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.
