Battery acid on my engine - (bad, DNA, bad)

MarkV, best of luck w/ the cus/serv rep. i only tried 4 times by phone and 1 e-mail w/ nary a single reply - not a peep.

not that this is your major issue w/ your S4 but did you happen to get anything concrete from her about the battery troubles? (not intending to be too selfish here )

so i'm not the only one that experiences that? ;D

anyway i didn't really get into details. i only gave her a general history of the bike and problems i'm experiencing with it to get her up to speed since she's recently taken over the responsibilities as c s rep. basically ms stewart is going to contact the service manager about my bike and review work order history in attemp to resolve my particular issues.

my honest opinion about any further issue of battery issues if it is problomatic to the s4... well you've got past history to speak for itself (900ss frame cracks, busted head studs, cracked swingarms, flakey 4v rockers, oil burping 998's, etc. to refer to as the immensity of the challange you'll be up against.) :'( not saying you won't get somewhere but i can guarantee it'll be a long arduous road.

if it hasn't already happened to you i'd seriously consider taking steps to reduce the chance of it occuring based on the frequency i've heard of it occurring thus far. maybe trying to protect the underside of the battery tray or items closely exposed to the head with heat reflective material. depending on how everything sorts out and if i still have an s4 after all is said and done i'm thinking about ditching the air box for pod filters and attempting to relocate the battery further away from the rear cylinder.

[infoage1]

Sounds like Jer is starting to get the message, and will hopefully start making calls...

She was a lot of help with me and Scott S. some months ago in getting our ECU issue sorted out. I think she does care and will do what she can.

Although, if it is a heat/design problem (vs a crappy battery problem), I'm not sure what she can do other than forward our complaints to Italy and we go class action.

I would cc any correspondence with DNA to Jer's Italian counterpart:

Ducati Italy customer service manager Annalisa Dimonte.

Annalisa.dimonte@ducati.com

I just put my call in to DNA. We shall see...


Another idea is we all bring our defective, leaking, batteries to Ducati Island and explain our problem to Ducati there, among the show bikes...

[dBuvens]

Dealer said its a known issues ...

How come I read so many "melted bttery" or "exploded battery" issues with S4's in the USA? I have seen one (1) Ducati Monster with an exploded battery in the 4 years I own my Monster. Are the batteries different in US and Europe? ???

[azmonster]

And not just S4s (to throw something else into the mix). I bought my 94 M900 very slightly used (~4000 miles) still with the stock battery. Mine exploded while I was riding about six months ago ruining both side cases, cylinder heads, frame and just about anything else you can imagine.
Dion

[infoage1]

Sounds like Jer is starting to get the message, and will start making calls...


I just put my call in to DNA. We shall see...

Well, I have three phone calls in to DNA now...and NO call back.

I can't help but feel, this is NOT an encouraging sign...

i know where you're coming from... it took two weeks to reach a breathing person. i've sent letters by email, certified mail, and phone call after phone call... to say they're not very responsive is polite in the least. if they had a good dealer network then maybe it would be justified... but...

mark i think you may be onto something here to relocate the battery. i initially was figuring heat-sheild and maybe a fan to keep air moving around back there but considering the underside of the tank "traps" heat (at least when in slow-moving traffic), moving the battery's sounding like a more robust solution. problem of course is finding an inconspicuous location on a naked bike. i'm thinking of poking around under the seat and seeing if i can squeeze the battery where my crankcase overflow bottle used to reside. it'll be right behind the cylinder which doesn't do well for the heat situation, but it'll be a lot better than the oven-environment under the seat. hrmmm....

[infoage1]

[quote]i know where you're coming from... it took two weeks to reach a breathing person.

i was thinking along the lines of something similar to some of the relocations i've seen on the 900ss's where they moved the batter under the tank behind the steering stem. i'm thinking if there wasn't an air box in the way maybe you could bend up a simple metal tray that would attach to the current air box mounting points. the filter pods could mount below the battery/electric tray. it'd still be under the tank but further away from the engine. bad side is if it leaks again you're going to damage electrics unless you could put some type of fluid catch rim on the tray.

i currently use that oil seperator spot for my power commander mounting... but i suppose i could mount that to the new battery tray if i had something like that. kinda tough to think it out thuroughly without a ride in the garage. :P only thing that would seem negative about that spot though would be a little concern about the nearness of the header pipe in that location.

how are those filter pods coming along... had enough time to evaluate those?

the heat of the rear cylinder's header is definately something to be concerned with if the battery goes right back there but since it's more "in the open", i'd be less concerned than if i left it on top of the cylinder itself.
i was thinking of slipping it over the pods more forward under the tank but as you say, if it burbles there, the throttle bodies & electrical harness is toast. not only that, but if my CF airbox ever comes to reality, i'll have to re-relocate the battery.
the pods are on (machined down the bellmouths of the stacks) but i don't have any actual data on their functionality. i've been trapped in "landlord-renovation-mode" for the past couple weeks so i haven't been able to TOUCH the bike since mounting them up! the end is near though... and the bike will finally be attended to!
PCIII's also on it's way which is cool, and maybe my exhaust header tubing will also arrive by then which will allow me to FINISH this mutt...