Oil Change

[Conman]

I was a bit unhappy with the state of the engine oil when it came to the 9000 mile service, it looked well past it's best and didn't smell too good either. I don't care how much they've improved machining tolerances, metallurgical processes, oil formulations and etc, I think 9000 miles in a motorcycle adds up to a lot of combustion crap for the oil to absorb. So I vowed to change the oil half way to the next service. Just the oil mind you, I think the filter(s) are big enough to cope.

At 13500 miles the bike was up on the bench and out came the old oil. All very easy once I figured out which plug to undo.

The oil was obviously pretty good at this stage, and I was pleased to see absolutely no metal on the drain plug.

Mind you the plug itself didn't seem to be magnetic. It does have a slider on it that clunked up and down but I don't know how this works, any ideas anybody?? I'll ask the Ducati service tech next time I visit.
Anyway with a new copper washer coated in gasket seal (on instruction from Ductai when I bought it) all was back together and tickety-boo in about half an hour of pottering about.


It cost about £40 in oil - the washer wasn't much, and hopefully it'll keep the engine internals in fine fettle because I'm hoping to keep the bike for a few years - I can't for the life of me think of another bike I'd rather have 

[Goldstar]

I'm bemused why you didn't change the filter too, you have now mixed at least 0.5 litre of contaminated old oil with the fresh stuff....

[Conman]

I'd be very surprised if it's as much as 0.5L in a filter. Maybe 10% of the oil is "old", it still should be OK for the next 4500 miles according to Ducati and 90% is now nice and fresh.

[neilb]

In your case, I would have spun the filter off and poured the old oil out. However, if you’re going to do an oil change, why not change the filter at the same time?

[Conman]

Taking a filter off and replacing it is really not a good idea, it's not something they're designed to do. I didn't replace it because it's another £10, it's not necessary and I was not wanting to go that far. Swapping out the oil mid-service interval is an old trick that I thought was appropriate.

[Goldstar]

£10 against a £10k bike......can't see the logic tbh...

[Dave G]

Credit to you Conman...at least you are looking after your bike in the right way.

9k does seem a long period before an oil service so a mid way drain and top up will surely give your bike a new lease of life.

I'm only doing 5k per year or I would do the same. The oil filter if genuine should still work fine until the 9k change.

My 2nd yearly service is due early March. At just under 10k. The big Desmo service will be on 3rd year but may not get to see that. The 950s is on the wish list 😉

[Mjsears]

Great post. I have always changed my own oil and filter at earlier intervals and logged it in the service book. I have a bmw with almost 100k km on it and it uses not a drop of oil. I agree they are worth looking after. Thanks for your post. Due to the lack of a workshop manual I now know what bung 😎
Cheers 🍻

[Conman]

Thanks guys and     to the forum Mjsears.

The bungs/drain plugs certainly are confusing because there's three possible candidates; two of them have filters behind them and one is the actual drain. Ducati seem to change the position and the design, according to posts on other forum referencing other Ducati bikes. A dragged the Ducati service tech out of the workshop to actually point to the right one  From memory it's a 5mm Allen socket.

[Mjsears]

Ok my KTM 690 has a couple of screens as well. Im curious as to the gasket goo?