My 2012 S model started to leak on RH side. I (wrongly as it turned out) blamed the reliability of the bike (I've had my fair share of issues). To cut a long story short it turned out to be a tiny Stone chip that even K Tech missed first time around. Took 2 seal changes and 2 polishes to sort out. Moral of the story - don't discount genuine leaks caused by tiny Stone chips to chrome. It isn't always Ducati's fault (even if it usually is).
I also have the dreaded black lines on my DVT?.... Wtf , off to mugello in May , hope they last the trip
Nah I do have one as well , however I'm going to mugello soon , so for a 16.5k bike that's done 2000 miles I'm going to go for the take it back to the dealer stragedy It isn't right and needs addressing ,even though I understand it's no guarantee to fix it from what I've read I wonder how many dvt owners there are that haven't had an issue?
Give it a go, it's probably just a piece of dirt stuck in the seal making it weep. I've fixed my seals a few times with it as you are just cleaning the dirt out. You are right that it's annoying but it's more of a fork fault that's down to the fork makers. Ohlins are notorious for it.
I noticed a black ring of crud around the bottom of the right-hand fork and kept an eye on it, just before a 1200 mile blast to Germany and back. The bottom of the fork leg is now wet with oil and I can feel the difference in damping especially when breaking - it dives very quickly on the brakes. Called dealer, no issues, just get it back and we'll fix it. I'm not messing about with DIY fixes just to see if it's one thing or another, that's not why I buy a new bike with a warranty. I do also accept that fork seals can fail for any number of reasons not necessarily related to the build quality, so I'm just happy they're covered by warranty.
Kriega fork seal protectors have stopped any reoccurrence for me. Well worth it. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Yes, I did see that and I checked the link, however yours are Ohlins which are notorious no matter which bike they seem to be on, and aren't the same forks on the DVT S, which I think are Sachs if memory serves my right. The root-cause could be entirely different. If my bike was 3 years old and out of warranty and wasn't merely 3 months old I might be inclined to give them a go first. The way I see it, it isn't my problem to mess about with different things first. There's always the risk that when you mess with items covered under warranty that you could end up causing yourself problems further down the line. I don't care how many times they fail, it's going back to the dealer. And each time we just ratchet up the pressure to get the fix sorted out long term. My ultimate strategy would be to get them rebuilt by MCT and pass on the cost of the fix back to the dealer should they prove to be incompetent (which I don't think is going to happen) - which is something I've done before and the cost isn't prohibitive. You'd be surprised just how many dealers get nervous when dealing with suspension repairs, as to some it would seem like a back-art.
Rainman, it all depends on how close you live to your dealer, and how often you like going there. Unfortunately it's not just the Ohlins that suffer from it my Sachs ones did as well, with less than 2.500 miles on the clock. Just put a feeler gauge up the fork leg and move around the fork leg with a downward motion, it's probably what your dealer will try in the first instance anyway (unless your standing there watching)
Oh I agree, however fiddling around trying to clear crud out of the seal won't replace the lost fork oil, and the damping is almost non-existant at the moment, even in sport mode. Apologies, but I thought I mentioned that earlier.
Valid and good point Rainman, hadn't taken that into account. I'm used to riding dirt bikes, so it's a common problem on them.
Just had mine replaced and they've gone again on a trip to mugello As did my mates on his XR Both machines have Sachs forks?