Gaskets...

Fired up the Monster for a little idle. Let it warm up.. Let the parts move. Mainly so I could hear the glorious sound and gas myself with the smell of burning oil/fuel again...

Noticed a tiny leak coming from the timing inspection cover. Took it off, cleaned and put back on. Noticed it has no gasket. Just seems to be metal to metal. Is this right or should it have a silicone gasket at least?
I also removed and cleaned the special screws from the front cylinder head cover as they were corroding and looked bobbins. Now look spickspandozie... but also noticed they have no gasket either... just metal to metal.

I can’t believe that screws and covers that are there to stop hot oil spewing from the engine have no gaskets. Should they have gaskets? I have some Abro red gasket maker in the garage, would it be advisable to gasket those points of contact?

Also does anyone know the correct bolt torque for the timing inspection cover and the cylinder cover special screws as I’ve just pinched them up hand tight and then turned a fraction more... is this correct?

Cheers
Jay

[Mr Gazza]

Which side of the engine is your "clutch inspection cover"?

Originally Posted by Mr Gazza

Which side of the engine is your "clutch inspection cover"?

It’s on the handlebars - lol

I meant timing inspection cover. No idea why I wrote clutch

[Mr Gazza]

Ah ha... Thought you meant the cover on the alternator side. It doesn't really let you inspect anything as such, but when removed, it allows application of a puller, to remove the whole alternator cover. ( once all the screws are removed of course!)
It should have an O-ring in a circular groove.. You could use a little silicone in the absence of a suitable O-ring.

No idea what you mean by the special screws, but assume you are talking about the valve inspection covers?
Probably best not to go hoiking things apart if you don't know what they are.

Originally Posted by Mr Gazza

Ah ha... Thought you meant the cover on the alternator side. It doesn't really let you inspect anything as such, but when removed, it allows application of a puller, to remove the whole alternator cover. ( once all the screws are removed of course!)
It should have an O-ring in a circular groove.. You could use a little silicone in the absence of a suitable O-ring.

No idea what you mean by the special screws, but assume you are talking about the valve inspection covers?
Probably best not to go hoiking things apart if you don't know what they are.

Horizontal cylinder head cover. Just above the oil cooler. The 4 retaining dome button type bolts that Ducati refer to as ‘special screws’.

Through a little searching and generally knowing that at the top of a cylinder block on most cylinder engines... is a cylinder cover, I deduced they were cover bolts and not something majorly crucial, likely to cause catastrophic irreversible, engine failure if I unscrewed them one at a time, cleaned them so they didn’t look gash and screwed them back in. I’m no mechanic but there was no “hoiking” going on I can assure you. If it’s within my capabilities to attempt to do, I will. If it’s not, I won’t.

Unscrewing a cylinder bolt, I decided, was within my remit..

They unscrewed with almost no force... as cylinder cover bolts almost always do so they were screwed back in with the same force.

What I’m asking is, is there a specific torque figure for those bolts? And should they have a gasket as they appear to have no gasket.

[Mark64]

Originally Posted by JayJosephS4RS

Fired up the Monster for a little idle. Let it warm up.. Let the parts move. Mainly so I could hear the glorious sound and gas myself with the smell of burning oil/fuel again...

Noticed a tiny leak coming from the timing inspection cover. Took it off, cleaned and put back on. Noticed it has no gasket. Just seems to be metal to metal. Is this right or should it have a silicone gasket at least?
I also removed and cleaned the special screws from the front cylinder head cover as they were corroding and looked bobbins. Now look spickspandozie... but also noticed they have no gasket either... just metal to metal.

I can’t believe that screws and covers that are there to stop hot oil spewing from the engine have no gaskets. Should they have gaskets? I have some Abro red gasket maker in the garage, would it be advisable to gasket those points of contact?

Also does anyone know the correct bolt torque for the timing inspection cover and the cylinder cover special screws as I’ve just pinched them up hand tight and then turned a fraction more... is this correct?

Cheers
Jay

Hi Jay,

When you say 'timing side cover' do you mean the left side of the engine as you are sat on the bike? There is a small cover plate with 2 countersunk Allen screws that has an o-ring to prevent oil loss. The rocker box covers have rubber gaskets for the same purpose, Ducatis often have no gaskets because they are a machined face - only needing a smear of 'threebond'.
Post some photos if you're not sure.

Hope this helps 👍

Originally Posted by Mark64

Hi Jay,

When you say 'timing side cover' do you mean the left side of the engine as you are sat on the bike? There is a small cover plate with 2 countersunk Allen screws that has an o-ring to prevent oil loss. The rocker box covers have rubber gaskets for the same purpose, Ducatis often have no gaskets because they are a machined face - only needing a smear of 'threebond'.
Post some photos if you're not sure.

Hope this helps 👍

Thanks fella, yep that’s the cover plate... on the opposite side of the clutch assembly.. it has no ring or silicone gasket, which I find a little surprising and would explain the little tiny leak I saw today when firing the bike up.

The bolts (special screws) on the front of the horizontal cylinder cover are the 4 bolts visible above the oil cooler (3 of them are visible, the top bolt hidden by the radiator).

Unfortunately I can’t post any pics from my iPad/iPhone and don’t have a third party photo app...

Generally though, bolts/covers with a purpose of keeping oil IN the engine should have a gasket of some kind? Am I wrong?

[Luddite]

If you're unsure of what components go where, you can download a copy of the spare parts manual from the Ducati website. Just go to "dealers & services" and chose "spare parts".

On your bike, the O-ring Mr Gazza mentions is number 5 on this diagram...



...and there should be a rubber gasket under the valve cover, shown as number 9 on this diagram:



The "special screws" you removed should be number 12.

Thanks, yeah I saw the exploded diagrams through motorapido the other day and had a browse except I didn’t browse long and hard enough. So there should be an o-ring under the timing inspection cover plate.. That answers that question.

And yes, the ‘special screws’ I’m referring to are Number 12 or simply more commonly know as cylinder/rocker/valve cover bolts.. I’m pretty sure when looking the other day, they are listed as ‘special screws’??

The gasket I’m referring to would be Number 8, which would be used with Number 12 ‘special screw’... that would normally be a fibre gasket ring right? Except as explained, there aren’t any present on my bike for some reason. And now I know, there should be. Although when letting the bike idle today I kept an eye on those bolts and saw no leaks... so, leave be until a leak appears?

Thanks Luddite. Legend!

[Luddite]

Happy to help JJ.

The washer is part no. 85610612A and appears to be rubber or similar...

Originally Posted by Luddite

Happy to help JJ.

The washer is part no. 85610612A and appears to be rubber or similar...

Stellar help there good sir! Thanks mate!