Here’s a novel one. 2015 Panigale 899, 12200 miles, same owner since the bike was bought when it was 6months old. The owner has reported coolant keeps getting into the spark plug channel on the vertical cylinder. You can see the wet marks on what was a bone dry, and clean, plug cap plus if you zoom in on shot down the channel/hole you’ll see the pink coolant collecting around the spark plug. How can that be? I’m struggling to understand how coolant can get there, other than be getting into the combustion chamber, not being burned off, but being forced up and around the spark plug threads - a tall theory perhaps, but read on. The bike also has either a faulty thermostat (Squirter unit as Ducati call it on that bike) or a failed water pump - due perhaps to the plastic drive wheel having lost all its teeth. This is evidenced by the engine temp rising, the fan coming on at 105c as it should but the temp keeps rising until at 120c I switched it off. Both rads were only just above ambient air temp at 27c. And, judging by the oil window there’s coolant mixed with the oil. So, I’m thinking, blown head gasket. I’m also thinking running an excessively hot engine (he uses this as a track bike and it was news to him when I informed him its overheating, but I guess he’s focused on the track ahead not the flashing HI on the dash) has caused the head gasket failure but would that explain the coolant in the plug channel ?
i v,much doubt it will be coming up through the plug if it's just the gasket. know a friendly mechanic with an exhaust emission machine? you get the test kits as you will know but emission machines are best.
That’s my thought too, I just don’t see how it could survive the combustion chamber and then get past the plug thread yet look so clean. Good idea, thanks. Strange how it should just happen in the last few weeks though if that. I would have thought it would have been an ongoing situation. Very true, and I’ll be lifting the valve cover on Monday. However, there are no coolant channels running through or around the valve train area so I’m not expecting to see anything in there, other than emulsified oil & coolant as per the oil level sight glass. I certainly don’t expect to see crystal clear pink coolant as is forming/collecting in the spark plug hole. A distinct possibility I’ll know more once it’s opened up a bit more on Monday
I'm thinking you will find a crack into the coolant chamber at the top of the spark plug hole and one going into the bottom of the valve area. Hope I'm wrong
It sounds bad, but a cracked head isn’t the end of the world. If you can get the head off you can get decent results with crack detection spray if it’s not already obvious where it is.
I’m going to put up a load of photos here. I took the V valve train cover off today. As was expected it’s full of watery emulsified oil. Having dried out the spark plug hole I also pulled the plug, it was soaking wet, wet with what suspiciously looked like coolant and not just wet at the electrodes but over the length of the thread too. Inside the valve train were droplets of what looks like water and a distinct droplet of coolant. And, the head of the piston is soaking wet too. That’s taken with the borescope down there. Yet, the V cylinder runs . I checked the manifold temp yesterday, it’s the same as the H cylinder, about 270c. There are no obvious and apparent cracks I can see with the borescope. I suspect the head gasket has gone hence unbuned coolant in the chamber after the engine is turned off. Clearly it’s f&&ked big time . Chances are the H cylinder is the same but that won’t be known unless the rads are removed and the H valve train cover taken off and the spark plug chamber there examined as well.
Pressure test the coolant system to locate your fault. You’ve got a multitude of problems there. coolant in the head = cracked or porous casting. Water in the combustion chamber = either head gasket or cracked/porous casting. Is the water in the combustion chamber from when the plug was removed? If the head gasket was leaking I’d expect the combustion pressure to overcome the rad cap pressure relief valve and it would piss coolant out. Either way. TLC needed.
Ok, stupid question coming up... why are there (separate) water & coolant droplets in the valve train? Can these come from different sources or do they both come from the coolant (leak)?
Good question. Perhaps it’s condensation from the moisture heavy mayonnaise like oil. That causes the propane glycol antifreeze mix to separate? Or the water has vaporised and left the antifreeze behind then reformed to look like clear water droplets. I’ll be honest I’m guessing.
No, I was very careful to soak up all the coolant, which had formed around the spark plug, with workshop roll before removing the plug, specifically gr dude I didn’t want any of that coolant to drop down into the combustion chamber. For some reason there’s no movement of coolant or pressure from the engine side of the squirter valve (thermostat) to the radiator side. Either the squirter valve has failed in a closed position or the water pump isn’t working, or both. At this stage there’s no point me taking everything apart to investigate that aspect of it, that can all be done when the top end of the engine is rebuilt which, as I’ve explained to him today, is not a job I’m prepared to take on for a number of reasons. The risk with this engine is whether or not there is other damage elsewhere due to poor lubrication as a result of the watery oil in there.
Good question, I don’t know, I’m not a chemist, I guess @Northan Monkey’s hypothesis isn’t far away, it was just an observation when I lifted the valve cover, posted in case anyone could throw any light on it.
Short memory, did you do a compression test? Could this have caused hydrolock / bent valves? Like you said, low oil quality so big end bearings would be something that comes up in my head ( or all the bearings).
If I had milkshake run through the engine, that is emulsified coolant and oil, I would strip it down and check and probably replace all of the bearings at a minimum. I suspect the mixing occurred when the water pump, or the seal for the water pump failed. If you aren't willing to take on the project, it would be a good bike to part out. The engine has value since it didn't send a rod through the case or any obvious physical damage, but will need to be rebuilt. If you wanted to keep the bike, you could look into getting a used engine and selling your existing one.
I did attempt a compression test but pretty quickly realised I need to buy some more tools. You can’t turn over the engine with the tank off and the fuel injection disconnected, and you can’t do a compression test on the V cylinder with the tank on, it’s in the way. I need to rig something up which tricks the ECU into believing the injectors and fuel pump are connected. Anyway, it was unnecessary once I saw the piston crown, it’s clear the head gasket has blown and coolant is leaking into the cylinder.
