KTM 990 erratic idle

Basics: 2007 KTM 990 Adventure EFI, 10,000 miles, Akro's, pre-filter.

Bike has run flawless until last week, and the issues are sparatic:

Crank bike, 2500 RPM's, after a minute or 2 it'll drop back to 1250 and idle perfect. Or crank it and get a perfect idle.

Riding down the road and pull the clutch in, bike will idle around 3000, may settle down to 2000 or so, may not.

Stop at traffic light, bike has a really fast idle 2000 to 3000. Hit kill switch, recrank bike and it's a perfect 1250 again.

????????????????

Mines the opposite. Erratic idle the it dies. Ride on the highway and pull in the clutch to shift gears and it dies. Start it back up and it idles fine. Ride it pull in the clutch and it dies. All of a sudden it stops and runs great. i have it in the shop and they say it's the rectifier not charging the battery fully.:huh I'll let you know if it's fixed. It should be done today after two weeks of them working on it.

I remember ready someone's post about a bike about a year old and had idle issues and it was the battery. I could not find that post and do not even remember if it's the KTM or not.

Mine runs great, just idling weird all of the sudden. I would "ASSUME" that a vacuum leak is a vacuum leak, the weirdness should be constant. Nothing a flip of the kill and start button should effect. I am thinking the battery possibly and the bike is sensing the battery dying. I am going to trickle charge it and see if there is any difference.

Dealer (and maybe the manual) told my dad to never use the kill switch as it screws with the computer. Leave the kill switch on and use the key only. Sounded weird to me but they were adamant about it. Probably totally unrelated to your issue but I thought I'd toss it out there.

I'm having the same issue, I was in today and the mechs couldn't find any fault codes and couldn't reproduce the stall (of course, even though I literally stalled pulling up to the garage door.). I've got FMF pipes with the stock EFI map, so I'm thinking try a new map??? Seems to happen about half the time I pull in the clutch and chop the throttle (like, coming to a stop). Does this sound reasonable to you gurus?

checked the throttle cables for binding ?

battery charge level good ?

airfilter seated properly ?

Thats it. Mine did the same thing. Stalled the whole way there then ran great. Thgey got it to do it on the bench but there are no codes. First they told me they had to do a full service because they said the valves could make it stall.:eek1 Then they said it was my xm radio, autocom, and anything else I had wired into the acc harness.:eek1 Now it's that the charging system is not charging at a high enough voltage. Hopefully thats it. Just curious though. Does yours do it more when it's really hot out or all the time?

It seems to be pretty random, I can't predict when it's gonna stall. Sometimes it's fine, but I've also had the engine die at 60 mph :eek1 after a quick brake for a deer or something. Not good. Over the 5000 miles trip hom (sweet... ) my riding has a adapted to it so I keep a touch of right hand on the throttle when stopping, but sometimes it's the fast stops or really slow speed manuvers where I stall.

It usually idles fine when I fire the bike up, the problem seems to develop down the road a ways, but it doesn't seem related to outside temp.

Another note for you: I have zero electronic gadgets sucking power. There's one BMW style outlet, but nothing plugged into it.

New airfilter with about 750 miles on it, clean as a whistle and seated.
Pre-filter checked, spotless.

Put the battery on the trickle charger last night. It charged heavy for about 5 minutes then switched over to trickle.

Bike ran like a champ this morning! I am guessing battery issues starting. Maybe a cell dying. I am going to put a new battery in it and check all connections when I do.

Then you have something to look foward to. Mine did it once or twice and pretty random. Then it started doing it more and more till it was every ride. I wouldn't know when it would start but once it started it would not stop until the bike sat for awhile. I am really really hoping that they did fix it but it just doesn't seem like the rectifier would cause it to stall at random, it seems like it would be all the time if the bike was not charging and I would have starting problems. I'll let you know how it goes when I pick it up today.

costamarques had what sounds like virtually the same problem a while ago with his 990 ADV. He reported that it was a bad battery. When he replaced it the high idle problem disappeared.
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=318406

Mine did the exact same thing...got worse and more frequent over a couple of months.

Then I adjusted the clutch lever out a little (longer reach to the lever). It has idled perfectly ever since. Just turn that little red knob a turn or two. I bet you will be happy. There is a switch there that tells the ECU that the clutch is dissengaged. It keeps the rpms up around 1400. On my bike it seems to take a full, long pull of the lever to push the little plunger in on the switch. And don't leave any fingers in between the lever and the grip. It would be a problem for some one with small hands, but it works for me. CPmodem suggested it...thanks.

I am so happy now. That was the one problem with my bike. Since I did that, it has been perfect for 120 miles or so of stop and go commute traffic.

I'll try that! It'd be great if it were a small problem so easily (and cheaply) fixed! Thanks for the tip.

Oxygen sensors ? along with the clutch lever, have issues with both if you have the plugs that come with the power comander use them no more hunting idle speed during elevation or tempertature changes worked for me

I had similar issues with my new 990 right off the showroom floor. Also, when I would start mine and let it idle it would after a minute or two it would just die.

I also had the stalling at stops.

After a few weeks, I started having intermittent starting issues too.

My bike had sat on the showroom floor for a full year before I bought it and a salesman confided in me that the battery had gone totally dead twice. I made them install a new battery and suddenly no issues at all.

Well the rctifier didn't fix it. It seems to do it more when it's hot out. Once it cooled down today it never did it. Back to the shop it goes for round two.

Frog -

I have a similar issue with my new 08 990 ADV (80 miles on it). I went into the shop and the mechanic found a pinched hose that is for emmisions vapor but I havent ridden enough to prove or disprove his theroy. No fault codes came up when he checked my bike so like you just guessing at the issue. The only MOD I have is heated grips added.

I am going for a long ride tomorrow so I will let you know if it fixed it.

Bodi

Well your problems also sound very similar to mine! I have taken it to KTM a few times but nothing, I have also taken it to a friend of mines shop and he went through it with a fine tooth comb and still nothing which leaves him to believe it is definetly an electrical fault maybe ecu as it feels like the engine is being starved of fuel but all connections are fine, so maybe ecu.

I will be writing to KTM about this as the more people tell them directly about these issues the better.

Here is my thread with my symptoms

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=365313

mine was doing the very same thing. the throttle body clamps FELL off and it was sucking air around the boots. lean condition stalls from speed and erratic idle.

got that fixed but at the same time they did the TSB ECU remap.

do not like the remap. deadn'd out the low end and a flat spot big time between 4,5-5,5k rpm. the idle issue has come back too.

not happy. gonna have the shop put the original "snatchy" map back in. it was way better all around.

Just my2 cents here, we have had many problems with new bikes and batteries. Luckily mine had to be replaced at delivery, no problems at all afterwards.

Try replacing the battery with a new one. Make sure its not only re-charged! and then post about it!


I will post some more after lurking...