Window’d KTM engine.

T-Fish
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T-Fish
Edited Date/Time 8/15/2018 4:38am
We’ve almost all seen the video of the KXF 450 out in the hills, revved up and ready to practice a start, and then “BOOM”.

Same thing happened this morning to my buddy. On the line for his first moto of the day, set the launch control, hit the gas and as soon as it hit the limiter...clank.

Does anyone have any ideas as to why this happened? Relatively low hours for a 450 and still under the recommended hours for any engine work.

This is a 2017.5 KTM 450SX-F FE.





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coastlinecascot 9/24/2017 4:05pm
9/24/2017 4:05pm
Happened to my buddies 250sxf at 10 hours. Ktm took care of it
resetjet
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resetjet 9/24/2017 4:05pm
9/24/2017 4:05pm
Looks like rod snapped. However you gotta take the top end off and see if it was something else. That is one expensive repair.
kiwifan
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kiwifan 9/24/2017 4:40pm
9/24/2017 4:40pm
ouchy Sad
TeamGreen
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TeamGreen 9/24/2017 4:55pm
9/24/2017 4:55pm
Peely's answer will be posted shortly.

The Shop

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Helder
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Helder 9/24/2017 4:58pm
9/24/2017 4:58pm
Sweet mother of god that is going to be expensive, I have never seen this!
Forty
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Forty 9/24/2017 5:01pm
9/24/2017 5:01pm
Katoom
kzizok
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kzizok 9/24/2017 5:11pm
9/24/2017 5:11pm
Forty wrote:
Katoom
Kaboom
RbR
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RbR 9/24/2017 5:13pm
9/24/2017 5:13pm
Wow ... That sucks! I'm sure your dealer will go to bat for you with KTM.
kkawboy14
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kkawboy14 9/24/2017 5:20pm
9/24/2017 5:20pm
Seized rod at the crank?
downard254
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downard254 9/24/2017 5:21pm
9/24/2017 5:21pm
Looks like you're half way to having a V Twin now. Sorry about the bad luck. Hopefully KTM will help out a little.
byke
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byke 9/24/2017 5:33pm
9/24/2017 5:33pm
Damn, over two grand for crank, cases and piston. That's not counting all the bearings you probably wouldn't reuse in the cases, gaskets, timing chain, maybe some head work, maybe an oil pump...and heaven forbid he has to pay someone the labor. Hopefully KTM helps out, or hopefully the shop cuts some serious discounts. Could be four grand with no help and just dropping the bike off at a shop.
smoothies862 9/24/2017 5:43pm
9/24/2017 5:43pm
yuck. at least it wasn't up a jump face.
500 Mike
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500 Mike 9/24/2017 5:54pm
9/24/2017 5:54pm
I am glad I don’t ride anymore. I couldn’t afford this kind of thing! Sheesh.
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richter28
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richter28 9/24/2017 6:06pm
9/24/2017 6:06pm
Ktm will fix that. Call a dealer near you.
chad_111
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chad_111 9/24/2017 6:19pm
9/24/2017 6:19pm
Cutting that much weight in the engine comes with a price.
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wreckitrandy
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wreckitrandy 9/24/2017 6:31pm
9/24/2017 6:31pm
There doesn't appear to be much oil on anything in that photo. I'm probably wrong though....
BobPA
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BobPA 9/24/2017 6:34pm
9/24/2017 6:34pm
chad_111 wrote:
Cutting that much weight in the engine comes with a price.
Facepalm
T-Fish
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T-Fish 9/24/2017 6:43pm
9/24/2017 6:43pm
wreckitrandy wrote:
There doesn't appear to be much oil on anything in that photo. I'm probably wrong though....
That’s because the oil is on the starting line a couple hundred yards away, lol. I took this photo after he pushed it back to his vehicle and had it loaded up.

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seth505
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seth505 9/24/2017 6:47pm
9/24/2017 6:47pm
chad_111 wrote:
Cutting that much weight in the engine comes with a price.
Does it, DOES IT CHAD?

