Into a 200.000kms engine

Hello everyone,

My 990 Adventure has been in the garage for the last 2 and a half years

Very very busy at work, new born baby, new house, etc, kept me a milion miles away from the motorcycle world.

Next baby is due for early december so it's now or never if I want to get the bike running again!

The bike has been running everydays from 2007 to 2012. I took it around the world two-up for two years. It has nearly 200.000kms.

The last months I was riding the bike it was working pretty fine except that the engine was really noisy, mostly because of the loose timing chains I think.

I started a complete desassembly of the bike and started cleaning everything. During the two years around the world I rode 70.000kms off-road and had very limited access to places where I could clean the bike. So you can imagine how much pain it is to get it shiny again.

Anyway, I'm done with the cleaning, I'm done with the fork (oil/springs/seals), I'm done with the rear shock (complete rebuild by my local KTM dealer), I'm done with all bearing (wheels, swing arm, steering), I cleaned all the wires, checked every connection, etc. I'm pretty much done with everything around the engine.

So about the engine I started to strip it down. I'm planning to :
- check clutch
- change timing chain + guides
- change pistons rings
- change water pump
- replace easily accessible bearings/seals

Should I go deeper into it and :
- check oil pump ? replace it ?
- check valves condition ?
- change crankshaft split bears bush ? (don't know if split bear bush is the correct word in english)
- change connecting rod split bears bush ?
- change piston pins ?
- check gearbox ?
- change any specific bearing ?

Any advice will be welcome. As the engine is out of the bike I don't mind spending a little more time on it, I don't feel like doing another strip down in 6 months. I just don't want to split it in half just for the please to split it.

This is a very interesting look at the durability of this motor

Pull it completely apart and see what needs and doesn't need replacing.
I've known people to do masters/PhDs on less interesting topics.

The only way to find out is to pull those parts out and check.

Keep us update!

Chick Peas?
I agree tho, Aurel has the skills to make this a very interesting thread

wow you're my hero mate

before stripping anything down run a pressure check on both cylinders and on the oil system, it will help you decide much better

previous of changing, never forget plastic guages to check crankshaft bearings and other parts, it not only saves money but gives you a much better canche to check the beast

out of curiosity, did you ever change the fuel pump?

wow!

btw...........

and again the 2007 showed who's the BOSSSSSSSSSSSSSSs

Just for the knowledge ... a compression check before taking apart
There is so much power to be gained with a proper 5 angle valve cut it would be on my list ... which means new valves and seats
although
with a baby on the way just having it running again in any form would be a great treat
congratulations papa

Me personally, what I would do 8s check compression replace only necessary things, cam chain, maybe rings, depending on compression test. You have another kid on the way,save your money for that adventure.
When you get your bike all back together, only doing what is necessary, ride it. Would love to see just how many miles you can put on her while only doing the necessary things.
just my 2 cents.
Congratulations on the new arrival.

A long shot, but...
You should contact KTM and ask they would like to be in this as an project. To show the LC8 durability. 200.000km is a lot on a semi-high performance engine.

I'm doing the same to my DR650 motor right now, and I don't think I would hesitate doing a total take down and necessary replacement of parts on the LC8 when needed in the future as well. Of course the LC8 is a more complicated engine, but the concepts are the same.



The projected started with this...


Which was caused by this...

Aurel, je viens de passer par là avec mon 950 : http://www.ridaventure.ca/index.php?/topic/24343-remise-ae-neuf-moteur-950/

Thanks for sharing this with us! Just curious as to what if any top end work has been done to get through 200,000Km?

No! so far I did change the fuel filters twice. Once in Egypt (see my road side repair in Cairo below, the second one was in Argentina).



Egyptian style with the "mustache", damn I look so young on these pictures.



Running on dirty african fuel :



Here is the fuel pump filters change in Argentina, the bike was around 90.000kms IIRC.





What a nice workshop :



But last night I changed the filters for the third time and noticed this :



Sadly KTM do not sell this part alone, you have to buy the whole fuel pump. From what I saw it can run fin even with one side broken so I'll keep it like this. I don't feel like spending $450 on a brand new fuel pump.

Like my sister in law

I spend my days managing peoples designing planes and space shuttles but I still didn't understand what she did for the last 3 years during her med school PhD

guglemonster, and all others who suggested an oil pressure check/pressure check on both cylinders :

Well, that's sound a great idea, the idea I wish I had before stripping the engine down.

No that the timing chains are out I guess it's too late...

You're right mate!

You have no idea how much abuse this bike got during my world tour but when I opened the engine it still looked brand new!

That's a subject I don't wanna talk about with my wife:
- option 1: spend all your money on the thing you love the most in the world, your KTM 990
- option 2: save your money and spend it on diapers

I'm not sure I need to start a poll

I got in contact with KTM before my world tour, during my world tour, after my world tour.

Basically the answer was "no matter how much money we'll give you you'll keep riding your bike around the world so you'll be advertising for us for free so we don't give a shit about you".

I got zero support from KTM headquarters but I got A LOT of support from local KTM dealers. Just to name a few who have been very helpful/generous :
- KTM all ex-yougosvlavia
- KTM UK
- KTM Ethiopia
- KTM Namibia
- KTM Botswana
- KTM South Africa
- KTM Argentina
- KTM Montenegro
- KTM Chile
- KTM Bolivia
- KTM USA (multiples dealers in the US)
- KTM Canada (multiples dealers in the US)
- KTM Thailand
- KTM France

But above all this support I couldn't name all the guys from advrider who :
- hosted my wife and I for free for a few days
- let me use their garage for my maintenance
- offered us tyres, tubes, fuel, spares parts, riding gear, food, meal, etc
- gave us money (a guy we met on a parking lot in a national park in the US gave us $500 just because he enjoyed our website and was glad to meet us)
- gave us a ride in a pick up truck when we had a breakdown (only happened once)

There are thousands of people I could name for having being supporting our adventure. Sadly KTM is not one of them except local dealears as I said above.

Merci pour le lien, très intéressannt: