Ducati ‘03 ST4s Timing Belt Adjustment
This instruction on cam belt adjustment starts after you remove the fairing pieces. Plan on an hour to remove these. Since you are performing your own service, buying Ducati belts may not be that expensive. There may be another belt source, but I have not confirmed this for the 996 engine of the 02-03 ST4s.
1) Ensure maximum of ½ tank of gas. Fuel will leak into the charcoal canister, then onto the floor if the tank is over half full and the tank is tilted up on its hinge. So put the tank up on its hinge.
2) Remove spark plugs. Cover sparkplug wells with boots or rags. This is a great time to toss out those Champions for a set of NGK DCPR8E’s.
3) Remove the front shield from the horizontal cylinder head.
4) Remove crankshaft cover on Riders LH side and insert crank tool. A crank tool can be made by following the drawing at the end of this document. See Fig 2 above. The flat head screws used are kind of soft so beware on their removal.
5) Remove oil pressure sending unit cable and remove oil sending unit. No oil should pour out.
6) Remove battery and remove bolts fastening battery box to engine/frame. You can let the battery box dangle or partially support it via a bungee cord. Be careful of the cable on the ground of the ECU. By dangling the battery box excess stress could be placed on this cables connector and you don’t want to troubleshoot an intermittent electrical issue.
7) Remove cam belt covers. The two covers over the cams are real easy. The center piece is removed by pulling it down. You may have to move some hoses and cables out of the way because it is a tight fit. Removing the oil pressure sending unit gave clearance for the removal. Fig 1 shows bike ready to be worked on.
Get pdf Ducati ‘03 ST4s Timing Belt Adjustment
