Is it normal to put 1 litre of oil in your monster after approx 1250 miles?

[scott wardell]

Hi fellow monster owners,

I am the proud owner of a M reg Monster 900, it's done approx 25,000 miles and seems to run pretty well, but.....

After a fantastic trip from Pickering North Yorkshire to The Isle of Skye Scotland, I noticed my monster had gone through approx 2/3rds of a Litre of oil, I topped it up with the other 1/3rd which was left, after about another 400 miles of medium pace riding the oil light started coming on again, the question really is. is this normal, a friend told me that ducati's do sweat the oil out, is this a load of old balls or not!!!

cheers anyone who can help shed some light, scotty

[Pedro]

With that sort of mileage you'll probably be ready for at least valve guide oils seals (cheap) and maybe a top end over haul, valve guides etc (less cheap).

Just rebuilt mine (L plate 900, 26k miles) and also replaced the rings as the oil scraper ring was bolloxed!!! Before this I was using between half and a full litre per 1000 miles and leaving big plumes of smoke when thrashing it! Done 1500 miles since the rebuild and it's good as gold

Ped

[JMo]

The workshop tollerance is up to 1 litre every 1000 miles, but this is worst case really...

On a new bike, that would unacceptable (mine did it from new, and had new pistons and rings fitted under warrenty), but since yours is pretty old, I guess a bit of consumption is to be expected?

Aha - I just see Ped has posted some likely things to check, but yes, it would seem to need sorting...

xxx

[Zimbo]

If you're going to do the work Pedro suggests, you might like to look at replacing the pistons whilst you're at it. Ducati rings from your dealer aren't that cheap, and a set of high compression pistons complete with rings and wrist pins is around US$280 from California Cycleworks in the states - will give you a very noticible power increase of around 6bhp right through the range for little extra cost!

[Duncan]

One thing to note early in the riding season is that the condensation in your oil from winter all burns out of the oil. In April / May time all of my vehicles seem to need a drastic top up then they settle down again. I guess what happens is the absorbed moisture keeps the oil level articficially high all winter then bang it all evaporates at once.

My 900 Monster has covered 50,000 miles now and might need topping up once between oil changes (done every 6000 miles) or at winters end.

Admittedly, its not thrashed (much!) and I have always used the best synthetic oils that are on offer but if its not visibly smoking then I would just try an oil and filter change and see if it settles down first.

[scott wardell]

cheers guys, I'll keep my eyes on the oil level, & possibly book it in for a service in a month or so,

cheers scotty

[spacemonkey]

If you're going to do the work Pedro suggests, you might like to look at replacing the pistons whilst you're at it. Ducati rings from your dealer aren't that cheap, and a set of high compression pistons complete with rings and wrist pins is around US$280 from California Cycleworks in the states - will give you a very noticible power increase of around 6bhp right through the range for little extra cost!


Can you still use standard unleaded with these beasties or would you need super for the high compression??

[Zimbo]

High octane works better, they can pink a bit on standard fuel. The solution is to alter the timing by about 2 degrees apparently.