696 Engine Paint Issue

[dbran1949]

Simple Green is bad for raw aluminum...

+1

[Takster]

hahaha so now you tell me 

[gearhead]

   I can only tell you of my experience over many years of bike washing with non diluted Simply  Green with never any damage to anything ,including aluminum. I would like to see an example of this. If you like I can show you what probably 75 wash cycles of pure Simple Green looks like on the same parts you took the photos of. 

[NAKID]

I have seen first hand how Simple Green etches RAW (uncoated) aluminum. Don't get me wrong, it's a GREAT cleaner, but there are some things it's a bit too rough on, hence the warning on the label...

[gearhead]

 Well I went out and looked at the bike and you know what? I'm going to say that there isn't raw aluminum on the head and it appears to be a coating. You can see it flaking a tiny bit on the edge. One thing I might add is to let the bike cool and rinse immediately. Thats what I do anyway and no problem.

[NAKID]

Yup, Ducati coats the engine. It is coated to appear as raw aluminum...

[needtorque]

He already stated the procedure.  IMMEDIATE rinsing.  I have cleaned many raw aluminum parts but you absolutely must rinse it immediately.  If this is not done it will eat away at the aluminum leaving unsightly streaks.

[Takster]

OK, this is what I did after my ride today.

-Let the bike cool down to a temperature where I could put my hand on the engine without getting burned or having to move it away.  (If my barista days aren't too far away, probably right around 130.)
-Washed and dried with hot tap water and a little bit of simple green. Used a plastic bristled wheel brush to get between all the fins, and used a toothbrush in any hard-to-reach areas.
-Rinsed  thoroughly
-Dried thoroughly
-Coated engine and bolts in other corrosion-prone areas with a liberal coat of WD-40.  Wiped away drips and excess with a rag.
-On bolts that were showing significant levels of corrosion, I used a toothbrush to apply a coating of marine-grade anti-corrosion grease
-Removed (one at a time) valve cover bolts , cleaned thoroughly, coated with marine grease and put them back.

Hopefully, this will stop further corrosion, at least on the bolts.

Gearhead, it looks like you're getting a little chipping of the paint around the valve covers as well.  Is this a common occurrence?  Is anybody else seeing this?  Mine started out that way, and became the problem that I described in my original post pretty quickly.  The vertical head is exhibiting chipping around the valve covers as well, though not nearly as bad as the one right behind the wheel for obvious reasons.

Does anybody see any issues with just letting the chipped paint stay chipped?  Will the raw aluminum corrode if I leave it raw?


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[Takster]

OK, so WD-40 makes my engine smoke like a barbecue.

[He Man]

i thought that was obvious?

THe paint corrodes on top, and it most definitely is exposed aluminum at some points where the paint has shriveled up. I'm not sure if the corrosion continues to eat away or it just stays on top. If its the later, i would just leave it alone until im ready to paint the engine. OR you can try to get ducati to warranty it, and after they have sandblasted everything, paint it yourself, then give it back to them for installation.

[Snips]

For the record, my 696 (over in the UK), and coming up to a year old, has exactly the same paint flaking issue.

I've never ridden it in the wet (though it's got minor splashes from puddles ).

Pretty disappointing, but not the end of the world. The bike has been totally dependable otherwise.

If I keep the bike, I'll paint over it with heat resistant paint (goes by the brand name Hammerite over here)

[dbran1949]

That Valve cover will get a lot abrasion just from sand an dirt getting thrown off the front tire. Makes me wonder what the bike would look like if the fender extended a little lower in the back

[Takster]

Snips,

Can you post photos of your engine?  I'd like to just get some visual confirmation that we're dealing with the same thing.

For the record, my 696 (over in the UK), and coming up to a year old, has exactly the same paint flaking issue.

I've never ridden it in the wet (though it's got minor splashes from puddles ).

Pretty disappointing, but not the end of the world. The bike has been totally dependable otherwise.

If I keep the bike, I'll paint over it with heat resistant paint (goes by the brand name Hammerite over here)

[amcloud]

Sounds like a lot of work, you should move south where they don't salt the roads and you can ride comfortably all year long.

[DucHead]

Yup, too much work.

Let the bike show its age.  Washing it after every ride is ridiculous.