[Motophotog]

So got a 625 SMC, love the bike more than any other bike I've ever owned... But the other day I lost the tail bulb, the brake marker, and I bought a replacement. It wasnt the 1157 bulb like everyone here stated. Its the 7506 bulb. Perhaps the 1157 is the running tail light bulbs. At any rate, replaced it twice in a day, found out that the actual plug itsself is bad. Ok, no big deal. Order one, no riding for a week or so.

Go to a charity event later in the day on the local race track, since its only 30 bucks to ride for roughly 4 hours in the evening. Get about an hour and 15 min of riding in, and look down to white smoke coming out of the engine. Further inspection and i saw I was slowely dripping out out of the front of the motor, where the cylinder sleeve, and the lower part of the motor meet. Sorry for not being more specific, but theres a metal gasket there, and thats where its ever so slowely leaking. We're talking 1 drop every minute.

So i end my day, ride home, hoping not to have a cop behind me in my short 8 mile ride home... and by the time im 1 mile away from home, i come to a stop, its REALLY smoking now..... because of oil hitting the header and burning off.... All in all i lost only .1qt, it was still almost at the full marker, Im writing because im venting frustration at getting a nice, and kinda rare bike, I waited til the summer to purchase and now it takes a sh*t on me. AHHHHHHHHHHHHhhh :rant:

Anyway, im going to wipe eveyrthing down. Restart the bike (since it only leaks when the motor is pressurized), and see for sure that that is the only place its leaking. After which i'm going to find the torque specs on the 4 or so bolts that connect the cylinder to the rest of the motor, and we'll hope for the best. If not, looks like a large tear down of the gas tank, carb/head, sleeve, among other things.

All i hope, is that I dont loose much riding time!!!!! I live in seattle for gods sakes!


Anyone else run into this issue????

 

[DaviMac424]

Welcome to KTM ownership. It's a bike you hate to love.

 

[Murakami]

the 1157 is a two filament bulb that a lot of us use as a combo tail/brake light after turning the two smaller bulbs in the taillight into blinkers and removing the blinkers and plate assembly.

anyway, hope the gasket leak turns out to be a quick fix. keep us posted.

 

[justin80]

Right, you only use the 1157 bulb if you have done the turn signal mod. You cant use an 1157 until you change the socket. On adv rider there is a write up about oil leaking from the top right header flange bolt. It is the only bolt where the threads go into the cylinder head where the oil is at. Over time a leak can develop there.

 

[Carl_Mega]

There was some discussion of leaky base-gasket on ktmTalk a while back. Some people had numerous issues with the 05s leaking there. People talked about rider/mechanic causes such as overfilling, etc. Fix is to get a new gasket and replace.

Frankly, it sounds like a time consuming job.

 

[Drew]

Frankly, it sounds like a time consuming job.

And money! Don't forget money!

 

[JohnSBA]

The tail light socket on the KTM 625 SMC is total crap. It has a very weak design that is prone to break. I've got through 2 of them already. The metal on the inside of the socket has a very thin and narrow section that just snaps. use the lightest weight bulb you can find. Don't stick a heavier LED bulb in there.

 

[scottiedawg66]

My bike was kinda oozing or seepnig oil from some of the gasketed areas. I just went thgough the motor with a tq wrench where I could get it, or a ratchet and tightened everything down. In my opinion its not worth tearing my whole motor apart for a small leak. Just one of the things I check when I do oil changes now. But the SMC makes it SO worth it...nothing like throwing some 110 low lead in the tank and spanking 610s and berg 650s around the road course.

 

[Motophotog]

Thanks for the replies guys... well when it happened, I WAS at a trackday. The bike has only 3k miles on it. I run Motorex full synthetic and all that... But I want to say, the combo of me running at the larger track (beating the pizz out of it) and having full if not... .1 qt. over full, just created too much pressure. Because yes, you can almost see the gasket petruding out of the front of the bike.

If it was 1 drop every mile, I'd probably leave it. But it went from 1 drop every 5 minutes, to 8 miles later, a very decent drip that made me look like an idiot at stop lights, with burnt oil white smoke, coming up in my face at a stoplight before my house. :clap:

I'm tearing the bike down now... we'll see how it goes.

 

[sunofnun]

hey darren,

hit me up on MSN... I want to know exactly where the seal blew..

do you have any pics?

 

[Motophotog]

My bike was kinda oozing or seepnig oil from some of the gasketed areas. I just went thgough the motor with a tq wrench where I could get it, or a ratchet and tightened everything down. In my opinion its not worth tearing my whole motor apart for a small leak. Just one of the things I check when I do oil changes now. But the SMC makes it SO worth it...nothing like throwing some 110 low lead in the tank and spanking 610s and berg 650s around the road course.

Scott, it wasnt a matter of wanting too. It went from 1 day not leaking at all..... then i smell the burning oil of the 1 drip every 10 minutes to....... 1 hour later I'm dropping like 10 drops at each of the 2 stop lights before I got home. Good thing i lost next to NO oil.

The bike is totally torn down, everything is good to go now. I simply needed a base gasket! It was definitely just a gasket, the stock number has been replaced to a better gasket. We're just waiting on parts at this point.

 

[eSONG]

good thing these singles are easy to work on. gl with the repairs!