UK Monster Owners Club Forum » .: Technical :. » Engines, Clutch, Gears » Which ones flaked?

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Old 21-06-2019, 01:08 PM   #1
Mr Gazza
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Which ones flaked?

Hello respected experts.
Please could someone remind me which engines suffered with the flaky rocker syndrome?
I am only interested in the Monster engines. It was the early 4 valvers wasn't it?
What mileages was this happening/would be expected to happen?

Thanks in advance.
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Old 21-06-2019, 01:15 PM   #2
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early ie vintage

~ 2001 to 2007
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Old 21-06-2019, 02:59 PM   #3
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Desmoquattro engines definitely suffered although the earliest (888 & early 916) seemed less prone.

The official line was that at some point Ducati outsourced the plating and the quality was not too great, they then claimed to have rectified the problem but despite these claims it still happened.

By Desmoquattro in a Monster that would be S4 and similar, later Testastretta 4v engines used a different rocker and so may not be as bad?

As for mileage, it could be just a few hundred or thousands, if the chrome was bad then it will flake, incorrect valve clearances don't help but even the best maintained will fail if the the rockers are not good.

The whole flaking rocker thing was a ****show with Ducati playing the slippery eel and denying responsibility whenever possible (despite the US getting free replacements for a while).

I contacted them years back about flaking rockers on my 916 and they said they were not aware of it being an issue, I had 9 fail in total.

If you have a Desmoquattro and want to put the problem to bed, send the rockers to Newman cams for them to modify and you'll never need worry again.
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Old 21-06-2019, 04:32 PM   #4
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sorry misread the op
was thinking of flaking paint on cases
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Old 21-06-2019, 04:42 PM   #5
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sorry misread the op
was thinking of flaking paint on cases
In that case surely it's all of them...
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Old 21-06-2019, 04:54 PM   #6
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Thanks Rob...Should have gone to specsavers..

Cheers for the info DD, So if it were say, an early S4 with 916 engine on about 18000 miles would you expect the problem to have shown by now?

Would you happen to be able to venture a very approximate ball park for Newman to "modify" 16 rockers?
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Old 21-06-2019, 05:13 PM   #7
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Thanks Rob...Should have gone to specsavers..

Cheers for the info DD, So if it were say, an early S4 with 916 engine on about 18000 miles would you expect the problem to have shown by now?

Would you happen to be able to venture a very approximate ball park for Newman to "modify" 16 rockers?
If they've made it to 18k without issue then they might be OK? but you should always check every service and you need to remove the camshafts to check - but this is easier than it sounds.

As for Newmans, I had mine done 10 or more years ago and IIRC they charged around £40 per rocker - which is considerably cheaper than buying new ones (well over £100 each IIRC). Obviously you would need to remove and refit them but it's not too difficult a job.

Actually you can normally get away with doing just the openers because closers rarely fail, bonus being that openers are really easy to change, whereas the closers are tricky as you have to battle with the valve springs.

If you do need any standard (not 'Newmanised') replacement rockers, I've got quite a collection of them in good condition (some are new but used ones maybe better as they have been 'proven' in combat) that I have amassed over the years so can sort you out with something.
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Old 21-06-2019, 05:31 PM   #8
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Thanks once again DD, and more so.

The whole thing is totally hypothetical at the moment... Just playing with some ideas, but I feel much better informed now...Cheers.
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Old 23-06-2019, 11:20 AM   #9
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My S4 2001 had 5 badly flaked openers at 4000 miles from new ,, I replaced all 8 with megacycle ones ,, i haves seen many 748s with all openers flaked , thats because it is a very revvy engine ,,never seen closer flaked they dont get the same battering as openers ,,


since i changed mine the bike has done 35,000 miles and all rockers are perfect ,, gentle starting let it warm up before revs and really good FULLY Synthetic oil are vital
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