Hey guys, Was just wondering if anyone else here had experienced a broken crankshaft like I did. I've heard stories and seen a few others online but was curious if anyone here has had a similar experience. Mine is a 2013 that i bought new, changed oil twice as often as required, and it failed with 11,700 miles (18,800km). My dealer quoted me $8800 USD which is only a little less than the bike would be worth. Ducati agreed to pay for a small portion of the parts required in order to rebuild but i'm still going to be out a ton of money for something that likely failed due to a material defect... When i asked DucatiNA customer service what happens if i could prove it was a material defect (I work for a failure analysis lab at a major aerospace company) they actually told me that this might be part of the reason they came up on their offer... Also explained that this offer was better than most for this type of scenario. I'm assuming they mean when a bike is basically totaled, value vs cost wise, due to a material defect.
Yep. 2010 at under 30,000 miles. Mine was on finance so I managed to back it to the finance company as not fit for purpose. Independent analysis was done and it was deemed a factory fault. Ducati didn’t want to know, despite a full engine rebuild 13 months prior, due to another part of the engine snapping.
Damn that’s pretty wild. I’m still paying on mine too, actually thru Volkswagen. Wonder if I could pursue that... Also wrote a letter to the Attorney General of Connecticut and Volkswagen Audi group so we’ll see if they can help. Thanks!
You have my sympathy and best wishes for a decent outcome. It looks like a simple issue of defective manufacture. Ducati should at least pay for all the replacement parts, if not the lions share of the labour too.
Perfect. In that case it’s not actually your bike it’s the finance company’s. Back it to them through their complaints procedure. It was all very well handled when I did it. Independent analysis was done and found in my favour and I was basically pulled out of my finance agreement, they deducted an amount for the usage I’d had, they gave my deposit back and gave a cherry on top for inconvenience.
John your crank failure looks like the main bearings giving up too, in the picture it shows tremendous wear on the bearing ring, was this the same for the other side?
Mine were the same. They couldn’t determine exactly which went first but they basically said either way it was manufacturing fault and they even went as far in the independent report as to cite the main bearing failures as a not uncommon occurrence amongst Ducati. It was either accelerated bearing wear due to contamination and excess movement from the broken shaft, or the excess movement from a knackered bearing broke the shaft. They thought the former as the shaft should be able to stand up to a bearing, at least while the engine is rideable.
Correct on being in the States... I just called Ducati Financial Services and they referred me to Ducati USA or the nearest dealer. I've spoken to both... Their website also refers to the nearest dealer. Off to the Attorney General I suppose.
Shit, that doesn't look good I've not had a broken crank (*) but my 2010 had new barrels and pistons under warranty. It broke a ring at ~13k miles (full details on here somewhere, happened around 2012/3). All work was done under warranty, although I agreed to pay for fluids and belts to essentially do the 15k service. I sold that bike a year or so later and the next owner needed new big end shells at 22k miles. My current 2012 bike is in bits after losing a bit of piston at ~27k miles last month. Still in negotiation but ducati are helping with the cost of parts. I know it's not great for this to happen, but given the bike is 4 years old and out of warranty I am happy with their good will offer at present. * the side casings haven't been removed to check the clutch etc, but may well do to have a look at my crank after seeing that... I am going to change the big end shells, but now I have seen these pictures I am tempted to change the mains as well I would be interested to hear what your bikes were running like when you took them to the dealers. I assume they were both running, just noisy ? Mine was running OK, but was smoking a bit due to scored bore. I know of one other (twin spark) that needed new mains at 27k
Hi all - I'm appauled by these pictures. I've owned countless bikes and I'm a real stickler for service intervals and not abusing the engine. Never had an engine problem with some bikes getting over 100,000 miles on them. If a Ducati can't manage 30,000 miles without a crankshaft then I'm worried !! Sorry
I can't believe that Ducati are running ball bearings for the mains in a 150 hp motor. I just assumed all modern bikes ran roller bearings or shells. Even the 1972 Norton Commando I used to have ran rollers. For those of us with multistrada you can't help but feel a bit worried. TB
Topbox, many bikes have caged ball race mains and not rollers. They tend to use rollers for the gearbox shaft (as the Multistrada does). Sorry El toro, I'm not with you, who is not giving perspective ? I am by no means scare-mongering (just adding my own engine failures), but I have to agree with EPS and TopBox, this has to be of concern. This is a very small number of bikes from those made, and the bike is just superb, but they are not perfect. Just like the ohlins fork leg failure a few years back, if people don't post and share these issues we cannot determine just how common an issue is. Fortunately at the moment there aren't (or don't appear to be) many of us. If mains going at or before 30k is becoming a popular issue, especially if it can cause a bigger failure, surely it is in all our interests to know about it ? Personally I don't want to fix up my bike and move it on to someone else (like many do at the end of the warranty), I want to own and enjoy it for some time. I hope you understand. Regards, john.
