Strange engine noise and oil light flickering on idle

04 adventure with 55000km. I did an oil change 2000km ago, no problem until the other day in traffic I noticed this noise at idle with oil light flickering with the same rythem of the noise.

I thought oil level must be very low, no sign of oil loss under the engine or in the coolant as far as I could see in a gas station. Oil level was kinda low. So went to a close by BMW dealer and got some oil and topped it off. It took about half a litter to reach maximum.

The noise went away! So I rode where i was planning to go about 30km away and left it on idle again for a while and it was OK. I rode back, close to home, in traffic I hear the same noise.

Im thinking somehow oil does not reach some parts of the engine may be. The noise is similar to when cam chain tensioners are not doing their job but its louder. With the oil light flickering I am thinking some oil passages might be clogged? When I rev up the noise goes away and oil light goes off too. See the video.

Im going to grab a coffee and roll the katoom to the garage now, may not be able to ride the trails tomorrow

Any help is appreciated.

See the video:
https://seeker.smugmug.com/Motorcycles/public/Katoom-photo-share/17007873_mf62FT#-2133070026_5rmDWNq

Sorry correct link to the video is this:
https://seeker.smugmug.com/Motorcycles/public/Katoom-photo-share/17007873_mf62FT/2161897270_5rmDWNq

Should be 1400 rpm. What did your filter look like when you did the oil change?

It is at 1400

Filter looked fine, not wavy.

I'm having very similar issue with one of our 04' ADVs.

I even put in NEW Oil pressure regulator and cam chain tensioners. Same thing.

I get the same noises even though the OIL pressure light is OFF as you showed.

Once warmed up and underway, it goes away and the bike runs great.

I have a Clear Clutch cover on the bike, so I can see there is Plenty of oil in the sump and it is pumping oil at least that far.

Looks like another winter project for me.

I'd like to get ALL the OIL into the Engine Sump on start up. It will pump it out and back into the tank when running, then I'll know I don't have an oil starvation issue. With the Clear Cover I can keep an eye on my oil lever, like a sight glass.

So, I pulled the check valve spring out of the Tank pick-up line, but left the Check Ball in place. Figuring I can test it and put it back together. (I was about 2,000 miles from home when I did this test) It worked the first time. All the oil drained into the engine. Perfect.

Then I started the engine and ran it until the sump looked normal. Killed it and the oil did not return to the sump? I'm thinking maybe some sort of hydro lock is happening with the ball and seal still in. I ran it the rest of the 7,000 miles trip.

Now that I'm home, I will pull the rest of it out of the check valve soon and retest.

If this is the case and quiets the engine, Why are we having an oil starvation issue on the INTAKE side of things???

Interestinggggg... I get pleaaure fixing this bike just a bit leaa than riding it.

I dont have a clear clutch cover but the check valve could be the issue because the noise goes away sometimes even at idle. I let it idle for 5 min with no noise what so ever but on my way back home in slow traffic it came back. So Im guessing this is an oil starvation cause by a sporadically functioning check value or something.

Im going to pull the oil filter today just to be sure and then take a look at the valve under the oil tank. Is there anything else I can check while in there?

Btw, unlike cjracer's case, the issue persists even with hot engine. I took that video after I rode home. I had to keep the rev above at least 2.5k to prevnt the oil light from flickering.

I used to get the red light and noise quite a bit at idle. 06 950 now with 50k miles.

I switched to 10/60 oil and haven't seen the light since. Might be worth a try.

Well that could be it man. May be mixing up all the left over oils (motul, motorex various viscosities) in my last oil chnage was not good idea. Ill do an oil chnage and see what happens. Thx!

Hi,

I had three 9x0...it is a bloody fecking issue with these bikes

First my 950 ADV 04. One day it started out of the blue. Topped up oil and so on. No results. To cut the story short after few thousand kms the filter got completely blooked and the noise and light was constant. There were debris of metal into it. The fron cylinder was gone. Changed under warrenty. Bike went very well for a long time. But one day it did it again. And than once again. Just randomly. Why? I am not sure.
Anyway what I woukld suggest are the following:
Do full oil change. Change the oil filter and check the magnetic bold that is in the lower side of the oil tank. Check if is there any debris that might have cloth the filter (obstructed). Make also sure you run the bike with the reccomanded oil. Than if it stll does it...take it to a good garage.
On www.ktmtwins.com they reccomand highflow oil filter to sort this problem. I have never tried!

With the two following 990 I never had the light coming up but I had the rattle noise indeed! It is usually as soon as you start it. Sometimes yes...sometimes no. Why? Good knows.

The only thing I got to understand is that the rattle, eventually followed by the light, is due to a lack of oil passing throgh the system.

The causes can be various.

Start from the esier one: oil filter. Debris obstructing the filter. Oil pump.

