My Terrible Experience with my RC 390 and KTM USA

mauromj

New Member
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Hello all. I have been searching this forum for the past couple years prior to the purchase of my RC390. I searched long and hard before finally settling on my bike, as it was truly the only thing in this category that interested me. This thread is meant to document the story of my bike and the issues I have had with it.


I purchased my 2017 RC 390 from Ride Now Powersports in Kennewick Washington on 4/16/2018. The bike was old showroom stock and had 0 miles on it when I purchased it. Given KTM's 2 year warranty on these bikes, the factory warranty expires 4/16/2020.


To begin my story, I arrived at the dealer early AM, as I would be riding the bike approximately 180 miles home. After multiple issues, dead battery, bike not properly setup, etc, I was unable to leave until 5PM that day (this is a whole other story that is not worth getting into...).


As I was leaving, I made it about 5 miles onto the highway before the bike died. I didn't think much of it at first and though maybe the kick stand had come down and killed it for some reason... Start the bike back up, make it another mile or so, dies again. This continued 5 or so more times until I called the dealer up. They prompted me to limp it back and their service department would take a look at it.


By time I made it back, the dealer was T-1 hours until close (Great; I'm 3 hours away with no ride home. Time to get a hotel for the night!). After troubleshooting for an hour or so, the service department finally determined that the ECU was not properly brought out of its "new bike" mode. I am not sure what this entails (Nor is it true? Would love someone to confirm!), but I was essentially told that it was a showroom feature for antitheft. Ok great, no harm no foul. I'm just happy to get on the bike and get it back home!


From here on out, the bike was great. No issues whatsoever! I put approximately 1000 miles on it over 3 or so months and was in love! That was until my first real big issue...


On a highway ride during the middle of somewhere, I notice my coolant gauge pegged. The bike immediately began cutting out, so I shut it down as soon as possible and coasted to a nearby parking lot. Coolant levels were fine; what the heck happened? After letting the bike sit for a half hour or so, I attempted to fire it up and... nothing. 2-3 hour laters, still nothing. Cranked over fine, but no start.


Trailered the bike home and did some research. I automatically assumed the worst and thought the head gasket was blown from all the information I found here and other places online. After performing both a compression test and leak down test I was able to personally rule out a head gasket failure to the best of my knowledge. Coolant came back negative for oil vapors, and oil came back negative for coolant. Whew thank goodness.


For whatever reason, the bike did not have spark/fuel however. Unable to troubleshoot further, I took the bike in to my nearest KTM dealer (not where it was originally purchased). For now, I will remain to keep them anonymous, as I am still working out details with them and KTM.


The bike was there for 1-2 months (exact dates pending) before the dealer could diagnose the issue, and get the replacement part. Turns out the coolant sensor failed and was giving a false reading, leading to the "overheating" and failure to start (from what I was told that is).


I got the bike back and immediately began riding it. After about 10 miles, I got a low oil pressure light... Oh no, thats not good. I immediately powered down again and trailered it home. Oil level checked out, so I drained the oil and checked the filter. No shavings in the oil, and overall it looked great. The oil filter was collapsed however so I replaced it with a new unit and filled it back up with fresh oil. No more oil light! After dong some digging online, I have heard of others facing this issue with K&N filters as well.


By time this was resolved, it was winter here. Bike was stored in a climate controlled garage and had fuel drained. Battery was also disconnected and placed on a tender.


The date is now March 2019 and I am beginning to pull the toys out of winter mode. Fill the bike up with fuel and she starts right up. Great, I am going to ride to work tomorrow. Tomorrow morning comes and the bike wont start. Turns over, but wont fire. What the heck! It just ran yesterday?


After performing basic engine troubleshooting (spark and fuel), I realized it had to go back to the dealer as it had neither...


The bike was dropped off to the same dealer who performed the original repair on 3/30/3019. To date, the bike is still as the dealer and no resolution has been made as to what has failed.

From what I have been told, nearly every sensor has been changed (along with the ECU), and the bike will still not start. KTM has been tough to work with in diagnosing the issue according to the service manager of the dealer. Today, KTM engineers were scheduled to conference call the dealer, and they were allegedly no shows.

At this point, I am unsure who to believe, or know what exactly is going on with my bike. It has now been in the dealers service shop for nearly half of the time I have owned it. I am not only upset about the riding season I am completely missing out on, but also the potential issues this bike will likely have in the future. Not to mention the fact that I have a depreciating asset (first new bike I have ever purchased) that is in pieces and likely never going to go back together properly.. I am waiting to hear back from KTM directly so I can get some more answers on why this issue is taking so long to diagnose/repair.

I am hoping to get answers from them and see if they will make it right. If not, I believe I may qualify for a lemon lawsuit and will get the necessary parties involved to get this thing out of my hands.

I hope you guys have better experiences with your bike. I certainly have not and will not recommend a KTM to anyone unless this is resolved in an adequate manner.
 

Falkon45

Member
Country flag
Man, I'm sorry about all that. But yes, since the dealers have been doing so much of the work, and it's still not resolved, the Lemon Law is your best bet, unless KTM gives you a new bike... which they might not do. i met a guy who had so many problems with his triumph, that he was on a first name basis with Triumph's north american sales director. He got offered a new bike or new engine. He took the new engine, and sold the bike. lol.
 
Hello all. I have been searching this forum for the past couple years prior to the purchase of my RC390. I searched long and hard before finally settling on my bike, as it was truly the only thing in this category that interested me. This thread is meant to document the story of my bike and the issues I have had with it.


I purchased my 2017 RC 390 from Ride Now Powersports in Kennewick Washington on 4/16/2018. The bike was old showroom stock and had 0 miles on it when I purchased it. Given KTM's 2 year warranty on these bikes, the factory warranty expires 4/16/2020.


