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Oil leaks heads-cyl, a solution?
Posted: Fri Apr 19, 2013 4:04 pm
by Tamburinifan
Looks very interesting IMHO:
http://www.ducati.ms/forums/57-superspo ... k-fix.html
What do you guys think?
And there are two good Higgys out there...

Re: Oil leaks heads-cyl, a solution?
Posted: Fri Apr 19, 2013 11:35 pm
by higgy
Re: Oil leaks heads-cyl, a solution?
Posted: Fri Apr 19, 2013 11:55 pm
by ducinthebay
I had always assumed the two people were one in the same, but I guess I was wrong in that assumption, especially since 3,000 miles separates them.
Cheers, Phil
Re: Oil leaks heads-cyl, a solution?
Posted: Sat Apr 20, 2013 2:59 am
by brad black
ime
1/ the paso oil leak is from the heads 'warping', allowing oil to leak from the combustion chamber. no idea why they leak oil in stead of gas, but they do. i have the chamber and head face skimmed flat to fix them. altho a good dose of engine sealant may work. heap cheaper too.
2/ i think i could count the number of bikes (2v air cooled ducati) i've (or the shop i've worked at has) had apart for leaking oil return o-rings over the last 19 years on one hand. i'm very surprised at people having so much trouble with them.
Re: Oil leaks heads-cyl, a solution?
Posted: Sat Apr 20, 2013 10:10 am
by higgy
brad black wrote:ime
1/ the paso oil leak is from the heads 'warping', allowing oil to leak from the combustion chamber. no idea why they leak oil in stead of gas, but they do. i have the chamber and head face skimmed flat to fix them. altho a good dose of engine sealant may work. heap cheaper too.
2/ i think i could count the number of bikes (2v air cooled ducati) i've (or the shop i've worked at has) had apart for leaking oil return o-rings over the last 19 years on one hand. i'm very surprised at people having so much trouble with them.
1 absolutely.I prefer to straighten the head,machining would be a last resort...anaerobic sealers work well..machining does not fix the cam bore..et.c ....hint hint
2 see reply to 1 one more topic here covered ad infinitum

Re: Oil leaks heads-cyl, a solution?
Posted: Sat Apr 20, 2013 3:04 pm
by 907pasonut
brad black...the famous, Brad the bike boy, the ducati guru, (what this guy doesn't know about ducatis is not worth knowing) welcome to our site

...btw, I do agree with everything you say

Re: Oil leaks heads-cyl, a solution?
Posted: Sun Apr 21, 2013 12:02 pm
by brad black
higgy wrote:brad black wrote:ime
1/ the paso oil leak is from the heads 'warping', allowing oil to leak from the combustion chamber. no idea why they leak oil in stead of gas, but they do. i have the chamber and head face skimmed flat to fix them. altho a good dose of engine sealant may work. heap cheaper too.
2/ i think i could count the number of bikes (2v air cooled ducati) i've (or the shop i've worked at has) had apart for leaking oil return o-rings over the last 19 years on one hand. i'm very surprised at people having so much trouble with them.
1 absolutely.I prefer to straighten the head,machining would be a last resort...anaerobic sealers work well..machining does not fix the cam bore..et.c ....hint hint
2 see reply to 1 one more topic here covered ad infinitum

how do you straighten them?
Re: Oil leaks heads-cyl, a solution?
Posted: Sun Apr 21, 2013 3:02 pm
by higgy
heat them up on a hot plate/oven to 350-500F(176-260C) for 2 hours then torque them down on a flat 1 inch steel plate and let them cool down.
There are times when just heating/cooling the head (annealing) is all that is needed and there are times when the head needs to be torqued over a shim plate to get the desired flatness. You must not heat the head for more than 2 hours and lower heat is better as you can soften the material too much
Machining a head never solves a warped head issue it only flattens the sealing surface and by removing metal you increase the risk of future warpage.
I have seen a few old time techs weld new material to the head and then resurface it but here again the rest of the head is still warped. One individual straightened his flathead dirt tracker head on a press. Don't think I'd try either of these on a 2 valve duc head
There are many websites and YouTube videos around showing the process these days
Oh and Welcome Brad, Nice to see you here

