4 Stroke '08 530 under 400 miles broken intake vavle

We have been taking care of this 08 KTM 530 exc-r for a customer of ours. He is very hard on the equipment. At under 300 miles he crashed the bike on the street whiskey drunk at 80mph. I put the bike back together and when his 26 fractures in his pelvis healed up he began thrashing it again. He called in a couple days ago and said the 530 "seized up." At first I'm thinking ohh shiz, did we put oil in at the last service??:smirk: But I knew we did. After getting the engine out and looking in the intake port the face of the left intake valve broke off and is stuck in the top of the combustion chamber against the piston.:shocked: Has this been an issue with any of the other engines of this family? I'm thinking that it's customer abuse. I don't really care, it's all money to me, but it's sad to see such a nice bike getting so thrashed. But one thing is for sure, I'm sure glad the oil still looked like new in there!!
 
I would think you would make the time to find out the problems CAUSE, but its your customer and your time. i would rather fix it and know its fixed and not gonna happen again.
 
I would think you would make the time to find out the problems CAUSE, but its your customer and your time. i would rather fix it and know its fixed and not gonna happen again.

Thanks Mike. Here's the cause...the face of the valve broke off the steam, no need to look any further. It's just time to fix it now. Thank you for your input.
 
Cause? It's just about got to be a hidden flaw in the metal. I just don't see how the riding style could do something like that. Now if the CDI was changed to one with no rev limiter then that is different.
 
you know what broke, but not the reason why it broke. You asked the question if it has been a problem, but you stop short of getting an answer. Oh well.:banghead:

The reason?????? May have been just a bad valve from the get go. I think the throttle was pinned for a minute after his big crash. Even though the stock CDI has a rev limiter it does the engine no good to bounce off it and does harm to the valves. Don't smash your head at me either. I'm not an idiot and I won't be talked to like one. I remember you from TT, always a ball buster, I have no time for it.
 
you must have me mistaken with someone else, I just try to help. Dont name call either, it isnt deserved in this case. You say it may have been this and I think it was that. Ok, good enuf for you, good enuf for me. Its not my bike, my customer or my reputation. Fine with me.
 
you must have me mistaken with someone else, I just try to help. Dont name call either, it isnt deserved in this case. You say it may have been this and I think it was that. Ok, good enuf for you, good enuf for me. Its not my bike, my customer or my reputation. Fine with me.

My thoughts exactly. :moon:
 
Most notable issue with that motor that year was oil wandering past seals from engine to tranny

I can see if rider was over abusive to the bike or a crash causing over rev to tag a valve most likely the prob

I have the same year and model 530, 4000 miles, no problems
 
Most notable issue with that motor that year was oil wandering past seals from engine to tranny

I can see if rider was over abusive to the bike or a crash causing over rev to tag a valve most likely the prob

I have the same year and model 530, 4000 miles, no problems
I know the seals have been an issue there but this is unrealted. Thank you for your input. How do you like your bike?
 
mark...you have mike confused with someone else on TT...he is always polite and helpful. been great to me and everyone i saw on that site.
back to topic...i ride the same bike, and i follow a number of threads and site on that year make and model...i have over 2000 miles on mine and it runs great...burns or transfers a bit of oil but no top end issues at all....i have never read about any regular nalve issues at all....opposite actually....they have a great valve rep and stay adjusted better than most bikes out there.
my guess would be either valve float some how and interference...or a defective valve.
if this guy is as hard on things as you say, it is possible he had something loose, and it went thru the carb and stuck in the valve seat causing interference which broke the valve head off....i had that happen on a bug motor years ago when i was ...young dumb and full of cum:smirk:
may not be able to figure out the reason with all of the damage...you could try looking at the valve under a microscope to see if there was a fracture prior to it failure.
not life or death either way....
 
Top