Rough Running 990SMT Urgent Advice Required!!

Sgt Bilco

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Right, JoJo has yet another problem with her 990SMT which we have to source pretty darned quickly because it's being loaded on a container bound for California on the 14th!!

When it's ticking over, it sounds rough and feels lumpy. When you give it some throttle, it judders, misses a few beats, lurches and just feels like it's not getting enough fuel and occasionally it will cut out. When you accelerate past 4000 rpm it seems to improve a bit but it's down on power. Also, when Jo rolls off the throttle and then open the taps again, it judders and hesitates and it needs a down change before pulling away which it didn't used to. Also, it's using a little more fuel than normal but that's maybe because Jo has to pin it most of the time to get past the rough running. The only way of making it smooth is slipping the clutch which is not a good thing!!

It has straight through AKRA'a which were set up by KTM.

It's recently had a lot of work done by KTM to cure a mystery problem which caused the bike to cut out and not always restart. They sorted this by changing all the corroded block connectors. replaced a split fuel hose, changed fuel filters and checked the fuel pump and the the bike has been good for a 1000 miles or so.

My initial thoughts are it's either a fuel issue or could it be ignition coils? I've had a similar issue with an 1100 a few years back and new coil packs sorted it but I'm not too sure on this occasion.

Jo is running it in to AMS Tewksbury 1st thing in the morning in the hope they can find it quickly but they are usually too busy to get anything in to the workshop.

Any thoughts or ideas would be more than welcome.
 
Right, JoJo has yet another problem with her 990SMT which we have to source pretty darned quickly because it's being loaded on a container bound for California on the 14th!!

When it's ticking over, it sounds rough and feels lumpy. When you give it some throttle, it judders, misses a few beats, lurches and just feels like it's not getting enough fuel and occasionally it will cut out. When you accelerate past 4000 rpm it seems to improve a bit but it's down on power. Also, when Jo rolls off the throttle and then open the taps again, it judders and hesitates and it needs a down change before pulling away which it didn't used to. Also, it's using a little more fuel than normal but that's maybe because Jo has to pin it most of the time to get past the rough running. The only way of making it smooth is slipping the clutch which is not a good thing!!

It has straight through AKRA'a which were set up by KTM.

It's recently had a lot of work done by KTM to cure a mystery problem which caused the bike to cut out and not always restart. They sorted this by changing all the corroded block connectors. replaced a split fuel hose, changed fuel filters and checked the fuel pump and the the bike has been good for a 1000 miles or so.

My initial thoughts are it's either a fuel issue or could it be ignition coils? I've had a similar issue with an 1100 a few years back and new coil packs sorted it but I'm not too sure on this occasion.

Jo is running it in to AMS Tewksbury 1st thing in the morning in the hope they can find it quickly but they are usually too busy to get anything in to the workshop.

Any thoughts or ideas would be more than welcome.

tried swopping the plugs for new ones? a quick look at the old plugs should give you an idea as to if it's a fueling problem or ignition? If it's not enough fuel the plug will be white, if it's to rich it will be black and sooty..(but you probably know that anyway)

Think Timolgra mentioned he'd found a way of getting carb clleaner to go through the injector on his 690 a few months back, maybe worth finding out how he did this and trying it on the 990 injectors ?
 
Possible its the Tea bag filter choked at the fuel pump.

Have you searched on the Smt forumn for ideas?
 
Hi Bilco,

It could be one of the coil caps breaking down, It may be worth buying one tomorrow and trying it on the rear cylinder which is easy to get at, if this doesn't improve it you'll have to have the tank off to try it on the front one which is a pig to get at tbh, I also had to drop the radiator down to get my hand in there.

Could be worth a punt and not too expensive just to buy one coil cap ??