To begin my story, I arrived at the dealer early AM, as I would be riding the bike approximately 180 miles home. After multiple issues, dead battery, bike not properly setup, etc, I was unable to leave until 5PM that day (this is a whole other story that is not worth getting into...).


As I was leaving, I made it about 5 miles onto the highway before the bike died. I didn't think much of it at first and though maybe the kick stand had come down and killed it for some reason... Start the bike back up, make it another mile or so, dies again. This continued 5 or so more times until I called the dealer up. They prompted me to limp it back and their service department would take a look at it.


By time I made it back, the dealer was T-1 hours until close (Great; I'm 3 hours away with no ride home. Time to get a hotel for the night!). After troubleshooting for an hour or so, the service department finally determined that the ECU was not properly brought out of its "new bike" mode. I am not sure what this entails (Nor is it true? Would love someone to confirm!), but I was essentially told that it was a showroom feature for antitheft. Ok great, no harm no foul. I'm just happy to get on the bike and get it back home!


From here on out, the bike was great. No issues whatsoever! I put approximately 1000 miles on it over 3 or so months and was in love! That was until my first real big issue...


On a highway ride during the middle of somewhere, I notice my coolant gauge pegged. The bike immediately began cutting out, so I shut it down as soon as possible and coasted to a nearby parking lot. Coolant levels were fine; what the heck happened? After letting the bike sit for a half hour or so, I attempted to fire it up and... nothing. 2-3 hour laters, still nothing. Cranked over fine, but no start.


Trailered the bike home and did some research. I automatically assumed the worst and thought the head gasket was blown from all the information I found here and other places online. After performing both a compression test and leak down test I was able to personally rule out a head gasket failure to the best of my knowledge. Coolant came back negative for oil vapors, and oil came back negative for coolant. Whew thank goodness.


For whatever reason, the bike did not have spark/fuel however. Unable to troubleshoot further, I took the bike in to my nearest KTM dealer (not where it was originally purchased). For now, I will remain to keep them anonymous, as I am still working out details with them and KTM.


The bike was there for 1-2 months (exact dates pending) before the dealer could diagnose the issue, and get the replacement part. Turns out the coolant sensor failed and was giving a false reading, leading to the "overheating" and failure to start (from what I was told that is).


I got the bike back and immediately began riding it. After about 10 miles, I got a low oil pressure light... Oh no, thats not good. I immediately powered down again and trailered it home. Oil level checked out, so I drained the oil and checked the filter. No shavings in the oil, and overall it looked great. The oil filter was collapsed however so I replaced it with a new unit and filled it back up with fresh oil. No more oil light! After dong some digging online, I have heard of others facing this issue with K&N filters as well.


By time this was resolved, it was winter here. Bike was stored in a climate controlled garage and had fuel drained. Battery was also disconnected and placed on a tender.


The date is now March 2019 and I am beginning to pull the toys out of winter mode. Fill the bike up with fuel and she starts right up. Great, I am going to ride to work tomorrow. Tomorrow morning comes and the bike wont start. Turns over, but wont fire. What the heck! It just ran yesterday?


After performing basic engine troubleshooting (spark and fuel), I realized it had to go back to the dealer as it had neither...


The bike was dropped off to the same dealer who performed the original repair on 3/30/3019. To date, the bike is still as the dealer and no resolution has been made as to what has failed.

From what I have been told, nearly every sensor has been changed (along with the ECU), and the bike will still not start. KTM has been tough to work with in diagnosing the issue according to the service manager of the dealer. Today, KTM engineers were scheduled to conference call the dealer, and they were allegedly no shows.

At this point, I am unsure who to believe, or know what exactly is going on with my bike. It has now been in the dealers service shop for nearly half of the time I have owned it. I am not only upset about the riding season I am completely missing out on, but also the potential issues this bike will likely have in the future. Not to mention the fact that I have a depreciating asset (first new bike I have ever purchased) that is in pieces and likely never going to go back together properly.. I am waiting to hear back from KTM directly so I can get some more answers on why this issue is taking so long to diagnose/repair.

I am hoping to get answers from them and see if they will make it right. If not, I believe I may qualify for a lemon lawsuit and will get the necessary parties involved to get this thing out of my hands.

I hope you guys have better experiences with your bike. I certainly have not and will not recommend a KTM to anyone unless this is resolved in an adequate manner.

These things happen with every manufacturer... I've had it happen to me with Nissan!

Legal route is the best to take (curious why you haven't started this process already?). You'll get it resolved one way or the other :)
 

ReidMcT

Active Member
Premium Member
Elite Member
Site Supporter
Country flag
I would go with the lemon laws route.

https://www.atg.wa.gov/lemon-law-0

Many states exclude some or all motorcycles from lemon laws. Here is an excerpt from the Washington State law linked above.

The following vehicles are not covered by the Lemon Law:

  • Motorcycles with engine displacements of less than 750 cubic centimeters;
  • Trucks 19,000 lbs. gross weight rating or over;
  • Vehicles purchased or leased (as a group or under a single contract) by a business as part of a fleet of 10 or more.
 

KTMLaos

Member
Country flag
Obviously, a horrible crap situation and I sincerely do hope you will get sorted correctly.
What I do read in your sum-up is to my perception a 100% dealership/mechanics failure.
What leads me to this conclusion is that the 390 Duke/RC engines are the most sold KTM products ever.
With so many on the roads, I find it unfair to blame KTM (product) for the draconian way your USA mechanics and salespeople handled your RC.
Nevertheless, I do hope you'll get sorted soon and be able to enjoy a riding season.
 
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