[OldMan]

I hope I don't get pushed off the forum by posting again about my problem and if you have read about this already I am sorry.

I have bought a new 2018 Desert Sled. Delivery mileage was 2km. As soon as I got the bike hot I had trouble shifting gears - the clutch was sticking. Shortly afterwards the gear was jammed in first and the only way to change was to turn off the bike. A visit to a local garafe confirmed there was no issue with cable movement or freeplay. The bike was towed to the nearest Ducati dealer where it has been for 2 weeks. They agreed no cable issue. They recalibrated the oil feed to the clutch but clearly did not test the bike hot since when I visited to pick the bike up 20 minutes down the road I was stuck in second and had to make my way back across the city with no clutch. Now they are changing the clutch plates but they have been frank with me that it is hard to see how this will solve the problem.
There have been two other exact duplicates of this issue reported on this forum, both fixed as far as I can tell by complete clutch assembly replacements. Apparently Ducati warranty won't wear this at this stage so I am faced with yet more delay.
My question is does anybody out there know what could possibly cause this clutch jamming in a brand new bike which only shows when the bike is hot? If so please tell me so I can try and explore this with Ducati and try and get my bike fixed.

 

[aldntn]

Sounds like a factory defect: wrong or missing part int the clutch assembly. Ducati needs to replace the whole clutch assembly.

 

[K1W1]

You don’t say what country you are in but if I were you I would firstly be contacting Ducati in that country directly and secondly checking out my options under local consumer protection laws. I woulda lost in writing authorize the Ducati dealer to allow one of their mechanics to take the bike home overnight when it is fixed to ensure it is fixed.

 

[OldMan]

Thanks for your replies. I am in Spain. I have another thread 'Is ducati customer care really this bad' which details what is going on with respect to dealing with Ducati. So I won't repeat it here save to say Ducati Head Office promise me all the time Ducati Spain will talk to me but they never do and the contact name and number are not released. There are no lemon laws here as far as I can determine. I have no complaint against Ducati Seville where the bike is....they are doing their best but following instructions from a shadowy, uncontactable and unaccountable ducati warranty person. Wish me luck! Great bike for the 50 km before the gear jammed!

 

[firstducati]

I hope I don't get pushed off the forum by posting again about my problem and if you have read about this already I am sorry.

I have bought a new 2018 Desert Sled. Delivery mileage was 2km. As soon as I got the bike hot I had trouble shifting gears - the clutch was sticking. Shortly afterwards the gear was jammed in first and the only way to change was to turn off the bike. A visit to a local garafe confirmed there was no issue with cable movement or freeplay. The bike was towed to the nearest Ducati dealer where it has been for 2 weeks. They agreed no cable issue. They recalibrated the oil feed to the clutch but clearly did not test the bike hot since when I visited to pick the bike up 20 minutes down the road I was stuck in second and had to make my way back across the city with no clutch. Now they are changing the clutch plates but they have been frank with me that it is hard to see how this will solve the problem.
There have been two other exact duplicates of this issue reported on this forum, both fixed as far as I can tell by complete clutch assembly replacements. Apparently Ducati warranty won't wear this at this stage so I am faced with yet more delay.
My question is does anybody out there know what could possibly cause this clutch jamming in a brand new bike which only shows when the bike is hot? If so please tell me so I can try and explore this with Ducati and try and get my bike fixed.

I had a similar problem, and the fix was to have the dealer flush and clean the clutch oil circuit behind the front sprocket and recalibrate the clutch oil pressure. It works perfectly now....fingers crossed.

 

[Hui]

I had a similar problem, and the fix was to have the dealer flush and clean the clutch oil circuit behind the front sprocket and recalibrate the clutch oil pressure. It works perfectly now....fingers crossed.

What exactly does this clutch oil feed do? I’ve never come across a clutch with a calibrated oil feed, or any oil feed other than splash. The ‘front’ sprocket is at the opposite side of the engine and I can’t recall anything there either. What am I missing?
Or is it the hydraulic line you mean?

 

[firstducati]

I guess Ducati thinks it makes the clutch action more consistent when cold or hot. Here is a link https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2018/MC-10147320-9999.pdf

 

[aldntn]

I guess Ducati thinks it makes the clutch action more consistent when cold or hot. Here is a link https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2018/MC-10147320-9999.pdf

Something the dealer should know to do (before swapping out the clutch). Interesting the different sprocket retainer parts...

 

[Max Kool]

What exactly does this clutch oil feed do? I’ve never come across a clutch with a calibrated oil feed, or any oil feed other than splash. The ‘front’ sprocket is at the opposite side of the engine and I can’t recall anything there either. What am I missing?
Or is it the hydraulic line you mean?

Hui I read that too. Apparently the amount of oil splashing on the clutch needs to be calibrated/limited? (it's not the hydraulic line or slave cylinder itself, it's apparently something in the engine).

The PDF they linked too is actually very interesting.

 

[Hui]

Hui
The PDF they linked too is actually very interesting.

Yes it is interesting, not something I’ve come across before considering the amount of major engine work I’ve done over the years.
I did notice it’s confined to just a short run. Tbh, I’m not convinced this is the problem here, but we’ll see. (hope so)

 

[Max Kool]

Yeah, they specifically say this needs to be performed on a cold engine... odd.

 

[OldMan]

Hello! Well they have done the oil flow thing, way out of adjustment or no adjustment in factory according to mechanic but clutch still jams when engine hot. Now I have read everything I could get my hands on and dragging clutches with engine hot seems common across many types of bike. Reason is usually cable expansion 'cos some idiot routed it round a hot air cooled engine (sound familiar?) or boiling water droplets in hydraulic line. But there is so much of this and the cable/hydraulic line is so easy to check or exclude that there must be something else going on. I have to think that with sufficient heat the disks actually perhaps become sticky and maybe the right oil modifies this behaviour. I don't think it can be oil viscosity because of course the oil has thinned with temperature and we all know clutches stick with thick oil in the cold. Any other ideas? Mechanic not given up yet with my bike but running out of ideas.

 

[OldMan]

Well still no progress. All I get is 'waiting for advice from Italy' so today I caled a uk mechanic for advice and this is what I learned:

1) Ducati fit different clutches even to the same model of Scrambler depending on the territory in which it is sold. So the clutch on my Desert Sled could be either a slip assist clutch or a conventional clutch. The set up for each is different but it is a known issue for technicians to use set up instructions for the wrong clutch.


2) Part of the set up is to make sure that the height of the disk stack is correct. Identifying the type of clutch is vital to this check. Also Ducati supply different metal disks which are in all other respects identical. Thinner or thicker metal disks are used to adjust the disk stack height. The part number which describes the replacement disk stack has been known to have the wrong metal disks in it. The only solution is to measure the disk stack height before assembly.

3) Oil supply to the clutch is critical. Even though it is known that oil supply to the clutch has a very big effect on operation Ducati have made adjustment of this critical parameter difficult. Firstly other Ducati engines have an adjustment screw which can be smoothly adjusted. The Scrambler engine just has a bolt with washers and adjusting the washers changes the amount of oil supplied to the clutch. Checking pressure has to be done cold and within 30 seconds of starting from cold. In addition Ducati do not supply the oil pressure gauge leaving dealers to fit a $5 chinese one or a $300 german one so there is a lot of variation in setting this pressure.