Ducati Monster Forum

Bike shop quoted:
$400 for the tune up and the power commander setup.
GOOD DEAL?

What's a tune up composed of?

What model Monster? Having done it on a M900 and a 620 - the PC install on the 900 takes about 15 min. On the 620 it takes about an hour+
What's involved in the PC 'set up'?

Thank you Slide Panda for the response. I wasn't getting responses from anyone.

Well, that is what I was trying to ask of others that have my bike. 2006 S2R Dark 800. But nobody was responding.
I was tyring to get a gauge on what a "tune up" needs to be, and does it need to happen before my 15k mark.
Is and annual tune up necessary?

I bought the dynojet power commander 3. Spoke to Dynojet and was told its a 5 on a 1-10 difficulty to do install myself.
Involves O2 sensors and other areas I'm not familiar with.

I've been researching others telling their story about bringing their bikes in for work. Some saying in the thousands for tuneups or
adjustments. I was really just wondering if there were other layman mechanics such as myself that were able to:
A: do the power commander install themselves
B: tune up the bike themselves.

Any tutorials recommended to learn to perform basic maintenance on the bike?

All serious responses greatly appreciated. I've alwasy been hands on, and this is a new passion of mine. I would love to
learn to work on my own bike.

THanks guys.

We've got the tutorials section that covers a lot of items. Between that and tech most everything has been covered at some level. Tech might take some sifting through, but a diligent look over the search result and a couple tries can unearth some gems.

So an 06? I'm not sure that they have an O2 sensor at that point. My 05 620 didn't - but I am not sure when the O2 sensors appeared, so don't take my lack of knowledge at anything beyond that. just not sure. Is this one of the AUTOTUNE versions of the power commander? IN the past, one needed to visit a shop with a dyno to get a PC properly set up.

Installing the PC isn't hard, just time consuming. On the 620, which should be about the same same as your 800, it required the removal of the airbox to get access. None of it's particularly complex, just a bit fiddly.

See tune up is such a vague term, that's why I was asking what that shop was including - can they provide an itemized estimate? Things they might do *might* that doesn't involve the valve train would be a Throttle body sync and some new plug and and oil change. Might do stuff like flush the hydraulics, lube easy to access stuff etc. Pin 'em down and find out what a 'tune up' means for them

15K? That era of bike is due for a valve check at 12,000 miles, not 15. Related to that, ducs are specd for new cam belts at 12K miles OR 2 years of service life - whichever comes first. So with a low milage 'older' bike it's likely that you may need new belts.

What work do you want to learn about? I can narrate a lot of the maintenance stuff - and where I fall off there's more experienced folks like Speeddog, DucStew et al who are pros. I'm just a competent amateur who does most of his own work

My 06 S2R 800 does not have O2 sensors.

+1 to everything Slide Panda said.

At $400 including the PC, I wouldn't expect anything other than maybe brake and clutch fluid, maybe new spark plugs, clean, adjust and lube chain, and a 170 point "checklist."

I think most places I have seen prices for list dyno time for about $250, and many shops charge on the order of $80-100 per hour for labor.  1 hour install of PC, 1.5 hour of "tune up" plus 1 hour of dyno = ~$450-500.

To add on to the PC discussion:  To use any "autotune" feature will require the installation of an O2 sensor (at least temporarily).  

I do all the maintenance stuff myself these days... because I can schedule it, and I know it got done (it's kind of hard to tell if someone actually changed your spark plugs after it's been run on a dyno...).

It took me about 30 min to mount and install my PC including loading the file  ( 2006 s2r Dark)

no o2 sensors just plug and play

tune up what 2 plugs ..thats it.... clean the K&N

you should be on  regular fluid change regiment ..every 2 years

Yes valves need to be done ..but this is not a tune up

$400 way to much for what they are doing unless that includes the valve adjust

 I like the part about going back every year. Try need to readjust the "tuning" every year to account for climate change!

Been checking the tutorials section to gain a little know how.

Thanks for all the responses.

I posted on the NY/Metro club board to see if anyone would want to work on the bikes together...maybe somebody looking
to perform same/similar upgrades and tunes as me. I also found a class I can attend to learn more in depth.

I will ask for an itemized breakdown of what the charge entails.

Anyone know of great interactive "how to video" to install / possibly create your own fender eliminator kit?

I just received the moto dynamic integrated tail light and would like to install. I watched an instructional video from monstertailchop.com
but it required cutting. Is there any way around this? or does the back support frame under the seat need to be cut

You should start a thread regarding your tail light/fender eliminator questions in Acc & Mods.

What are your goals with the power commander and why did you choose it?

There are a few different ways to "install" a PCIII:

- make the connections and load a suitable canned map (can be hit or miss)

- basic dyno tune (mixed exhaust)

- advanced dyno tune (adjusted for each cylinder)

As far as I know, the "auto tune" approach requires a PCV and not a PCIII.

I use a PCIII on my SBK,  but not on the monster.  I opted for the DP ECU with dyno adjustment on the Monster.  Could add the PC on top of that, but my fueling seems to be OK.

BK

Hey BK_856er
Bike has performance exhaust caps and a performance K&N air filter. With the two of these,
the bike is taking in a higher ratio of air to fuel. I feel it when I get on the throttle. A noticeable
hesitation in speed but all the noise is there.

The folks at Dynojet told me that the PCIII tune WILL fix this problem, as to the listener, the problem
sounded like an air / fuel in balance due to wrong settings on the ECU.

When I mentioned the year / make / model of my bike, this is the one they recommended
DynoJet Power Commander III

My goal is to solve this above described issue I'm experiencing, and trying at the same time produce a little more of a smooth power band.

Anybody know of a good/solid interactive video showing how to do own power commander auto tune?
I've searched high and low, but havent found anything that will help me.

I've never worked on my bike before, but I would like to start. Any step by step videos?

I appreciate it.

If you are a mechanical person the PCIII is something you should be able to tackle yourself. I consider myself a mechanical person. I love to take things apart and put them back together. When I was still getting to know my '06 S2R800 I installed my PCIII myself then had my Ducati dealer do a custom advance map on it. BK_856er mentioned this in his post. Pretty much the vertical and horizontal cylinder each have their own fuel map. To do this the mechanic installed another O2 Sensor Bung in the vertical header to get a reading while tuning.  The horizontal header already has one.
I don't remember what it cost at the time.


As others have said before Auto Tune is for the PCV, your bike only uses a PCIII USB.

Here are some things to download to get you started on working on your bikes.
Download the owners manual and spare parts manual here:
http://www.ducatiusa.com/services/maintenance/index.do (http://www.ducatiusa.com/services/maintenance/index.do)

Watch some basic maintaince tutorials from our sponser California Cycleworks here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/cacycleworksdotcom (http://www.youtube.com/user/cacycleworksdotcom)

And lastly to really dive in download the S2R800 Workshop Manual here:
Right Click > Save As (http://www.mikemo.org/bikes/manuals/Workshop_Manual_S2R_06.pdf)