Hy guys,earlier this year I bought a late type 748R engine with only 300miles on it,fitted it,sounded like a dream . but after covering another 200 miles(so less than 600 miles on engine so far) engine developed a bad knocking,which turned out to be a serious rocker failure on 1 exhaust valve(either too small clearance or simply material issues).long story short,1 camshaft,1 rocker gone,which obviusly needs replacing,but I'm wondering how to flush the engine to make sure there is no debry/flakes left anywhere? the screen filter only had 1 small bit of chrome on it So I'm a bit worried,where is the rest? I want to prevent further damage caused by the flakes/metal particles.any help highly apriciated!
Haha I know I was just down at my mechanic friend checking the damage 36 degrees over here in Hungary
You could use flushing oil, but it seems you have the engine out judging by the photo so that may not be an option. The 2001 on engines (and possibly the 2000) do not have a filter screen in the crankcase side cover as did earlier 748 models. If you remove the the plug that is now there you will find more oil will drain out from the bottom of the sump and possibly any debris that is left. This will be as much oil as you can drain out along with removing the oil filter. All you can do now really is to replace or repair the rocker and cam and reassemble and then fill with oil and redrain it after you have run the engine for a short while if you are that concerned. Otherwise the option will be to just refill the engine and run it.
to add to above, you can only do your best at flushing because even a total component strip down doesn't guarantee that you will find 100% of particles unless you went to 'F1' type measures. As said, you could replace with a cheaper oil and run up to temperature and drain to see what is revealed - repeating if more particles found.
Thanks guys probably that's what we will do as I really don't want to get the engine stripped for this.
Yes they do. It's item 19 in the parts drawing below. You use the same 14mm hex key to undo it as for the outer cover. It should catch any of the particles that are drawn to it. As said above run the engine with a cheap oil to flush it as necessary.
I have a 2001 748R engine and it has no filter screen, possibly some machines had them and others didn't. I have just a short blank plug with no provision to take a filter screen and i have seen other bikes that have the same. I changed the oil only a week ago and used new alloy washers including the plug mentioned and the replacement washer was a correct fit. Strange but I guess you never know with Ducati.
The screen screws in behind the plug. Could it have been left out by a previous owner? But as you say, you never know with Ducati. I thought the new type screen came with the change to the 3-phase crankcases. I suppose it's possible that there was a change-over period where it was missed out for some reason or another although it seems a bit daft not to have one fitted. A bit swarf could get into the oil pump, seize it and wreck the engine.
I have seen a 998 that's the same and that was a one owner from new bike, so I don't know what's going on there then. Wouldn't surprise me if they were Friday bikes!!!