Re: Oil leaks heads-cyl, a solution?
Posted: Sun Apr 21, 2013 4:29 pm
by Tamburinifan
[quote]allowing oil to leak from the combustion chamber/quote]
The guy in my link had no oil leaks after his fix of the oil channels so where does the leak occur from?!?
I've measured head to cyl freeplay when cold, it is around 0,34mm, does this gap reduce to almost nil when engine is fully warmed,
anyone knows?
Re: Oil leaks heads-cyl, a solution?
Posted: Mon Apr 22, 2013 6:30 am
by persempre907
Re: Oil leaks heads-cyl, a solution?
Posted: Mon Apr 22, 2013 8:56 am
by 907pasonut
Tamburinifan wrote:allowing oil to leak from the combustion chamber/quote]
The guy in my link had no oil leaks after his fix of the oil channels so where does the leak occur from?!?
I've measured head to cyl freeplay when cold, it is around 0,34mm, does this gap reduce to almost nil when engine is fully warmed,
anyone knows?
I'm no expert, but in general o-ring seals are very reliable and widley used in all sorts of different mechanical things and can withstand a reasonable ammount of pressure, they are simple in design and foolproof as long as the two surfaces are true to each other (or as designed)...obviously, as stated previously, the head in this case is most likely warped (overheated) causing the gap to increase and the o-ring to fail.
If the gap on a sound motor is 0.34mm when cold, this gap will be very similar when hot, it will not change all that much, but if the head is warped then there will be more change depending which way it warpes, by inserting the brass tubes the oil leak will be fixed, but the original problem remains...my 2c worth.
Re: Oil leaks heads-cyl, a solution?
Posted: Mon Apr 22, 2013 10:17 am
by brad black
higgy wrote:heat them up on a hot plate/oven to 350-500F(176-260C) for 2 hours then torque them down on a flat 1 inch steel plate and let them cool down.
There are times when just heating/cooling the head (annealing) is all that is needed and there are times when the head needs to be torqued over a shim plate to get the desired flatness. You must not heat the head for more than 2 hours and lower heat is better as you can soften the material too much
Machining a head never solves a warped head issue it only flattens the sealing surface and by removing metal you increase the risk of future warpage.
I have seen a few old time techs weld new material to the head and then resurface it but here again the rest of the head is still warped. One individual straightened his flathead dirt tracker head on a press. Don't think I'd try either of these on a 2 valve duc head
There are many websites and YouTube videos around showing the process these days
Oh and Welcome Brad, Nice to see you here

you don't have any issues with valve seats or the like moving? or it's just a case of heating, torquing to plate all while being very gentle and wandering off for a while.
Re: Oil leaks heads-cyl, a solution?
Posted: Mon Apr 22, 2013 10:19 am
by higgy
We having Duc for dinner ? Looks kinda chewy
but then that's my wife

Re: Oil leaks heads-cyl, a solution?
Posted: Mon Apr 22, 2013 10:20 am
by brad black
Tamburinifan wrote:allowing oil to leak from the combustion chamber/quote]
The guy in my link had no oil leaks after his fix of the oil channels so where does the leak occur from?!?
I've measured head to cyl freeplay when cold, it is around 0,34mm, does this gap reduce to almost nil when engine is fully warmed,
anyone knows?
the oil leaking from the chamber thing is pretty much a 906/907/st2 thing. ie, watercooled 2v. i did think they'd fixed it in later st2, but i have seen a 2002 (i think) with 150,000 or so km on it and it was leaking.
none of the aircooled bikes do it like this that i have seen.
Re: Oil leaks heads-cyl, a solution?
Posted: Mon Apr 22, 2013 12:42 pm
by 907pasonut
brad black wrote:
the oil leaking from the chamber thing is pretty much a 906/907/st2 thing. ie, watercooled 2v. i did think they'd fixed it in later st2, but i have seen a 2002 (i think) with 150,000 or so km on it and it was leaking.
none of the aircooled bikes do it like this that i have seen.
I was thinking watercooled lower temp no problem, but thats not the case...how did they fix this problem in later models?