How many miles + problems thread

[CAZHEREDIA]

awesome to hear, so now we definitely have 2 records on file of ktm really coming through for its customers in the case of near to total complete failure. Have fun when it comes back to you!

ktm has been great (38 days and bike is still in the shop) but ktm has decided to replace engine with 0 mile engine to avoid further issues, also ktm north america decided to restart my 12,000mile / 1 year warranty since im getting a new engine swaped today!

So happy to hear this, apparantly the dealer has just been authorized less than a year and probably made a bad call during the 1st service valve inspection which was a total engine failure error on them!

Ktm stepped up and made this right, also promised to send ktm north america tech to make swap and school the techs at the dealer to avoid more issues in the future.

 

[OldVet]

Good to hear

 

[stevieboy]

Got my RC to the dealer today. They said they needed to see it to make the warranty claim. They didn't look at it at all-just started the paperwork. Service guy said the fan problem was "unusual". I said that he should read some of the forums and that my buddy's 390 Duke had the same problem. Well they have only had the one, now two with mine. Acted like he was doing me a favor by ordering the parts BEFORE he got the okay from KTM. I told him I appreciated not having to leave the bike there, disassembled, while they sent the fan and got approval. He hoped they would get paid by KTM. He indicated that the warranty/service part of dealing with KTM was a giant pain in the ass. Not very reassuring. I like riding the bike but the cheapness just radiates from the bike. I hope I have not made a huge mistake trading away my Yamaha R6s which was stone reliable with a dealer I trusted without question.

 

[rick]

Woohoo! Congratulations Carlos!
Mine died on me on the way into work yesterday morning. Dunno why yet but, it won't start anymore - seems to have at least some compression based on the air coming out of the exhaust when I crank it over. 6,397 miles and this is the third time it's left me stranded.

 

[green_bread]

Other than the typical issues with loose fasteners, the swingarm pivot bushings not being lubed, etc., I have run in to a couple other frustrating issues with my RC 390:

- When flushing the coolant to replace with distilled water/water wetter, the coolant came out shit brown and there was "gunk" in the system (not sure how else to describe it). It honestly looked like they had mixed Dexcool with the coolant and something in the system started rusting/corroding, maybe. I planned to drain the coolant after my race this weekend, but I dropped the bike off at a dealership to have them look at the other issues I am about to mention. I told them about this issue and asked them to make sure the water pump seals were good if/when they tear down my engine for the other issues.

- Somewhere along the line, I developed an oil leak that is coming from the seam where the two case halves come together. Upon closer inspection, it looks like they dont use a gasket to seal the case halves and rather use RTV or some other kind of gasket maker. It seems like maybe part of that came out or had a weak spot, so now the engine weeps oil from that location after running the engine a bit. I get a few drops in the belly pan after a couple sessions on the track, so Ill usually pull the pan, wipe it down, and keep on riding it. The oil level doesnt ever drop, so its not leaking terribly. Just an annoyance on a 1 year old bike with under 5000 miles on it, ya know?

- During my race on Saturday, this past weekend, the reverse thread nut that holds the clutch basket to the output shaft backed itself completely off. Because of this, I had no way to disengage the clutch. I kept riding it, though I probably shouldnt have, and got pretty lucky that nothing was damaged in the process. I got even more lucky that DCMoney had a clutch cover gasket that he was willing to give me, so I pulled it apart first thing Sunday morning and was able to race that day. DCMoney comes through for me, yet again. I cant tell you all how many times he's saved my ass over the last couple years!

Ill keep you guys posted on the progress of getting these issues fixed with the dealership.

 

[Deleted member 452]

330 miles after the head gasket was replaced, it's now back in the shop having the water pump replaced with only 4.6K miles on it.

 

[green_bread]

Other than the typical issues with loose fasteners, the swingarm pivot bushings not being lubed, etc., I have run in to a couple other frustrating issues with my RC 390:

- When flushing the coolant to replace with distilled water/water wetter, the coolant came out shit brown and there was "gunk" in the system (not sure how else to describe it). It honestly looked like they had mixed Dexcool with the coolant and something in the system started rusting/corroding, maybe. I planned to drain the coolant after my race this weekend, but I dropped the bike off at a dealership to have them look at the other issues I am about to mention. I told them about this issue and asked them to make sure the water pump seals were good if/when they tear down my engine for the other issues.

- Somewhere along the line, I developed an oil leak that is coming from the seam where the two case halves come together. Upon closer inspection, it looks like they dont use a gasket to seal the case halves and rather use RTV or some other kind of gasket maker. It seems like maybe part of that came out or had a weak spot, so now the engine weeps oil from that location after running the engine a bit. I get a few drops in the belly pan after a couple sessions on the track, so Ill usually pull the pan, wipe it down, and keep on riding it. The oil level doesnt ever drop, so its not leaking terribly. Just an annoyance on a 1 year old bike with under 5000 miles on it, ya know?

- During my race on Saturday, this past weekend, the reverse thread nut that holds the clutch basket to the output shaft backed itself completely off. Because of this, I had no way to disengage the clutch. I kept riding it, though I probably shouldnt have, and got pretty lucky that nothing was damaged in the process. I got even more lucky that DCMoney had a clutch cover gasket that he was willing to give me, so I pulled it apart first thing Sunday morning and was able to race that day. DCMoney comes through for me, yet again. I cant tell you all how many times he's saved my ass over the last couple years!

