RC 390 Questionable Reliability

[sturge]

So...this is my kids first bike and it's an awesome little bike. He's not a small person (6'5" and 170lbs) and has been riding the hell out of it. Put on about 6K miles in the first couple of months. He rides fairly aggressively but does not beat on the bike (no wheelies or burnouts)...basically riding it like I would expect a sport bike to be ridden. I am an experienced rider and have ridden with him for about 2K miles and he has become a solid rider. Already been through the stock Rossi rear tire (using ALL of the tread!) and just replaced with a Battlax. Good times and a REALLY FUN bike but...

Here is the tally of mntc issues since new in late Aug:
1. Oil leak...rubber grommet for crank case vent was not fully inserted into casing from factory. FIXED (warranty)
2. Left side fairing developed crack at mounting hardware after 200 miles...FIXED (warranty)
3. Clutch went after 5K miles. I partially blame my kid for not realizing the adjustment was out a bit which allowed it to slip. When he told me something was up and readjustment was not successful-it was toasted...Replaced clutch ($700 total)
4. Today he called me broken down with an overheating issue...looks like head gasket. Bringing it back to dealer for more warranty work/replacement.

Not a good track record for a little over 3 months and 6K miles...the whole idea is to RIDE not WRENCH. I do much of my own work on my bikes and cars...I'm not impressed with reliabilty of this model.

He was all about getting a Yamaha R6 for his first bike...I said NO FREAKIN WAY is that a starter bike so we picked out the little RC 390 for him to learn on. After 6K miles I feel he is ready to move up.
Once the head gasket gets replaced it's going up for sale and we are moving on.

 

[KwicK To Master KTM]

Don't Blame you - The bike is great and a pain in the arse at the same time - unless you are a electronic guru ive had many problems with mine also Argggggggggggggg

 

[SWdragon]

Well, I remember my first bike in 1977 a KZ400 that I ran the hell out of. It developed all kinds of problems that I now realize was due to over zealous use of the throttle.

 

[OldVet]

So far I've been lucky I guess no mechanical issues after 5,311 miles.

 

[sturge]

I know KTM is a good company with a long history of quality bikes...just picked out a bad one I guess. I still say it's a very cool little bike...not many bikes out there that can be an awesome starter bike as well as a VERY fun daily rider or a track bike for experienced riders. Brought it to dealer today inthe back of my truck. We will see what they come up with...should all be warranty.

Meanwhile, Fri, Sat, Sun in CT its gonna be sunny and in the 50's...the kid aint happy seeing me take off for a ride on my bike and he's got nothing! Got to get it while we can...snow will be here before you know it.

 

[sturge]

So...12/22 finally got the KTM back from dealer for head gasket replacement. Is it just me or is 22 days in the shop for a routine head gasket job a joke? I will say there was minimal pushback on this being a warranty job so I consider that a win. In conversation with KTM warranty folks, they were told that occasional head gasket failures have occurred so this was not seen as highly unusual. The mechanic commented that they observed 'excessive carbon buildup' in cylinder/head area and asked if we had used race fuel. I personally did not talk with them but my son told them he has always used pump gas (91 or 93 octane). They claimed if race fuel had been used that likely would have voided the warranty (I question this).

This bike has no mods...in my experience with internal combustion engines, carbon buildup is more of a tuning issue (too much fuel or timing) versus what fuel you use. I would think using race fuel would result in LESS carbon buildup.

Question for any who have torn into engine...have you seen what you would say is 'excessive carbon buildup'?

The good news is the KTM is back! My son rode the 40 miles home (in the rain) and says it's running fine. Today will be over 60 deg (unheard of for late Dec in CT!) so he will be putting some more miles on it today. Not many riding days left before snow comes...then it's time to put it up for sale and begin the search for a Yamaha R6 to take it's place.

 

[cjwell]

So...12/22 finally got the KTM back from dealer for head gasket replacement. Is it just me or is 22 days in the shop for a routine head gasket job a joke? I will say there was minimal pushback on this being a warranty job so I consider that a win. In conversation with KTM warranty folks, they were told that occasional head gasket failures have occurred so this was not seen as highly unusual. The mechanic commented that they observed 'excessive carbon buildup' in cylinder/head area and asked if we had used race fuel. I personally did not talk with them but my son told them he has always used pump gas (91 or 93 octane). They claimed if race fuel had been used that likely would have voided the warranty (I question this).

