no dealer service history on the bike they would not compensate me,

I had a polite letter back to the effect "Not our problem go away"

TopiToo

[John W]

yep, very well done. Your obviously a better negotiator than I was.

[Ian_km]

Well done!

I got the brush off a couple of years ago on my 996SPS, FSH but once outside warranty all work has been completed by Baines which they didn't like.