M696 Oil Change & Chain Adjustment

[Kev M]

Continuing the theme of talking to myself here -

WTF? I continue to remain befuddled by anythint Ducati puts into print.

Went out to the shop, tried to snug up the adjsuter bolts. Factory Service Manual says 8 Nm (5 ft. lbs.), and Owner's Manual (OM) says 10 Nm (7 ft. lbs.) - tried to tighten one to it and it seemed to be turning WAY too much (enough to scare me to stopping).

The adjusters go through the aluminum swingarm (might be threaded at that point, not sure) and then either go into an aluminum adjusting block OR sit push against it (can't really tell without disassembly).

Tightening it THAT much really looks like it could strip the aluminum. So I said screw it and started over -

* Loosened axle nut
* Readjusted chain to 48mm gap when pushing down on top center of bottom run (it was out as soon as I loosened the nut, I assume because of my preloading the adjusters trying to tighten them)
* Tightened axle nut (this time to 80 ft. lbs because 106 just sounds too F#$^#$ high and 80 was halfway between FSM and OM).
* Then I just SNUGGED the adjuster bolts.

I don't think I'm going to bother reading much more of the OM or FSM in the future.

[Kev M]

Final installment (maybe)

Just got back from a nice 100 mile round trip to the Dealer to reset the maintenance light and for them to double-check my work.

- no explanation from them regarding the torque specs - only that "the factory manual sounds like the one for the 695".

- no explanation from them regarding the chain specs - except that they said "it was too tight by about 8mm so we cleaned and loosened it".

HOWEVER, I get home and double-check it (warm instead of cold, I'll check again once it cools) and it is EXACTLY in the same spec I used - i.e.

Push down on chain at center of bottom run and measure gap between the center of the pins and the swingarm - it's about 48mm.

Alternately push upward at same point and you end up with about a 1" gap between the top of the links and the swingarm - and the links JUST miss the chain guide on the arm.

As I said, I'll check again once it's cold just to be sure, but I think I've got it.

[Kev M]

So cold it loosened up 2mm.

Push up and it's 1" from center of pins to swingarm (instead of top of chain).

Push down and it's 2" (50mm) from center of pins to swingarm.

So factory spec is for hot chain and I was 2mm tight. (EDIT - factory spec is fine - you're just not supposed to preload the chain WHILE measuring it).

[Kev M]

Won't Kev ever stop posting to this thread? 

So I was cleaning up the bike and noticed that I'd never bothered to read the sticker on the swingarm that talks about chain adjustment (probably because since it's the same photo as the owner's manual I ASSumed that it said the said thing, well I was wrong).

Turns out the text on the sticker was written by someone who speaks English!

Unlike the factory service manual and owner's manual the STICKER plainly says:

"With the motorycle on the sidestand, push chain downwards with a finger at midway of chain lower section and release. Measure the final distance between the aluminum section of the swingarm and chain pin centre. Reference value is 46-48mm."

So it makes sense that I set it a little tight as the factory and owner's manuals said to "push" and "measure" but said nothing about RELEASING the chain.

[scout304]

what did fbf charge to turn the light off?  I need to go this week.

[Kev M]

what did fbf charge to turn the light off?  I need to go this week.

Get this - ONE HOUR labor.

Yup, hooking up a scan tool and taking 5 minutes (if that) to run through the menu = ONE HOUR of labor.

In their defense, I DID ask them to double-check the chain adjustment so that must have taken AT LEAST 10-15 minutes more.



Then I get home this weekend and pull the valve covers off my Breva to reset valve lash and realiize some shop monkey installed the gaskets DRY (they are supposed to be lightly oiled or greased so they don't bake on the heads) and the covers are stuck (baked on). ARGH, serves me right for bringing them a Guzzi and asking them to tune it. Never had a problem on that Guzzi or any of my others with the valve covers before - this time I had to spend about an HOUR carefully carving off the old pieces of gasket from the head.  

[aveldina]

From what I've heard that is the pretty standard charge here as well. We have a minimum 500km (310mile) round trip to our nearest dealer, who isn't exactly well known for quality work and a 1200km (745mile) round trip to the nearest service shop with a solid reputation. We end up doing a lot of our own work as well - and I was in your exact situation when I needed to change the oil on my 2011 696, nothing matched! I talked to a friend and ended up just going with that center bolt and finding out it was the correct one. Now my biggest challenge is finding a crush washer, since I need to change my oil again this weekend and our dealership is a 2 1/2 hr drive away. After what they charged me to change it the first time, the bike isn't going back there for an oil change again, and I'd prefer to be picky about what oil I run in it anyway.

On the other hand the biggest challenge that I've been having with this bike is oil leaking from the filter, and I had the filter some how come slightly loose on me in the middle of a 3400km mountain trip. Not cool to warm your bike up in the morning and see oil all over the ground. I'm going to try a K&N filter this weekend to see if it will end my leak issues. I'm a relatively light weight rider and my chain is still within spec, so I haven't needed to adjust it yet.

[Kev M]

Well I picked up some crush washers at FBF - had to ask twice cause they TRIED to give me the same sized one again (which was funny since I had it in my hand, had showed it to them and explained it was the wrong size and I was returning it lol).

Turns out the drain plug washers are probably about the exact same size as the ones for the crankcase oil on my Guzzi Breva (don't know why I didn't check my stash of them when I was changing the oil on the Monster - yup, cause I'm a dumbass sometimes). But at least it looks like I have damn near a lifetime supply of the things now.

Oil filter leaking - that's a weird one. I've never had that on uh, pretty much anything (though I probably jinxed myself by typing that). I have heard reports of some Guzzis doing that - thought was there was a bad batch of OEM filters - the length of the threaded portion or something like that, but again, I haven't seen it. That would annoy the crap outta me though, especially far from home.

Best of luck,

Kev