Good luck.

Nic

Check oil pressure regulator valve. There are reports of a TSB or something about the need to change the valve piston due to premature wear.

Did you read from the beginning???

If not PLEASE do.

Yes, i did.

And based upon the following quote from the OP, the issue persists even after warming up the engine. Had a similar issue with my former 950, same noise, verified the relief valve, issue remained. Verified the oil pressure valve condition, piston was scored, replaced piston, no more rattling.

Is it the same? Dunno, sounds like but i'm not looking at the chaps bike, but we're here to share information and experiences..

Great, thanks for the update. So many only read so far and then post.

So what are your thoughts on a bike that has had these items replaces "NEW" and it still makes these sounds?



Thanks.

On Saturday night I found an oil leak around the connection under the oil tank. The one that has a little oil screen. The factory clamp was loss. I replaced it. There was oil in the skid plate but because there was sand accumulated there oil was mostly absorbed and I couldn't see it.

So I topped the oil to maximum, (I might have put a bit too much which is going to mess my front carb through the crank shaft vent), anyway the noise is gone.

I road 120km to the trails yesterday and rode hard all day, no noise at all, the light never came on.

So it was due to low oil level.

But its surprising because I only added about half a litter at most.

Just another data point:

I recently bought a 30k mile 04 950 and rode it back from SLC to Austin, TX. It had only 500 miles on the oil change using motorex 10w-50, when I left SLC. When started cold, it would do the typical rattle until the CCT built up pressure, then it sounded like any other LC8. Thing was, once that oil got warmed up well, it started rattling pretty bad, along with a flickering oil light. Not as bad as in the video, but enough that it made me quite uneasy, especially having to ride the bike thousands of miles home.

The light and sounds would pretty much always go away when revved to about 2500.. but I did get the feeling it was tied to oil temp. Cooler oil = less revs required to quiet things down. Sometimes the clutch would even be really grabby after a hot start.

I get the bike home, and install the updated pressure regulator assembly (not just the piston), and new cam chains because mine were only measuring ~4mm at the cover screw. Along with fresh oil, I haven't seen the oil pressure light once (when actually running), and the idle is MUCH quieter. The CCT plugs still measured less than 7mm so I'm going to get guides and install them at some point in the future..

For now my impression is that the issue is tied to oil temp.


One other interesting detail.. when I had the big clutch/timing cover off to pull the balance shaft, there was a very large aluminum shaving in the sump below the suction (flat) screen. The color of it suggests that it has been there a while (exact same darker aluminum color as the cast, unmachined parts of the engine case under the clutch cover). And I couldn't find any place under the clutch or stator cover it came from through scraping or contact. Besides, it looks just like an aluminum shaving from a machining process. It would seem this was left over from production and only got dislodged and flushed out when the engine started running.. between that and the frequency of casting sand being in the cooling ports makes me thing KTM wasn't that diligent about cleaning the engine cases before assembly.

Before I added more oil, I had to ride around the house to the garage so I started her up and a couple of times clutch was very graby (engine was very cold). Went away after I reved the engine a couple of times. Never happened again after adding oil.

Im using 10w40 by the way.

In my experience is not the level of oil...if you increase it the pressure will be higher because the system is full. However you won't need to trop it below normal to have the noise.
I suspect the problem if is not due to the filter is due to the valve as Gustavo is suggesting.
Still is a mystery.

Nic

High temperature=higher fluidity of the oil= easier to pass throw valve and filter
Higher rmp=more pressure=easier to pass throw valve and filter

So I suspect the failure is on these two systems.

Am I right? Did I get what you guys are suggesting?

Nic

Yeah, I left that part out.

Higher temp = lower viscosity ("thinner") oil, so it will flow more easily, meaning if the pressure relief valve isn't working correctly (the spring is too short.. haven't taken the old one apart yet to check) more oil volume will bypass the circuit (than if the oil was thick/cold). Keep in mind that at a given RPM the oil pump delivers a constant rate of flow, and that volume won't be changed by viscosity nearly as much as a leaking relief valve would. Raise the rpms, and therefore raise the flow of oil from the pump, and the oil leaking through the bypass valve becomes a lower percentage of the total supplied by the pump, so you now have enough left over volume to keep the pressure up (despite the volume "leaking" past the valve) to keep the light from flickering and keep the CCTs pressurized.

That said, in this system, the light shutting off at 2300 doesn't mean the bearings/piston squirters/cams/etc are still getting the oil pressure (& therefore volume) that they were designed for at a given RPM.

For me, the $60 to buy the upgraded oil pressure relief valve was a total no-brainer. Thing is, as in CJ's case, it doesn't always help. For me, and many other people with this issue, it did.

How much oil did you add, out of curiosity?