ADV 950 - losing coolant
 

Hi folks,
My Adv 950 seems to be getting through coolant at an alarming rate! A fellow owner I meet at the HU meet week before last mentioned a recall he'd had to deal with this. According to KTM though I have no recalls outstanding. Anyone else had any experience with this?

(Great to meet you all at Lumb Farm! - except whoever brought that yappy dog and child - what were you thinking!?)

3 possibilities to start with:

The not so bad:

Crud round the rad cap - easy fix.

Air lock in your cooling system - raise the front end of the bike 18in and bleed the system from the screw just below the water pump.

The bad:

Losing coolant into your oil through a worn water pump seal. Lie your bike on it's side, remove the oil filter cover and take the filter out. It will be obvious if it the filter has been contaminated because the paper elements will be soggy and warped.

To be honest the fix is not that bad, costs about £35 in parts (new seal, shaft, bearings and clutch cover gasket), and takes a couple of hours. You will need to drop the oil and coolant though. KTM has produced a new seal which apparently wears more slowly.

For more about the 950 Adv than you will ever want to know, go here:

http://www.advrider.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=34

The recall you're referring to is probably relating to the cylinder head bolts. On early bikes a washer should have been added under the nut and re-torqued.
Having said that the water pump is probably the first thing to look at, especially if the bike's got a few miles on it.
A good source of information on the KTM is here:

Orange Crush - ADVrider

Take whatever you read on there with a large pinch of salt, but there are a few riders on there who know what they're talking about.

Mine was one of the first 950's, and pre-recall I started to loose coolant, it was the head gasket, allowing the water into the cylinder, where it escaped through the exhaust , but after a few days, the head gasket disintegrated more, and the water entered to the oil system (oil lever increased !!), this was not the water pump seal. I must stress it was one of the first 950's and before any mods or recalls except the clutch basket which was done a few days after I first got the bike. I understand that there may still be issues with the water-pump seal, but if your bike has had all the engine recalls performed, or is post 2005, it's less likely to be head gasket.
My bike had the head bolt mod after the gasket went, and the gasket went again 1500 miles later - KTM everntually fitted a brand new (2005) engine under warranty.

Bill