Help - 950 adv broken down in Fairbanks on vacation!

At 65mph, would the coolant coming out of the overflow which is in front of my right foot and higher up, not be able to blow back on to my boot?

Btw, I should note that after the shop had it to diagnose there was no coolant in the radiator at all. I poured in two litres of water and at the breather screw it ran virtually clear right off the bat. And based on that, much of the coolant went into the oil. What had happened to me was the bike ran great at 4 bars on the temp gauge for a few minutes after I flushed coolant and did an oil change. Then in the space of about 1 minute the coolant overflow tank went empty and the temp went from 4 to 8 in that short time, so I shut it off right away to prevent over temp. The shop ran it for an hour according to their report in that condition and I got it back with sludge and 0 coolant. I'm not sure I can now diagnose it as it were or have to start all over again because of what they did? What do you guys think? Rad is currently filled with water and oil is drained but not replaced. I only have enough motorex to fill up, not use for flushing so I would have to buy some cheap Dino oil to clean things out.

Ouch. Very sorry for you. You could pull off the rear valve cover to see what happened, but my guess is that without oil pressure, the cams galled the cam journals, and the heads are toast. At that point, I would rent a U-Haul or truck and just get the bike home. I can't imagine that you can save the engine. Just too many things will be wrong inside. It would be wise to start looking for a replacement. Maybe you can find a 990SD used motor that you could drop in.

Yuck.

That's what I am afraid of. And what recourse would I have with the shop if that turns out to be the case and they fried my heads... I will have to pull the valve covers and see. I am going to contact them and see what they say. I am sure they will deny any fault though if it proves they did indeed do so. If they don't take care of their mess I'll be sure to let you all know who it was as you may not choose to trust them to work in your gear if you are in the area... I just spent a tonne on rebuilding the engine and they go and do that?!? NOT happy...

So I'm back from the trip. Bikes are home. We did manage to have some great fun on the trip regardless. My wife and I took turns riding her bike so we got to do at least some of the roads. I rode the top of the world highway on it. What a spectacular ride! We did not get to go far up the Dempster as we had run out of time with all the delays, but we did go up to about a half hour past tombstone and back. What we learned? We want to go back next year and ride to Inuvik! We also want to make it for Dust 2 Dawson. All the adventure riders we met on the way were fantastic and most helpful. We are new to this type of bike but are loving it.

So... about the KTM. I've been in touch with the owners of Northern Power Sports, where my bike got messed up, and was happy to say the initial contact since the incident was positive. I was expecting denials immediately but that didn't happen at all. I was asked to call them back when I have the engine out and we can see how badly damaged it was. They were going to speak to the mechanic. It's too early to tell what will happen, but that was a good sign to me.

So here is the thing. When I received the bike back, the mechanic's report said he ran it for an hour. He said it ran fine for the first while, then started running very badly and sounding like piston slap and blowing all kinds of smoke. So first thing I did was check the coolant. There was none. The radiator was completely empty. Not a good sign, as he had been running it in that condition. I filled it up with distilled water, and have found no static leaks at all (it came all the way home on truck and was still full, so that shows that it didn't leak out after the fact from the mechanic, it was indeed run empty..)

Well, I can only imagine how hot the bike must have been. Also, they had added glycol based coolant, which I had asked them not to do. I run engine ice to prevent the pancake batter. The mechanic noted there was no oil pressure at the end either. That would have been true as all the glycol killed the oil. At any rate. Would a KTM even run to zero coolant and no oil pressure? Or is there a good chance it was even seized.

My opinion is that there is not much I could trust not to be messed up on this engine at this point, but I want to be fair with what I request of Northern Power Sports. I'd really appreciate feedback as to what you experienced adventure owners would think needs a very close look. The engine was definitely totally overheated, badly, if not seized.

Any input would be appreciated.

Cheers,
Chris