What would you do?

Hi all,

Recently took my bike to Ducati Wandsworth, a small set up but solely dedicated to everything Duacti. Simply put my bike had a starting problem.
The guy there had hurt himself quite badly, continued to work but this resulted in him having my Monster for almost four weeks. It received various new parts and although the bike did now start it still took quite a while. Ducati Wandsworth promised that me putting in a new good quality battery would solve this as the old one had been killed as it was always trying to start for long time.
I got a new Yuas battery. Bike still takes quite a while to start from cold but after it has warmed up (the bike, not the weather), it starts with just one push of the button.
My worry was the starter gear being damaged and battery draining again with it still taking so bloody long to start from cold.
I took it back, he has vaguely suggested a few other things that it could be and it's going back in two weeks. Should I pay for new work to be done? I feel quite miffed that the original work cost me nearly £300 and it's still not right. He even agreed that we were back where we started and that it could damage the starter gear.

i would consult citizens advice before it goes back in

[skank]

Rosso Corse, get a 2nd opinion.

I wouldn't take it back there, try someone else who is known for good knowledge and recommended like the above, Rosso Corse

i'd take it to Rosso Corse, can't recommend them enough.

My 696 had some problems recently so I rang my local dealer workshop (Metropolis) and not only did they quote 40% more than Rosso but they couldnt touch the bike for two weeks, Marcus took my bike in the next day and it was fixed and running like new by 6pm!

Okay, thanks folks - I'm being pointed in an East London direction.
Ducati Wandsworth charge £65per hour compare with Rosso's £45 and if the service is that much better it's a no brainer.
I don't mean to be slagging this other guy off, you just know when someone is not really listening to you and not it's wrong to except first class service when parting with good money. Amen.

[Funkatronic]

I have found ducati wandsworth to be a bit vauge and unhelpful too but i know some ppl on here use and reccomend them although anecdotal evidence suggests their knowledge and sucess varies with newer fuel injected bikes

myself and many londoners prefer to use rosso corse in east london they are excellent so take it there for a 2nd opinion

you do have recorse under the law in sitations like this.

"The Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 as amended states that you are entitled to expect the work to be carried out with reasonable care and skill and the materials used should be of satisfactory quality and fit for purpose."

if the job was not completed satisfactorily you are entitled to expect a refund or the job completed to your satisfaction for the original price. if you are unhappy to take it back to him then you are under the law entitled to claim the costs of taking it elsewhere back to the original mechanic but this involvres small claims court and is long winded and not gauranteed of sucess as you may have to prove he did a bad job in the 1st place whch can be tricky especially with odd electrical problems

google The Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 and also trading standards . you should find lots of advice there too

you might find water has found its way into your your wiring loom which can cause a multitude of weird electrical issues.

I'll go with the flow. My experience with this place wasn't good either. Took it there in the beginning of January and picked it up in mid March. Mind you, work hasn't been finished any way, but I just couldn't bare to wait longer and wanted to take the bike on the road. When I was collecting the bike, I paid for all work including 2 missing parts (excess £300). Just called him a few days ago to ask if parts had showed up. He told me, that he's waiting for many parts for many other customers (?!). If the parts arrive, he can... keep them. I'm certainly not going back there.
Then I went to Rosso Corse I can't stress enough how good they were.

[gary tompkins]

Jaron,

Check the engine temperature sensor mounted on front cylinder upper cam cover

Mine packed up after about 2 years, and engine became a pig to start, with poor running due to over rich mixture. I've heard of this sensor failing on many 900ie's, at least five or six in the club.. possibly more. All the bikes (including my own) from around 2001-2002 vintage, so it's a well known problem. The EFI can't regulate the fuelling properly if this sensor fails, and either sets the mixture too lean so bike won't start from cold, or too rich (like mine) giving bad starting/running when hot.

Sensor can't be fixed if faulty. A new replacement sorted mine out - cost around £50 in 2004

Originally Posted by Qba

Just called him a few days ago to ask if parts had showed up. He told me, that he's waiting for many parts for many other customers (?!).

Methinks Ducati themselves are to blame. They seem to be having distribution problems at the moment, every dealer in the UK is waiting for parts, some for several months.

I've quite happily used Dave before and have had no problems. Meh...

[CK & AK]

One thing to remember - 'Ducati Wandsworth' is NOT an authorised dealer, nor are they an authorised workshop. They also seem to charge MORE than ANY other dealerships per hour if the post above is correct!!! (even the top race service depts!) The usual is about £45 +/- £5 per hour, you are being totally ripped off by paying £65 per hour!
Therefore any workshop without the approval on the Ducati UK website, are not approved by Ducati and their mechanics have not attended factory training courses (except in possibly a previous workshop so may very well not be up to date) and in the case of a new bike with problems it means your warranty may be invalidated...........
(I hope for the OP's sake, that the fella who 'fixed' his bike hasnt caused more problems)

Ducati UK do keep the dealer locator very up to date - changes made within the last month on there have been done to remove and add stores/workshops.

Currently, within the M25 'circle' the only approved places (with factory trained technicians) are the 2 x Daytona stores (Ruislip & Kings Cross), Hyside & Metropolis

CK

Originally Posted by gary tompkins

Jaron,

Check the engine temperature sensor mounted on front cylinder upper cam cover

Mine packed up after about 2 years, and engine became a pig to start, with poor running due to over rich mixture. I've heard of this sensor failing on many 900ie's, at least five or six in the club.. possibly more. All the bikes (including my own) from around 2001-2002 vintage, so it's a well known problem. The EFI can't regulate the fuelling properly if this sensor fails, and either sets the mixture too lean so bike won't start from cold, or too rich (like mine) giving bad starting/running when hot.

Sensor can't be fixed if faulty. A new replacement sorted mine out - cost around £50 in 2004

to test this you can unplug it and try starting the engine. if it doesnt want to start bridge out the connections and try then (depending how the ecu is set up it will use either high or low resistance as the rich setting, the sensor is effectivly a variable earth)

[gary tompkins]

Or...

Just swap sensor for a good one from another 900ie, as we did to trace the fault.

Oddly the original sensor gave correct resistance reading when metered, but the engine still ran like a tractor. As soon as we plugged in the new one it was running as normal.

the sensors change resistence with temp.when we test them in the workshop we boil up some water and measure it as the water cools to check the range of resistence on them. the cheapest test is as i said above, if you dont have another sensor

Guys - thanks very much for all your invaluable help, really appreciated,