This bike has no mods...in my experience with internal combustion engines, carbon buildup is more of a tuning issue (too much fuel or timing) versus what fuel you use. I would think using race fuel would result in LESS carbon buildup.

Question for any who have torn into engine...have you seen what you would say is 'excessive carbon buildup'?

The good news is the KTM is back! My son rode the 40 miles home (in the rain) and says it's running fine. Today will be over 60 deg (unheard of for late Dec in CT!) so he will be putting some more miles on it today. Not many riding days left before snow comes...then it's time to put it up for sale and begin the search for a Yamaha R6 to take it's place.

That seems a little heavy for a head gasket repair... Excessive carbon has lots of factors. Quality of today's pump fuel is pretty poor, one main cause. Squish set too loose in stock engine is another factor, lack of timing is another. Just "life" on most stock/street engines though, nothing new unfortunately. Did they skim head to ensure straightness? If they were smart they would've filed warranty and claimed stock gaskets but you could've bought and had mine installed, to make sure it doesn't happen again.

 

[sturge]

Thanks cj

These guys would not have a clue on proper strategy for a correct fix...They are not what I would call 'top shelf'. So far, they handed over new bike with clutch mis-adjusted which, with a new rider resulted in 2-3K miles riding before he mentioned to me that he was hitting rev limiter occasionally. I immediately suspected clutch so we tweaked set it up according to manual and he kept riding. It was better but never 100%...by 5K miles the clutch was roasted (which was not surprising to me). Dealer would not support warranty for this so after paying $700 for new clutch, they handed it over without torquing the adjuster lock nut and he broke down 100 miles later when it backed all the way off and he had no clutch lever pull. We got it home and found the problem, re-adjusted to specs and everything was good...until 1K miles later when the head gkt blew. They had it for 22 days to do the head gasket.

You know...I sort of feel reliability of this bike is getting a bad rap because technically, the design of the bike is solid. If anything, it's the questionable quality control of assy in India (oil leak & fairing crack), dealer incompetence (clutch issues). The head gasket I would say is also likely an assy issue versus poor design.

On the other hand...as a consumer I expect THE WHOLE PACKAGE and KTM has not impressed me with this one.

 

[ray]

Overall pretty much all the gaskets on this bike are shit. Everything leaks at one point or another.

 

[CAZHEREDIA]

Changed rear tire at 5,000 miles, got new tire on amazon for 50% off what South bay MSRP said.

at 6,600 miles yesterday and the bike suddenly sounded louder, thought something was loose with the intake and took it to the dealer. It appears the noise comes from the engine and they requested to keep it over night and see what the problem is. Hopefully everything is under warranty, not sure! I use it as a commuter bike so I've been racking up the miles. Got it about 8 months ago and have had no issues until yesterday.

Hoping for the best, also the guy said the chain was loose so I need to get a new chain.
So I spoke to South Bay Motorsports yesterday, they said the estimate was about 3,000dlls. I've had the bike for about 6 months (bought it brand new) and put in a lot of miles on it since I use it primarily for commute. Services have all been done there and they said they would send the paperwork to KTM to see if it would be covered by the warranty.

I hope they do, regardless I'm very disappointed. I spent about 7,500dlls in credit on this bike and extended 3 year warranty and didn't even go more than 6 months without issues.

Keep in mind a 3,000dlls issue is not something small. I don't even know what's wrong with the bike, other than the engine was making a strange loud noise. I'm thinking the CAM-SHAFT or ENGINE blew out.

I will update on Thursday with what I hope will be good news, I'm sure the warranty will cover it, but still I'm looking at about a month without a bike. and in the time being I'm spending about 30dlls/day in transportation!

 

[CAZHEREDIA]

I'm very disappointed also! 6 months with bike and had to take it to the shop because it was making a strange noise. Turns out its a 3,000 price tag to fix, KTM hasn't answered the dealers request for warranty coverage. 8 days now in the shop. I will update asap!

 

[CAZHEREDIA]

I'm very disappointed also! 6 months with bike and had to take it to the shop because it was making a strange noise. Turns out its a 3,000 price tag to fix, KTM hasn't answered the dealers request for warranty coverage. 8 days now in the shop. I will update asap!

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.