Ill keep you guys posted on the progress of getting these issues fixed with the dealership.

Happy to report that the dealer (Moto Europa in St Louis) is going to get my oil leak fixed under warranty and will install the head/base gaskets I picked up from cjwell at the same time! If any of you guys in the St Louis area need work done to your KTM, DEFINITELY take it to Moto Europa. This has been a pleasant and easy experience. Much different than my experiences with other dealerships in the area who will remain nameless.

 

[Mr Bean]

My race bike blew the head gasket today with only 400km on the clock

 

[CAZHEREDIA]

Finally got my bike yesterday after 38 days in dealer~!

So happy that ktm swapped engine and took care of my bike!

Cant really talk specifics, but lets just say i got a new 0 mile bike with some extra perks!

 

[unicorn_violence]

thought i should chime in. i have about 2400 miles on the bike. 1k on the street, with the rest specifically track. i have had no issues with the ktm so far. the only issue was dealer related. at my 600 mile service, the dealer did not fit the gasket seal on properly, causing oil to spill all over the bike (including the rear tire) while i was traveling 50 mph down a freeway. luckily i did not crash, and the dealer picked me up and fixed the issue for free.

there is a local owner that i occasionally see at the track that has the RC, and he had an issue with the radiator that caused the bike to sit at the dealer for a few weeks. i don't think he is a member of this forum though (i keep pressuring him to join).

 

[stevieboy]

Took my RC in to the KTM/Harley dealership today for fan replacement. Parts guy at KTM let me look at the fan but would not let me take it to the service counter. Service would have to send a work order over to get the fan. As weird as that sounds nobody really seems to know if this is a warranty issue or not. Its like every body is afraid to ask about or talk about it. Oh and the bike went in today. They are going to try to have it ready by Saturday! And the box with the fan in it said $86.99! I do not have any hope that this is going to end well.

 

[EnergyHOU]

Took my RC in to the KTM/Harley dealership today for fan replacement. Parts guy at KTM let me look at the fan but would not let me take it to the service counter. Service would have to send a work order over to get the fan. As weird as that sounds nobody really seems to know if this is a warranty issue or not. Its like every body is afraid to ask about or talk about it. Oh and the bike went in today. They are going to try to have it ready by Saturday! And the box with the fan in it said $86.99! I do not have any hope that this is going to end well.

Ha, just responded to you on MH forum. Will mention here as well, do the SPAL conversion and never look back.

 

[Seth]

KTM/Harley dealer? That is an odd couple!

 

[stevieboy]

Yes it is. The feeling was that maybe the smaller road and dirt bikes would get people into motorcycling and then they would come back for the bigger bikes. Like they will enjoy the small turd so much they will come back for a bigger turd!

 

[stevieboy]

Ha, just responded to you on MH forum. Will mention here as well, do the SPAL conversion and never look back.

I have a Spal fan as a back up but I am not going to give KTM a pass on the warranty. Its like all the owners who buy one because they are cheap and then spend thousands on upgrading suspension, brakes, etc. I understand personalizing a bike but why not just buy a better bike to begin with? I bought the RC because I wanted a small displacement bike and it was the best choice for me AS IS and required the fewest expensive mods to ride like I wanted to. For what KTM wants for the stock fan I will install the Spal if needed but not until AFTER the warranty is up.

 

[rick]

Heh, I agree with you for the most part but, I've never had a bike so, far where the suspension was properly sprung and valved for my weight. I've gotten it close with some home modifications but, still with the suspension you're generally talking about hundreds and not thousands of dollars to get it it pretty darn good. A shock is usually around $200 to get resprung and revalved for example. The stock shock on the 390 is such a hunk of junk though that you gotta blow another $30 or so on the 1st gen R6 shock. There's a thread on that here somewhere.

At anyrate, I got the RC torn apart last night after it died on me while on the freeway last week. I got fuel, spark and compression. Specifically, I cranked it for a bit to check if it suddenly wanted to start, no, and then pulled the spark plug which was wet and smelled of gas. I stuffed a paper towel into the spark plug hole and held the spark plug to a ground and cranked it again. I got good spark and the paper towel shot out and hit the ceiling which I'm calling good compression.

One weird thing is that I don't remember the bike cranking without the fuel pump plugged in on the last service. Maybe I remember wrong.

EDIT: I'm not sure where to go from here. Oil looks normal and radiator overflow is at it's normal level.

 

[stevieboy]

RC is back from the dealer and warranty replacement of the radiator fan. Hope I get lucky like my friend with a 390 Duke and his second fan is working well. Now if we get some nice weather and I get caught up on work I'll look forward to the break-in check up.

 

[EnergyHOU]

RC is back from the dealer and warranty replacement of the radiator fan. Hope I get lucky like my friend with a 390 Duke and his second fan is working well. Now if we get some nice weather and I get caught up on work I'll look forward to the break-in check up.

Yeah.. not this weekend. Ha!

We should go ride though! Do you ride with Jimrad's group or any of those Houston guys?

 

[DeathFromAbove]

'16 with 33km...started overheating at the end of my ride home from the dealer lol

 

[stevieboy]

Yeah.. not this weekend. Ha!

We should go ride though! Do you ride with Jimrad's group or any of those Houston guys?

No. I am in northern Illinois.