Dreaded Engine Light

[Conman]

The dreaded engine light came on yesterday morning as I set off to work  Nothing seemed wrong and the bike was pulling as good, if not better (!) than normal so I carried on. I called Ducati Manchester and they asked if anything was unusual but to pop down anyway and they'll see what error code has been given.

The only thing I could think was when you switch on the ignition. Normally I hear a "zeep - zeep" noise, now I hear a quiet but much slower "z e e e e p". Apparently that's the exhaust damper valve initialising, and it sounds like it's got stuck and thrown up an error. Not surprising given the crappy road conditions at the moment. So they wheeled the bike round to the workshop to sort it out. Unfortunately it turns out it's not stuck at all, but the operating cable has snapped at the nipple. Fortunately the damper is sprung loaded to stay fully open so it won't cause a problem until they can get the part and fix it (if it was partly shut it would be more of a problem apparently). The bike seems to have lost a bit of its sparkle but I'm only running in Urban mode in quite busy traffic for now.

Then I remembered I did hear a clang the other day but with all my gear on I wasn't sure where it came from. I'm very happy with Ducati Manchester and their efforts to get it sorted within a day 

So In summary; the "zeep - zeep" is your exhaust damper 

[Murf46]

Mine goes zaap.... Zeep

Thanks for the heads up

[Conman]

I'd get that looked at. Sounds like it needs tuning 

[Conman]

An update...

They never did fix the damper, reasoning that it will eventually stick anyway. Bit pessimistic really. It's there more to pass type approval noise regulations rather than for performance. I still think it lost a bit of sparkle but then if I want sparkle I'll switch to sport mode and all the sparkle I can handle and then some 

In the end - and just between us - they fitted an electronic "kidder" which tells the bike the damper is working even though it's not connected. I didn't really have much say in the matter but everything works so hay-ho off we go