Metal in my oil!

Well, some of you have kept up with the other threads I have posted related to the difficulties I've been having with my new SDR. So far, it has been an extreme test of patience. Over the weekend it got a lot worse I'm afraid.

A little history of my luck regarding this bike for those who haven't kept up.

1. 1st ride......found out the rear wheel hub and the spokes are out of center with the rim. Bike was down for 13 days. KTM North America won't replace the wheel.

2. 2nd ride.....got stranded on my first weekend ride 50 miles from home. Failed connector on the rectifier ground cable. Fixed by KTM. Bike was down for 1 week.

3. 3rd ride.....the clutch goes away on me 100 miles from home in the mountains and the bike is pretty much stuck in gear. Had to nurse it home. Fixed by KTM (kinda). Bike was down for 1 week. A new Master cylinder was installed for the clutch but now the action on the clutch is not right at all. All of the mash-up occurs in the last inch of travel of the lever. Fanning the clutch is near impossible to do accurately. Combine that with the hair trigger fueling at low RPM and the bike is very, very difficult to operate smoothly at slow speeds.

I picked up the bike for the 3rd issue on Friday of this week. The shop I had the bike at was kind enough to leave my bike out in the pollen and drizzle. The bike was filthy. I keep my bikes spotless. I wasn't going to get irritated. I'd just wash it. When I did, I found that the steering damper is loose and about to fall off of the bike. Just lovely. Another thing I'll have to worry about causing my death.

The bike was due for it's first oil change so after washing it I pulled out the manual and went over the instructions again. Piece of cake!

Well, I removed both fairings and dropped to the floor on my back to locate the bottom drain plug. This is what I found........



Nice! It appears the the bike was run into a curb on the track while at the dealer press release at Lauguna Seca and sold to me as such! It's a huge dent that's about 1/3" to 1/2" deep. The severity is masked by the flash on the camera. Likewise, the scrapes are much brighter giving them the appearance that they are new. They are not. The underside of the left gear shift lever, the left foot peg and the kickstand are scraped as well at about the same angle this pipe got nailed. What's funny is there isn't a scratch on the chin cowling. How can that be?

After getting pissed about the header I stopped work on chaninging the oil. I was too livid to continue working on the bike. It was better for me to leave it alone at the time.

So, yesterday afternoon after the storms passed out here, I opened up the door to the garage and decided to finish changing the oil. With all of the other problems I've had with this bike, the thought did cross my mind while pulling the first drain plug, "It would suck if there's metal in the oil. That would be my luck!" Well, there is. And lots of it. I am beyond irritated. Furious would be a better word.

I am sick and tired of ferrying this bike to the shop. In the 5 weeks I have had possesion of the bike I have ridden it 280 miles. The rest of the time it has been down and in the shop. Now, I've got to deal with a bike that has had shards of metal pouring through the engine.

hit a curb?

seems more like a left-side low side that ground through or broke the engine cover. replace the cover, replace the spoiler, tell the buyer it hit a curb to explain the scratched peg and viola...another SDR sold.

bad news

Hang in there. I had a rocky start with my SD also, altho not the troubles you've had. The rear wheel would be a pisser, if it is actually out of center. I'd have someone elce look at your hydro clutch. That's not right.

The header scrape..... did you buy your bike brand new or was it a demo? If it was a demo, that just happens. Header pipes tend to get scraped.

Metal in the engine: There's a reason that ALL mfgs want you to change the oil the first time early. Personally, I'm glad KTM is thoro enough to put magnets on the drainplugs and screens in. Give em a pass on that. If it shows up again in the 3rd or 4th oil change, I'd get concerned.

You need to find a better shop. I'll betcha there is someone here that knows how to get that clutch to work properly. Don't give up. If you do, sell it to me cheap, I'd be glad to have it!

yeah i have the same feelings about the oil. id be concerned if there was more metal in the future but not nesassarily at this point. i changed mine when new and had shards initally too, but its been fine since.

The SD has a lot of fine metal in the filter and on the magnet first change but there shouldn't be any bits like yours....

As above, time to get a refund and take the $ to a good dealer....or get them to replace the bike.

This is shocking and I hope you don't blame the SD, this bike has obviously been abused before you got it.

I see that you are in the US and can I guess that you are in California based on the Laguna reference? We have very strict lemon laws in Calfornia and the US as a whole. Look it up. Something like 3 major issues in a fixed amount of time or miles means that they take it back and pay you.
I am no lawyer but I suggest that you do a bit of surfing to figure out where you stand in regards to lemon law.
In a nutshell, they need to take the fooking bike back from you. You can find another new one easy still. Maybe not an "R" model but a SD none the less.

My understanding is that KTM don't chamfer the teeth on their gears like other manufactures. This leads to swarf in the early miles of an engine. I could be wrong about this though on the LC8 as it might be just their dirt bikes

[/quote]
The screen under the clutch pack was spotless. No metal at all. Does that help in determining where these pieces might have come from? I don't know the oil path in this bike. It is a bit different from the outside with all the screens and stuff. Anyone?[/quote]

This may help

Thanks Paul S.

So, if my oil filter is clean and the screen under the transmission is clean than means the scrap metal is finding it's way to the sump and being sucked up and filtered through the screen in the oil tank. So, based on that diagram, these pieces must not be from the transmission gears. That leaves me with all the parts in the cyclinders as well as the crank as possible culprits.

I was talking with a dealer down here in Southern California Saturday when I dropped off my bike for its 600 mile service, and he told me they've recently had to fix some of Scuderia's errors. I wont name names because im not trying to get the dealer involved, but apparently the bike in question wasnt getting oil pressure, or the oil pressure wasnt regular, etc. Anyhow - turned out the LC8 was missing the oil jets???? or something like that...and it had been worked on at Scuderia. The guy drove his bike all the way down to SoCal dealer to get worked on....

Just some insight. I dont want to slam Scuderia because everyone makes mistakes. I actually like that dealer....but then again i've never had anything serviced there.

here is a bigger version

It's possible your header scrape is from normal riding.
Mine is scraped on the opposite side, similar location.
I know it has never hit a curb. It happened on track last week.
I went over the entire bike a couple of times before I tracked it.
This mark was not there before. My left foot peg is missing a 1/4 inch off the end also. That, I do remember feeling.

For warranty work, ProMoto. Where's this other one you speak of? What's the name. I'm north of Atlanta.