Ducati Monster Forum

so i bought my first ducati on friday a used 97 m750 carbed with 7500 miles and was serviced at 6k so i was told and finally got it running. i had to change the battery and plugs because it hasnt been ran in over a year, but i finally got it cranking. it runs fine but the idle is a little rough, which is expected for now, i still have to tweak a couple things. however when i get on it gas starts pouring into the airbox but not through the carbs, its recirculating through the engine and back into the airbox.  now the gas that is coming out of the overflow has some oil in it, my only thought on that is that the rings are so worn that there is no seal to them anymore.  has anybody else had this problem or have any idea what it might be? i am begining to think that it hasnt recieved the 6k service along with no other maintenance ever.  any help i can get would be great.

Have the belts been replaced.......and the timing is 180-degrees off?

I've never done it, but I have read where if you get the timing off to this degree (cams set on exhaust TDC and not compression TDC) the bike will run, but not very well and will have no power.

My first guess, though, would be that you have trash in teh carbs and you have at least one needle/jet that is stuck and flooding the bike badly.

If you really think it may be the rings (which i highly doubt due to its low mileage), buy a compression gauge and see what each cylinder produces.

The oil in the airbox is more likely from the crankcase breather hose.

Other than this, I can't think of anything else without seeing the bike.

Definitely start by cleaning out the carbs really well, if it was left sitting, especially with gas in the carbs this is almost defintely an issue.

You might want to start with a compression test first to eliminate mechanical problems.

thanks to indy ducati, they solved my problems.  after investigating further i narrowed it down to the bottom half of the carbs, and when i called indy ducati and explained the problem they told me what was wrong and are even coming to pick up my bike for me which is 2 hours away.  as for the problem it has to do with the carbs sitting so long and stuff being built up in them that is messing with the float so they are fixing and tuning my bike for "no more then 400" so it looks like by next weekend i can finally ride.   thanks to all those that replied

Please get new cam belts on that bike before you rev the engine at all.  If it has sat for a year and if the belts are more than two years old, regardless of how much the engine was run with those belts on, they'll have hard spots on them where they have bent over the rollers.  That's where they break, which usually involves piston to valve contact.

Change the belts before you have to ask how to repair bent valves.

This is good advice!