Laughing
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colintrax
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colintrax 9/25/2017 2:08am
9/25/2017 2:08am
chad_111 wrote:
Cutting that much weight in the engine comes with a price.
KTM has been cutting connecting rod weight for years without cutting piston weight. This is a travesty and must be stopped. I suggest bringing down displacement to lower piston weights. #wewant2strokes

But seriously, could be a bad connecting rod. Could be your buddy downshifted too much the last time he rode, revving the engine way over the red line and damaged the rod then. Just happened to let go today.
Acidreamer
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Acidreamer 9/25/2017 2:11am
9/25/2017 2:11am
If by no engine work you mean never replaced the piston, thats why. Pistons are 10 hour parts. By 43 hours a top end is too tired to be revved to the moon.
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Lynch
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Lynch 9/25/2017 2:18am
9/25/2017 2:18am
Acidreamer wrote:
If by no engine work you mean never replaced the piston, thats why. Pistons are 10 hour parts. By 43 hours a top end is too...
If by no engine work you mean never replaced the piston, thats why. Pistons are 10 hour parts. By 43 hours a top end is too tired to be revved to the moon.
10 hour parts?! How did you come by that information?
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Jrewing
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Jrewing 9/25/2017 2:19am
9/25/2017 2:19am
Acidreamer wrote:
If by no engine work you mean never replaced the piston, thats why. Pistons are 10 hour parts. By 43 hours a top end is too...
If by no engine work you mean never replaced the piston, thats why. Pistons are 10 hour parts. By 43 hours a top end is too tired to be revved to the moon.
Doesn't look like the piston let go.. what's s crank rebuild then?
Yamaknockers
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Yamaknockers 9/25/2017 2:45am
9/25/2017 2:45am
Acidreamer wrote:
If by no engine work you mean never replaced the piston, thats why. Pistons are 10 hour parts. By 43 hours a top end is too...
If by no engine work you mean never replaced the piston, thats why. Pistons are 10 hour parts. By 43 hours a top end is too tired to be revved to the moon.
Bullshit. Very much bullshit.
ti473
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ti473 9/25/2017 3:08am
9/25/2017 3:08am
Lol 10 hour pistons...
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TrailDigger 9/25/2017 3:09am
9/25/2017 3:09am
Acidreamer wrote:
If by no engine work you mean never replaced the piston, thats why. Pistons are 10 hour parts. By 43 hours a top end is too...
If by no engine work you mean never replaced the piston, thats why. Pistons are 10 hour parts. By 43 hours a top end is too tired to be revved to the moon.
You gotta change 450 pistons at 10 hours?!

So I have to change my 250 at 5?
Acidreamer
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Acidreamer 9/25/2017 3:12am
9/25/2017 3:12am
Call it bullshit if you want. My kx manual says it right there pistons need replaced at 15 hours. Check the crank at 15 hours. Im pretty sure the engineers who designed the bikes know a lot more than you do. Do you see any pro teams running a race bike for 40 hours? No. You dont. Keep your bike fresh and you dont have to worry about it blowing up. If this guys ktm was running at the rev limiter for 43 hours his crank could have very well been out of spec. No clue till its torn down.
ti473
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ti473 9/25/2017 3:29am
9/25/2017 3:29am
I do agree in the sense that 43 hours is a little too many to expect any warranty work. I've actually never expected any warranty work for a dirt bike ever due to its inherent nature, but thankfully I never had anything major happen so soon. But hey, it's a race bike and shit happens.
But in the real world who changes pistons at 10-15 hours on a 450? Sure the manual says so, blah, blah, blah. I think 40-50 is probably the minimum I would change it at, I got 80 out of mine with no issues.
Forty
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Forty 9/25/2017 3:34am
9/25/2017 3:34am
I've 63 hours on my 10 hour piston. I'll switch it out this winter but only as a maintenance item. It runs strong.
m.hardesty16 9/25/2017 3:57am
9/25/2017 3:57am
Its kinda worrying that a bunch of KTM's have been messing up as of lately, not sure if any others have seen but their has been a few other threads about new KTM having failures.

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