950 Head gaskets
 

Anyone had a head gasket go on one of these yet ? well it seems I have as the bike is using a litre a day of coolent! no water in the oil so going into the cylinder which will account for the missfire on one cylinder.
It seems from KTM that this is not uncommon as mine is the 4th bike in the uk to suffer! Why? and what are they going to do about it? well it;s under warrenty for now so ok but what when it;s not !

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My head gasket has just gone as well 12k careful miles and fully serviced.Going to Morocco on it at the end of August as well......
7 weeks off the road since new...and counting.

Sorry to hear you guys are having problems. Take this with a grain of salt, as we do not seem to be having the cyl head issue here in the USofA with our lower sustained speeds.

From what I understand it is an interference issue, the cyl head, cyl head bolts, and hollow locating dowel tolerences are either incorrectly designed and/or manufactured so that the torque is is not enough to properly compress the head gasket. The fix seems to be some new parts and a higher torque value. (I have not read the KTM documentation on this myself, just gotten second hand info.) Cheers, Mack

Found the KTM technical information release at http://www.950riders.com/forums/cmps_index.php

seems it affects all 950's from 2003/4
My dealer appeared to know nothing of this.

Bill H, Guinea-pigs-R-us (founder member)

Hi guy's,Well after getting my 950 back from the dealer,they later told me that it was not the head gaskets that had gone but the water pump shaft that was leaking water into the engine,but did not contaminate the oil as the engine get's so hot that it boils the water away then condesates in the breather pipe,thus drops emulsified oil into the front carb causing a misfire!
There is some modified bolt for the head out now that will cure the head gasket problems but for the water pump shaft!?

Mine was head gasket gone - and piston rings, so, new barrels, pistons etc. Got bike back 3 days before holiday. 3 weeks later, limped out of Morocco with head gone again...I had european breakdown cover so Flew back to uk, and KTM UK are getting the bike back to the UK and fitting a 2005 new engine........

Iam amazed at the fact the piston rings and barrells have been changed,and now an engine change!
I would love to know why they had gone in the first place.
Good luck with the new motor.

Will post an answer about why it has had problems, should I ever find out. KTM UK still have my bike - they are too busy to fix it they tell be by letter.
Now over 16 weeks off the road since new - and still counting.

Bill - did I meet you by the side of the road near El Jadida? I was riding a 640 Adventure. Assuming its you how did the rest of your trip go? Sorry to hear about the bike.

Hi Dan, yes that was me, how did the 640 perform in the desert? did your oil leak get any worse?
I limped out of Morocco a few days later, stayed in the Hotel Suisse with bike secured in courtyard. Still waiting to get 950 back (have bought nx650 Honda to tide me over)

Oil leak didn't get any better and about an hour after us saying our goodbyes I stopped in the road and turned round. By then the engine was pretty wet with oil. So unfortunately that was the end of my trip - still had a good time as once back in Spain I toured around thinking that if it all does end by the side of the road at least the RAC are a friendly phonecall away!