Introduction

I recently purchased a 2007 Ducati Monster S4R. When I got the bike it was already in pieces. The bike came with a full service history. As I was going through the upgrades already on the bike it is clear there has been a lot of time and money poured into this machine.

I am a novice mechanic at best and I have no experience working on a Ducati. My Dad is a career car mechanic and I have never seen him fail to fix anything, so I will be learning from him and counting on his assistance through this process.

When I bought the bike I knew it had engine trouble and I figured if it couldn't be fixed I would just part it out. My Dad and I started poking around the engine. The top end looked excellent. The previous owner suggested it could be the oil pump. After looking at the engine this did not seem to be the case.

The 2007 and 2008 Monsters have a deep sump Testastretta engine. The deep sump has a filter screen held in by an o-ring. As we were removing the bottom plate we noticed that the oil seemed pearlescent. NOT a good sign. When we got the plate off and pulled the filter screen out we saw a lot of metal flakes. The flakes were black, silver, and copper colored. We believe it is likely from a failed bearing. We won't know until we get to take more of it apart.

At this point I had decided to start parting it out. While negotiating some deals several people started emailing me encouraging me not to part it out just yet. They suggested that I look at the engine further. My first preference is to rebuild it anyway, so that is where I am right now.

I will post more as the project continues.