I've just bought a 2007 S2R 1000 with 5.7k miles on it. It has several problems, rear brake very weak -almost non existent-, a leaking tank, turn signals not working, coughing engine. Off course the bike it's not in warranty anymore, but the seller (the only Ducati dealer in my country) is willing to do all the work on it so it can be safe to ride again. This bike is very expensive where I live and I don't want to spend another dollar on repairs, not at least for several months.
Since the dealer "forgot" to tell me what was wrong with the bike in the first place I'm now double checking everything on the bike so I can tell them to fix it. I don't know much about mechanics so I come to you guys to help me out spot any more problems.
My concern now is with the rear suspension tie-rod, I know it's a ball joint, but what I don't know is what does it look a good condition tie-rod. Here's the pic, of top and botton ball joints, no load on the suspension. Can you guys help me out? I'll be talking to the dealer tomorrow. Thanks!
Top joint
(http://s11.postimage.org/egauvz0du/P1010010.jpg)
Botton joint
(http://s15.postimage.org/6tzgf31fe/P1010013.jpg)
http://www.ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?topic=109.0 (http://www.ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?topic=109.0)
I'm sorry. Can't you see the pictures? I've changed my IP and deleted all my cookies to be sure the pics are shown, and they are.
???
Pictures must be uploaded to an external site, then you link to them here [thumbsup]
Rear brake almost never works on Ducatis. Easy to fix with a flush/bleed, but it will soon be gone again. No biggie - sport bikes usually almost never use them anyway....
Leaking tank - hopefully and probably just an o-ring or a hose.
Turn signals - bulbs/connections maybe. Hopefully not the relay (I think you have a solid state relay in your instrument cluster)
Coughing engine - a low mileage bike might have bad/old gas in it? Fuel filter/spark plugs/valve check/air filter/exhaust leaks? It's probably not hard for your dealer to find the reason, but the S2R 1000 has been known to have some running issues and can be difficult to sort out completely. You're not talking about low revs, are you? Ducatis often hate revs below 3 - 4.000
Good luck - keep us posted!
Thanks for all your answers, you are probably correct on all of them.
The tank do seem like a bad o-ring, and the engine did something weird a couple of times while I was acelerating on second gear and around 2k-3k revs (still trying to get used to the bike). The bike got stuck on that revs and didn't accelerate anymore, running in a periodic but erratic behavior, like giving small pushes. It did that for about 4 blocks, I even did a full stop and started again, only after several hundred meters it started to pull normally (and I drive it always the same way). Another thing that happens is the bike stalls when roll off the throttle abruptly, like when you run into a yellow light, but most of the times it just stalls idling.
Some minor idle adjustments I believe.
About the pictures, I did just what you said, uploaded them to postimage.org, got the public URL and putted the URL between the image bbcodes. I don't know why you can't see them, I'll put them in another public image hosting service. Thanks!
Top ball joint
(http://i43.tinypic.com/kak3lz.jpg)
Botton ball joint
(http://i41.tinypic.com/2njm5ix.jpg)
Mine look just like that, only dirtier. Nice to see no corrosion. You may want to spray some teflon or dry lubricant on them. Avoid oily lubricants if you can, they can hold grit and dirt. I can see the plastic bushings in there. If you unload the suspension you should be able to twist it and straighten it, but it will tend to twist back on its own.
Ok, now the bike is been taken care by the mechanic, let's just hope the dealer do as he promised and make them fix all the problems + check valve clearances and timing belts. The official dealer (from which I bought the bike) thinks a 10k kilometer service equals an oil and oil filter change and nothing more. Talk about good service.... :(
Thanks again for all your answers and patience.