Timing Belts

[hypurone]

Why is it that Ducati recommends changing the timing belts at 12k miles, but most car manufacturers recommend changing them at 60k-100k?

What I find wierd is that on the newer engines that are at the new 7500mi service interval, Ducati has not aligned the T-belt interval to match. I should be changing them at 15K not 12k. No matter really, I'll be inspecting them at 12k and most likely run them til 15k anyway.

[Capo]

I recently saw a nissan diesel that had broke a belt and trashed the engine big time.

[Howie]

As a tech for 20 years, I gotta state you are wrong. There are MORE non-interference engines than there are interference ones. Primarily Honda, Nissan and high perf engines from other mfg's were and are interference. That's why I buy Toyota's non-interference. Plus they are back to using chains!    And if ya wanna get totally non-interefence, there is my RX7, no valves, period!! 

Hmm... I guess VW, Audi, older BMW six cylinders, Subaru, Suzuki, Mitsubishi, Hundai and I'm sure some who i left out don't count

[hypurone]

Hmm... I guess VW, Audi, older BMW six cylinders, Subaru, Suzuki, Mitsubishi, Hundai and I'm sure some who i left out don't count

Most of those fall into that "performance" engine category but some of the others are a surprise. Guess things have changed a bunch since I bailed out of the automotive trade.

[CETME]

Hypurone,

I'm not wrong at all.

Go on the Gates website listed, it shows which engines are Interference or not. I'm having a tough time finding ANY 2000+ model vehicle that is a NON interference engine. I'd venture to say that many are not what you would consider "performance"

[hypurone]

Hypurone,
I'm not wrong at all.
Go on the Gates website listed, it shows which engines are Interference or not. I'm having a tough time finding ANY 2000+ model vehicle that is a NON interference engine. I'd venture to say that many are not what you would consider "performance"

I don't remember the orignal post stating 2000+ as a qualifier. Most every Toyota except their limited diesel designs are non-interference. As well as most domestics w/o perf driven layouts. Since the inception of timing belts I still think if someone went thru every car made and all their engine revisions, there would be more non-interference engines. But I think we digress...

[scott_araujo]

I've been told my Honda Civic is an interference motor and if the belt goes I'll mash some valves.

There are several reasons to change the belts on a Ducati more often than on a car:
1) Many bikes sit still for several months in the off season.  The belts can take a set during this time and become more brittle and more likely to break.
2) The belts go over some very small pulleys and flex more than on a car making them more prone to failure.  Double that on 4v bikes where the belts are tighter, make more bends, and flex significantly in both directions.
3) The 2v bikes are air cooled and so run very hot compared to water cooled engines.  The belts sit right next to those hot cylinders and take all that heat.

While the belts need to be maintained it's not terribly expensive and only takes about 30 minutes every 2 years/12,000 miles.  Not a bad price to pay for owning an exotic Italian moto.

I like the belts.  My last bike was a modern air cooled inline four with a cam chain and the engine was noisy as hell and spit a lot of high frequency vibes out to the handlebars and foot pegs.  The Ducati is much smoother by comparison.  One other thing, if you take the covers off they look wicked cool when the bike is running.

Scott

[NAKID]

Covers are off on mine, but I think a timing chain would look cool in that situation too. Just two more chains to lube...