950 not sounding good, oil lamp flickering

Magnetic is okay - that is probably just some left over from removing the buckets.

what if they are 8mm in diameter?

The old or new ones?

Oh yeah - I am the plump Aussie on a 990ADV

the only ones I found are 8mm or less, they tell me that these are the old ones. Now i do not care any more cause i just met a nice guy who has worked for KTM Mexico and he will supply me with the right ones...

Haha, you are funny! I remember. You were with someone else, with a sidecar? Or was it the one with the bicycle on the rear? : )
Where are you now?Where are you heading?

Yep the Side Car guys. We are in Phoenix now, we hung with the Two Moto Kiwis on and off for a bit, while they messed about getting their stuff sorted. We just spent a couple driving a car back from Mexico, I thought you were in Baja otherwise I would stopped past to have a look at it for you.

Find another dealer... I'm not certified or schooled as a mechanic and I got the job done right the first time I serviced an adventure.

Mistakes can happen but these seem to be to mutch and the diagnosing sounds like it's done by some local drunk. Doing valves should be easy for a professional.

Also, the gas in the carbs. Is it a mist of gas?

Yes, it is a mist of gas.
Yes, there are done quite unprofessional things and no, it is one of the best mechanics that KTM has in Mexico (that is what the director of KTM Mexico said), 12 years experience with KTM, but obviously just one-cylinders.
The boss told me that they did not have the part of the manual where it is shown better how to set the "lower time"?!
Now they are waiting for the nice guy who wants to send the manual tomorrow...
I only ask myself why the mechanic thinks he does not need to lock the engine when adjusting the valves. I even took off the skidplate for him to reach the screw. I am looking forward to tomorrow but do not expect anything anymore. The shims that were in the engine I measured a diameter of 8mm.btw. I have the possibilty to get original ones in two days, ask Harley D.tomorrow or just leave the ones he "adjusted"with sandpaper...

Thanks for the thought. Entered Mexico from Douglas, never been to Baja. Did you deliver a car from Mexico? Did not get that part. Is it not wintery in Phönix? Where are you heading?

Yeah drove a car back from Cancun for someone, it was nice couple of weeks, but I did miss the intimacy with the environment and population you have with a bike. Caught up with the TwoMotoKiwi's in La Manzilla.

Phoenix is not too bad, we had a play in some snow at the Grand Canyon over Christmas, it has been a little cool but not too bad.

I go back to Australia next week for about 6 weeks. I am still considering weather to go to Europe or do North America for Summer.

I have read somewhere that Harley Davidson uses similar shims. As they are in town I wonder if I can go wrong by taking their shims? As long as they are 10 mm in diameter...? Si o no?

ask for shims for a VROD

my harley dealer had all of them in stock, fit perfectly!

Yes, that is what we found out in the end. They had a lot in stock but would not give me the set...In the end the mechanic had already reassembled everything ( I walked to the dealer and could not resist to look at the BMW dealer who had a F800 for sale...) and said it was all fine...I testrode it and I think there was one interruption when I had to stop after some hundred meters, twice the engine died when on idle at a red light, even though the engine was warm. I do not think the idle was too low...Will check tomorrow morning. There is hope! : )

Mist is normal as far as i know.

A mechanic for 12 years but he can't do a v-twin? He needs another servicemanual then the normal one for setting the TDC correct on the crank?
What is this in the 2nd picture? It's Top dead center on the front cilinder, turn the crank 75 degrees and u got TDC on the other cilinder.
A real mechanic looks for these kind of marks and lines em up without a manual....

If he does not lock the engine he's a tool, it takes only a small bit to screw up the measurement if it's lose. Lock the crank in place and the measurement wil be spot on.
(if he set the marks on the cam's correctly that is....)

I'd redo all what he did. As a matter of fact i would not want him to touch any of my bikes again from the moment i saw the things u mentioned happen.
I don't want to be a know-it-all or d..khead about this matter but i HATE paying incompetent people and even more hearing from people that are in trouble on a trip and are stuck with someone incompetent.
I'm not paying for mechanics ever again, i try to do my own crap. I might be a worse wrencher then allot of the certified guys but i'm still allot better off then getting incompetent ones that give me the same bill as the skilled ones.

Last time i got my superduke serviced my battery connection came lose....on a damn trackday! Before that i rode it home after the first service to find my whole backwheel covered in brakeoil....the cap came lose.... When i called the dealer he told me they did not touch my rear break reservoir. Kinda weird since inspecting brakes was on the checklist....

Finally I could leave the concrete jungle of Mexico City, what a blessing! Bike is riding well again, only hesitating , especially when cold. Mechanic says he set the carbs for an average altitude of the trip to come and that this would make the gas/air-mix too thick right now. What I do not understand is, the average is actually about the altitude of Mexico City, if I consider the Andes and the sea level. I hope that he did not count that much with the extreme altitudes down there and that it will ride better as soon as I get towards the beaches of Oaxaca: ) You cannot believe how good it feels to be on the move and flexible again, especially after all the ups and downs (both mentally and baggage-wise). Good side is that I know the bike ways better now, many other things have been checked, cleaned, replaced...found a good mechanic in the end: Jorge at Altavista! He knows the 950s and he has ideas!!even built!! a new gas pump in his freetime. Turned out that I did not need it cause the failure was in the ignition lock, which he also fixed, por supuesto. But for the peace of mind I took a mechanic fuel pump from him, as a spare.
The fight with KTM was even successful in the end and some bills were completely covered, including a wolfman-gas-bottle-holder-set : ) If you ever need a KTM-dealer in Mexico, try to make it to Mexico City, to Altavista, NOT to Queretaro and Leon. The first-mentioned is a complete mess, the second might be good with mx, but not with 2 cylindres! And, if all fails: I have the numbers and mails to KTM Austria and Mexico ; ) You just have to be a pain in their asses, then sth.happens! (looooong story)

as I have mentioned above and feared the hesitations/stalling have rather become worse than better as I hit the coast,
Also, at several occasions I had to shake the key to get back life into the display. When the mechanic had opened the ignition lock, he cleaned and soldered the contacts. I wonder if that was maybe too much. The reason why we did this procedure was that the fuel pump did not always react when turning the key, only when holding it in a certain position (passed the actual ignition setting).The key has some play. What is possible to do in that case?

Asking the mec online he asks me to take out the spark plugs, take pics and send them to him, to see if they are not getting enough gas. Remember that he sat the carbs to get more gas...
Tomorrow I will check connections, cables and maybe follow his advise.

Any ideas?

Could it be you need to swap your key barell? They get worn after some 60k kms and need replacement.

I think so. But when I bypassed the ignition with a wire it ran well. Then we put a switch at that position and the shit started again. Maybe the switch was not big enough or not properly installed. I will try again tomorrow.
By the way after all the different things I did (soltered the rotation contacts again) the remaining problem is that it hesitates between 4500 and 6000 rpms...