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Ken S

KTM Ground wire issue

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Bike completely shut off today. Fortunately 1/4 mile uphill from the truck. 

2018 500

Ground wire from the battery to the frame smashed by the seat pan. 

I will be doing a double ground wire setup. 

If you have one of these bikes check it and fix it before you have this issue in a bad place. 

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Amazing it would cause it to shut down, it's not even severed. Thanks for sharing, more grounds sounds like a great idea.

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Took off the seat. Wiggled it and the fuel pump kicked on. 

I was surprised a partially severed ground killed everything. 

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Nice catch.  That coulda been tough to find.  Cool when the issue presents itself quickly!

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Wow. Shows how important a solid ground is. Thanks for the alert.

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Van had a loose ground wire on his 2017 when he got it. Easy fix once he found it but it was concerning when we were on the trail in New Mexico.

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Might have to double washer the ground lug and use a shorter bolt. The bolt may bottom out in the blind nut in the plastic fender . and yes got to swing the ground wire over so the seat plastic does not smash it .

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I noticed that other day on my 17 450, that the seat pan was smashing it. Will do the same as well thanks 

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      ??  I suggest the seat was stretching the terminal connection.  Unless you have a completely open ground.

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17 minutes ago, Bagstr said:

      ??  I suggest the seat was stretching the terminal connection.  Unless you have a completely open ground.

Heres a reply from the facebook post kenny shared seems light might make some sense.

"The ground wire is compromised, and the current tries to short through the paint in the frame, rather than follow down to the grounding point. This makes the DC circuit incomplete, and the ECU shuts off. It has to see 12+ volts on the plus and minus,  or it won't function."

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Good catch.  I have seen a lot of mystery electrical issues caused by poor grounds.

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we are in the digital age. those little power glitches/spikes/resistance/impedance changes etc can trigger all kinds of digital mayhem...at least in this case the machine doesn't fall from the sky.....

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Went out to the garage and pulled my seat a coupla minutes ago; same thing starting to appear!  Rerouted (hopefully this will keep from anymore chaffing).  Can't believe we are the only ones experiencing this and that KTM does not know about it!!

Thank you again for the heads up, Ken; you very well may have saved me and others from being stranded much farther from our trucks!

Ground wire 2.jpeg

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Ground wire.jpeg

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Yup- I've been keeping and eye on mine- it's in a difficult spot. I'd hoped to drip/tap a new spot, but it's hard to get a drill in one of the vertical parts of the subframe. Not to mention weakening the subframe....

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Can you roll yours up and over like I was able to, Paul?  It's hard to say but I think I've gotten it out of the way pretty good.  I like the idea of a double ground but don't know where I would go either.

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35 minutes ago, simicrintz said:

Can you roll yours up and over like I was able to, Paul? 

Not exactly- my bike is older (legacy, vastly superior, they don’t make ‘em like they used to) and has a different subframe. I’d have to move the ground to a very different spot. And since I’m lazy, no good, and will never amount to anything (I love you mom) it will likely not happen. 

Not soon, anyway. 

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Yes-2014; I remember the good ole days!  Got to stay out until the porch light came on.  I sure do miss those days......

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Crimped and soldered smaller terminals onto automobile type ground cable. 

Ill put the OEM ground strap on as well when it comes in. Probably overkill. I like overkill.  

I may run a 3rd ground to the starter. 

Plan on riding this bike for years and hate breakdowns. 

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I see you guys have a new spot where  they attach the ground to the frame.

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KTM riders - Check your ground straps! My bike died Friday. Just completed a 75 mile loop. It quit 2 miles from home. Bike just stopped running. It would start with the kicker and run for a few seconds then quit. It would not do anything with the electric start button. Pulled the seat and realized I had not yet fixed the crappy ground wire attachment setup that was provided by the brilliant Austrian engineers on my $10,000 motorcycle. The screw that attached the ground strap to the frame was really loose. My theory is, because it was hot, the screw, that was screwed into the hot soft plastic fender came loose. Pretty weak design. The one on the other side was loose too. Fixed it with a beefy sheet metal screw.

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Mr. Amgems,

May I suggest a threaded hole and machine screw.  That aluminum is soft.  Good item for periodic check.

Mr. Bagstr

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Mr. Bagstr,

I thought about drilling and tapping the hole and using a machine screw. I went with a sheet metal screw with the thinking that the coarse deeper threads would bite better into the thin soft aluminum better than the fine shallow threads on a machine screw. It did bite really well and I was able to snug it up nicely. Way better than the original screw into the plastic (sheesh how dumb). I will keep an eye on it, and the hole is small enough that I could go up a screw size or two if I do need to switch. I would also like to say, thank you for keeping this conversation properly formal.

Mr. Amgems

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During my recent bike refresh, I was able to relocate the grounding point by drilling and tapping a hole on the front side of the subframe crossbar. That accommodates the stock (modified- soldered and heat shrink) grounding strap and another ground for both a charging pigtail and accessory circuit. 

I reused the original location by approaching from the underside with a secondary ground wire that runs to the starter mounting bolt.
 

That leaves the crossbar completely clear for the seat to rest on. 

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