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701 sm

Dude! Props for tearing it down and looking for a culprit!

If I have learned anything from this thread, it is that the 701 sm kicks ass, but it’s not the bike to try to squeeze hp out of.

Open the air box, get a slip on, maybe a fueling dongle and just rip it!

3 people have tried to buy mine in the past 3 months. It’s not going anywhere!
 
Woody146 said:
Dude! Props for tearing it down and looking for a culprit!

If I have learned anything from this thread, it is that the 701 sm kicks ass, but it’s not the bike to try to squeeze hp out of.

Open the air box, get a slip on, maybe a fueling dongle and just rip it!

3 people have tried to buy mine in the past 3 months. It’s not going anywhere!
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Send those 3 my way :laughing
 
K got some PT stuff coming. Starting to think this is all a bit overkill lol, but there has to be a reason this is happening to these motors. Probably peel the mls gasket apart too, wonder if they can fail mid layer.
 
So got around to PTing the head deck and the cylinder sleeve/engine deck.
TLDR didn't find any relevant indications

What should have probably been an hour job turned into a few, as I wound up PTing the engine side 3 times and the head twice. Why so many times? Well the engine block I still had the piston at TDC trying to save some time on the reassembly and that penetrant just sits between the top ring and the top of the deck. Put that developer down and it just pulls too much penetrant back out. Don't think it would have kept me from finding any significant defects as I was watching the entire time, but I was already here and my hands dirty (kidding i wear gloves) so decided to do it until I was happy with the test. Put the piston down in the hole a bit and test again. Those machined edges really hold that penetrant too and quickly saturate the developer as well, which bothered me with the second test, so 3rd times the charm.

Anyways, didn't find anything relevant and I think I tested it enough times to be sure of myself. I want to say this is a good thing because it means my parts aren't cracked, but it's also bad because that pretty much means i still have no clue as to why my bike was pushing coolant. Still haven't pulled the head gasket apart which I plan on doing and i still haven't checked the cylinder sleeve/engine deck for flatness so there's still those possibilities but i'm not thinking i'll find anything. Obviously will report back if I do.

105mm is the bore which works out to 4.13" or so. Pretty dang big for 4 head bolts imo. Not sure if that's the actual issue but if my head gasket investigation doesn't turn anything up I have no other idea what it could be.

Two developed pictures of head are initial application of developer and 10 mins after
Cylinder/engine block is initial application, forgot to take picture 10 mins after

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6yId4TL.jpg

0yHfWKv.jpg
 
Peeled apart the MLS gasket , it is 3 pieces in total but I am only showing 2. The white portion in the photo is the middle of the gasket and the black portion is the cylinder (bottom) portion of the gasket. The sides you are seeing were touching one another. If you take a look at the black gasket you'll see a section of coating removed that looks like it got torched a bit. Don't know if that's the culprit but it's all I found that raised an eyebrow. Engine is mostly back together, I really didn't find anything that jumped out at me, my next update will be if the issue has been resolved. Hopefully it's my last update.

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To close out this chapter
After reassembly and a spirited 30 min ride, my shoe stayed completely dry and I'm pretty sure the issue has been resolved. Faulty head gasket it seems was the culprit. Still not sure how it all happened, but I think I'm going to go to a higher than 93 octane fuel for any future track days, may even go leaded depending on the cost difference here locally.

I also emptied out the hydraulic cam chain tensioner while I was in there and went to a 10w60 weight oil from the oem recommended 15w50. Was hoping it'd be noticably quieter, but I also loosened up the valve lash so I think it's louder now : laughing. Been a few months though so obviously just my best guess. One of those things most probably don't have to worry about, but track days in 100f weather the thing makes all kinds of racket so I'm hoping the thicker oil helps with that.

Thanks for taking the journey with me guys, hope you all have better luck with your bikes than I have had.
 
Leaded gas in a fuel injected bike is a no no to my knowledge, the lead fucks with the sensors.
 
never heard of that
if you're talking about the o2 sensor i'm not running one
there's no other sensor on this bike that the fuel comes in contact with afaik other than the fuel level sensor
 
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yes I believe its the O2 sensor that doesn't play nice with lead.
 
What a PITA, maybe I don’t want another 690.
These things have been around long enough they should be bulletproof by now. Bet they still have crappy gearboxes that miss the 5-6 upshift.
 
Haha if I was gonna sell it it would have been before I did all the work. Wouldn't even have been noticable on the trade in.

I will say the bike is over priced and too heavy. But I've always said that.
 
Ktm almost got it right with that bike. There’s a lot of small issues though that they could easily have fixed if they give a shit.
I’d buy it as a backroad bike so the weight wouldn’t be an issue. I actually preferred my old 690E for woods roads over my WR250 because of the extra weight smoothening out the bumps. But off-road you’re standing a lot. Don’t know how long I could last sitting down on one street riding, probably not long I bet.
 
Blankpage said:
Ktm almost got it right with that bike. There’s a lot of small issues though that they could easily have fixed if they give a shit.
I’d buy it as a backroad bike so the weight wouldn’t be an issue. I actually preferred my old 690E for woods roads over my WR250 because of the extra weight smoothening out the bumps. But off-road you’re standing a lot. Don’t know how long I could last sitting down on one street riding, probably not long I bet.
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Bar risers with dampers in em and a seat concepts and you're good for hours me thinks

Too heavy for slow stuff you're right.
 
Ktm created a problem though for the SMC with the 890R. SMC is a sexy beast but if I had to throw money at one or the other I’d likely go for the slightly bigger machine.
 
Blankpage said:
Ktm created a problem though for the SMC with the 890R. SMC is a sexy beast but if I had to throw money at one or the other I’d likely go for the slightly bigger machine.
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Different purpose bikes I think. You can hoon around and ride up and down stairs and do jumps and what not on a 690/701, but probably wouldn't be doing that kind of stuff on an 890(assuming you are comparing it to the Duke).
 
Guoseph said:
Different purpose bikes I think. You can hoon around and ride up and down stairs and do jumps and what not on a 690/701, but probably wouldn't be doing that kind of stuff on an 890(assuming you are comparing it to the Duke).
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I’d get a 690 Enduro if I was planning to ride like that
 
Guoseph said:
Different purpose bikes I think. You can hoon around and ride up and down stairs and do jumps and what not on a 690/701, but probably wouldn't be doing that kind of stuff on an 890(assuming you are comparing it to the Duke).
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Sure you can go up and down stairs but it's still too heavy for any jumps imo. I know you can find videos of it but you can find videos of people jumping their sports bikes too. Closer that than the 890 you're right but I wouldn't wanna do that stuff on either bike. I'm a mediocre rider though so take it with a grain of salt
 
JesasaurusRex said:
Sure you can go up and down stairs but it's still too heavy for any jumps imo. I know you can find videos of it but you can find videos of people jumping their sports bikes too. Closer that than the 890 you're right but I wouldn't wanna do that stuff on either bike. I'm a mediocre rider though so take it with a grain of salt
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I'm pretty mediocre too but I can pretty much ride my 701 enduro where I ride my smaller dirt bikes, just not as aggressively and it's a lot harder to pick up. With the SM wheels on the 701 feels like a more planted version of my 501 with SM wheels. I think it's more the suspension travel and ground clearance that gives the SM more hooligan options (if you were so inclined) compared to an 890 but as a normal street bike I think the 890 is probably a better choice.
 
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