Hole in the crankcase

[Monstyr]

I just went in to move my bike ( S2R 800) around prior to doing some cable rerouting and noticed a small drop of oil underneath,when I had pushed it round and put it on a stand I then wiped away the oily grime on the underside to reveal this...








Its a hole in the bottom of the crankcase on the left side next to the generator cover(thats the seal you can see) just in front of the sidestand area.
Whats really odd about it is it seems to have been punctured from the inside!
The bike hasn't been used in quite a few months and only a couple of times this year, it isnt high mileage and is within service limits.

Any suggestions as to what has caused it and, more importantly how to fix it!!
I dont mess with the whirly bits inside engines so will be reluctant to pull that apart, I'll try my best to find a solution and if its really bad it'll ned to go to a dealer to sort.

[pennyrobber]

From this picture, it looks like there's a hole and another big scrape on the case. Could they be related, maybe from a lay down or some road debris?

[Dietrich]

Hey Pennyrobber, maybe it was sandblasted and powdercoated? (sorry guys inside joke.  )

Really - It looks like it might have been a defect in the casting.  A porous cavity in the metal.  Maybe it was fine but coroded over time?  Maybe the paint was all that was holding in the oil all along!

[He Man]

hows your oil level lately?

[Monstyr]

The bike has never been dropped, not sure what that other mark is as I haven't noticed that before either, I suppose it may be related but can't figure out just how.
It has been suggested on another forum that it may be a casting weakness in the metal which has finally given out, I'm not enough of an expert to be able to have an opinion on that.
Whats puzzling me is the hole has been blown outwards from the inside,those edges aren't just paint, thats where the crankcase metal is, so unless the other mark was caused by the piece of casing hitting it on being blown out.
I haven't used this bike in a few months abd there was a teasponfull of oil underneath it on the floor, the fact the underside of the casing is so grimy in the area behind the hole suggests to me that it happened when the bike was moving but I dont recall anything obvious hitting it while it was ridden.

[junior varsity]

are you the first owner?

[Monstyr]

Had it since new, dealer serviced. Only done about 7000miles.

[Rock Store]

early 800 & 1000's were sandcasted engine cases,later went to die cast,both are strong and in the area your problem is related too im ruling out casting flaws as an issue,not impossible ,but very unlikely.The starter pinion & drive gear is in that exact area next to the staor 7 and flywheel.Ive seen earlier flywheel nuts and flywheels cause havic,mostly on the case cover.Their is much Ducati 3 bond that was used on the case cover as well,which brings up another issue was it actually shipped like that? That scratch apperas to be a gouge to me,and paint lifting like no tommorow,from oil & perhaps carb cleaner....JB liquid well is an option,open her up first and have a look inside to see whats going on.Use a solvent cleaner with a very high flashpoint on the inneside of the hole & out,repair her from the iside and feed the weld to the outer area,smooth her out & dry file and sand. .
later..RS

[Raux]

maybe it's me but it looks like something hit the corner of the oil sump and either also hit that area causing a flaw or crack that gave way under pressure or the whole sump are got depressed into the casting causing an internal crack.

i know you said you didn't go down, but maybe you ran over something? there does appear to be damage in that area.

[junior varsity]

i agree, the scrape near the puncture makes me think something more may have happened.  Road debris possibly? That scrape is pretty hardcore.

[motolocopat]

Looks like external damage to me as well.

Also looks like it leaked lots of oil and collected road grime all over from the leaking oil. That doesn't happen from sitting in a garage.

The cases also look like they have been split to me with the large bits of sealer oozing out... Would a new/never opened up bike look like that?

[Monstyr]

Thats the way it came from the factory, the engine has never been split.
I've no idea whether the mark on the sump is related, it may be,it looks like a standard impact from some road debris on an exposed part, but the hole has definately been pushed outwards and that seems unlikely with debris but I'm not ruling anything out at the moment.
I wasnt losing a lot of oil, it was weeping rather than dripping out and even though it has stood for about three or four months after last use there was still only about a teaspoonful of oil on the floor.
I may attempt to pull it apart when I get time to at least assess the inside of the case, I'll decide then whether its a task that I can fix competently myself or not.

[sroberts152]

Is that hole the same diameter all the way through? Or does it get smaller as it goes in?

[Popeye the Sailor]

JB Weld 

[He Man]

JB what?