Good luck, hope you get it sorted quick
 
Hi Bilco,

It could be one of the coil caps breaking down, It may be worth buying one tomorrow and trying it on the rear cylinder which is easy to get at, if this doesn't improve it you'll have to have the tank off to try it on the front one which is a pig to get at tbh, I also had to drop the radiator down to get my hand in there.

Could be worth a punt and not too expensive just to buy one coil cap ??

Good luck, hope you get it sorted quick

We'll definitely be trying that first off:thumb2
 
This is the approach I would do.

Get the bike running then disconnect one of the spark leads.

If all good on the one cylinder it should just about keep running.

Repeat disconnecting the other cylinder lead.

Hopefully this should isolate which cylinder the problem relates too.

Then systematically swap bits from one cylinder to the other or substitute if available.

If by doing the above the issue is not isolated to a cylinder then it is caused by something common to both like fuel filter
 
Year
Mileage ??

Fuel pump or side stand switch ?
Wiring loom around head stock too tight with broken wires ?
All potential ktm weak spots
Good luck
 
All sorted now and thanks for all the helpful suggestions. Turned out to be the Scottoiler which was wrongly fitted. The guy who did it, tapped into the manifold air pressure sensor which makes them run like bags of shite which apparently, is a KTM technical term! .

Both the bike and Jo are back on full power so we can rest easy that the bike will be running beautifully and ready for it's big adventure:thumb2
 
All sorted now and thanks for all the helpful suggestions. Turned out to be the Scottoiler which was wrongly fitted. The guy who did it, tapped into the manifold air pressure sensor which makes them run like bags of shite which apparently, is a KTM technical term! .

Both the bike and Jo are back on full power so we can rest easy that the bike will be running beautifully and ready for it's big adventure:thumb2

Glad you got it sorted.:thumb:beerjug:
 
Thank you for all your feedback and suggestions, as we really were anxious to get this sorted asap. And special thanks to Mike for offering your expert services at such short notice, it really is appreciated. Best wishes, Jo :)
 
Turned out to be the Scottoiler which was wrongly fitted. The guy who did it, tapped into the manifold air pressure sensor which makes them run like bags of shite which apparently, is a KTM technical term! .


WTF ??? :nenau there's a tapped hole in the inlet manifold especially for this, put KTM details into this fitting guide and look at the top pic?

http://www.scottoiler.com/uk/installation-guides.html

Its not difficult, just shows that some people can bollox up anything, was it a dealer who fitted it ?????????
 
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WTF ??? :nenau there's a tapped hole in the inlet manifold especially for this, put KTM details into this fitting guide and look at the top pic?

http://www.scottoiler.com/uk/installation-guides.html

Its not difficult, just shows that some people can bollox up anything, was it a dealer who fitted it ?????????

Thanks for that link. It looks like the top picture now but it didn't before Jason at AMS KTM corrected it. I've known the guy who originally fitted it for many years, he's head mechanic at a Suzuki dealer here in my town. KTM are 50 miles away from me so I 'thought' I was doing myself a favour by going local. In future I will only continue to use the local chap for MOTing and tyre fitting. You live and learn eh?
 
Thanks for that link. It looks like the top picture now but it didn't before Jason at AMS KTM corrected it. I've known the guy who originally fitted it for many years, he's head mechanic at a Suzuki dealer here in my town. KTM are 50 miles away from me so I 'thought' I was doing myself a favour by going local. In future I will only continue to use the local chap for MOTing and tyre fitting. You live and learn eh?


You wouldn't take your Ferrari or range rover to a ford dealer ;-) would you !
 
You wouldn't take your Ferrari or range rover to a ford dealer ;-) would you !

Not for major works no, but it was 'only a Scottoiler' which incidentally my late husband (a handy chap but not a trained mechanic) managed to successfully fit to many of our other bikes, so I thought a trained mechanic with over 30 years experience behind him would have no problem. On the same principle, i don't take my BMW car to a BMW dealer for new brake pads, I use a local chap who charges me less than half the price of the dealer.
 


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