Weird Things

2012 990 Adventure with 220 miles on it. Twice while riding slowly at low RPM, I pulled the clutch in to down shift and the engine died. I hit the starter button and it fired right back up. I believe I've read about some stalling issues before. The bike has Akrapovics with a map supplied by the dealer for them. Only using 91 octane from name brand gas stations.

Here's another puzzle, on two or three occasions the bike's clock reset to 12:00 upon starting. The battery terminal connections are tight. Hooked the bike up to a tender tonight and it was fully charged in a few hours.

The bike fires up like a champ. No warning lights. No other signs of an electrical problem.

Any thoughts? Wiring harness worn through and shorting in only a couple hundred miles? Battery issue? Fuel map causing stalling and the clock thing is its own problem? Got the 4 year warranty on this one so I'm not overly concerned. I'd just prefer not to waste time taking it in if the dealer won't be able to replicate the issues (I haven't been able to intentionally replicate either issue) or if they are weird Austrian break-in issues which will go away on their own.

Clean and tighten your battery terminals. Loose connections can cause all sorts of odd issues. Chances are, since the bike is brand new, it got a battery put in right before it rolled out of the dealer. It could be a simple as that.

I ride a 950, but I've read this before on the board. Here's a link that shows you how to search for the threads:

http://www.lmgtfy.com/?q=site:advrider.com+"orange+crush"+990+stall+clutch

I checked to make sure the battery terminals were tight and they are. The clock was 2 hours slow this morning (exactly the same as yesterday). But the bike ran fine this morning.

Especially next to the steering. Cables could get caught at the steering stoppers and get nicked from day one-sort of-.
Good luck and keep us posted.
Cheers.

Ask the dealer to bump up the idle speed by 100 RPM and see if the issue goes away. They should be able to plug in and alter this very easily and no charge to you. If not, find someone nearby that has TuneECU and a cable. Doesn't require a 'dyno technician' to make this change, its only a idle speed alteration.

Alternatively, see if the dealer will load the "R" map to the bike. Word on the street its pretty good and might clear up the issue. The Akra maps tend to be overly rich in some areas and really lean in others.....

This was/is very common on new 990's. Mine use to do that, but like most others, the problem just went away once the bike had some miles on it. I think it has something to do with the clutch pressure switch signaling the ECU to add fuel when the clutch is pulled in. I believe for emissions reasons, they cut fuel during engine braking, but when you suddenly pull in the clutch the FI system has to add fuel to keep the engine above tickover. Make sure you fully engage the clutch when downshifting. Also, the 15 minute idle calibration can help too. Maybe someone else can say exactly, but I think like fine wine, the clutch switch gets better with age.
-jw

I think the 2012 models have the same map as the R model.

The bike ran perfectly today. I tried to replicate the issue but couldn't. Maybe something was clogged and I'm fretting for no reason?

Despite the nitpicking I LOVE this bike.

One thing I noticed is that my bike's clock keeps perfect time during the day but loses exactly 2 hours over night. Weird.

220 miles. Ride it.

Just a tight motor. Run it, don't get excited over it until you pass 3000 miles. Then it should stop that . If it continues then a good intake / fuel cleaning is needed.

My 2008 will occasionally die when I pull the clutch in at low speed if it has only been a few minutes since I started it. That's just one more thing that I've learned to live with.

As for the battery and resetting the clock, it might be time to get a new battery. Yes, you should make sure that you have good connections everywhere, and that the battery stays topped up with a charger, but once it starts doing it regularly, the best solution is to replace the battery. At least that's what it took to totally solve that issue on mine.

Like others have stated, these bikes are very particular about having the battery in top shape for them to be happy.

Dunno why but might be worth it to have the batt load tested by the dealer. You might have a dying cell or such.

If so should be covered under warranty with the bike being so new.

there is definetly something wrong, your clock does indicate that. its most probably an electrical issue. the question is, if the cut outs and the clock correlate. there are one or two ground cables which can cause such problems. when the bikes frame is coated they use little stickers to keep the ground points free of coating. sometime these stickers fall off meaning the ground cables dont have good contact. so do not just check if the screws are tight, check if the cables have good contact.

get a voltmeter, connect it to the battery, start bike and measure the voltage output at idle. should not be less than 13.5. rev the bike up to 5500 and see what happens. voltage should raise to at least 14.4 and no more than 14.8. if that is fine, ride the bike half an hour or charge battery till its full. measure voltage, should be between 12.8 and 13.5. if less than 12.8 it could be a defective battery. wait 5 hours and measure again. if voltage drops below 12 volts, replace battery. I assume you measuring/charging/testing at an ambient tempretaure above 60 F. if its less than 40 F the values I told you may be incorrect.

if all that does not help, get the dealer to check clutch switch and remap the bike and do an initial idle run. also check sidestand switch, even if this is sure not the reason for the described problem with the clock.

good luck
steve

Under warranty?.......Don't mess with it on your own or you could be opening the door to the dealership saying you caused the problem and therefore not covered under warranty. Use this warranty benefit while you can.

Bike is now running fine. Couldn't get the bike to replicate the stalling.

As for the clock, I didn't bother resetting it last night. I wanted to see if it would lose more time. It did not. Still exactly 2 hours slow. I reset it this morning and will check it when I get home and again tomorrow morning.

I purposely don't set the clock on my KTM. If I'm on the KTM, I don't want to know.

Interesting that just a few hours after mentioning that mine stalls sometimes when it's cold, I stall the thing at the first stop sign leaving my house this afternoon.

Sometimes I have more issues trying to ride nice and slow than I do riding a bit faster. Wet roads were my excuse for going too slow and stalling it today.

My buddies new 250 KTM ( 2 stroke) died the same way. I told him "just ride it, the piston is tight in the cylinder". That was in 2007. the bike is still being ridden,..... on the same piston and rings.

this is a completely different issue and has nothing to do with the described problems, which have nothing to do with the fact that the bike hasnt been broken in yet...

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Also a word of note on the clock on the KTM. They have been known to have strange parasitic drain on the battery, some discharging the battery enough that in a 2 week period , she won't turn the starter. IT is out there., some have it , some don't. Many seek for the answer, most have no clue. As for your battery, if it was trouble at the terminal or a bad cell, your bike wouldn't re-start so easily, once a cell is shorted, the 12Volts needed to turn the starter, are no longer there. AND since yours is fuel injected, I guarantee that it wouldn't run on less than 12 volts.