KTM Superduke MTC Failure

[robinh73]

Afternoon all, as the weather was dry and sunny for a change, I thought I would take the bike for the first run of the year. The bike is a 2023 KTM Superduke which I bought new last September. It has done 1300 fault free miles but today out of the blue it came up with th engine management warning light, the yellow hazard triangle warning light and the message MTC Failure. I stopped the bike and restarted without any issues and rode home. The battery has been on an Oxford Optimate system over the winter. Any suggestions before I phone the dealer tomorrow? Cheers.

[trickywoo]

Ha. I did the same with mine and got preload failure message and I think STU as well, whatever that is.

It’s annoying but I think they all do it. I’m pretty sure it will be battery related. Even fully charged the battery will have been static for a long time and it’s still cold out.

If it gets more frequent it’s obviously more of an issue. I’m not sweating it at the moment.

MTC can be linked to the ‘exup’ valve which is easily removed and ‘coded out’ with a device from Healtech if it comes to it.

[robinh73]

trickywoo said:

Ha. I did the same with mine and got preload failure message and I think STU as well, whatever that is.

It’s annoying but I think they all do it. I’m pretty sure it will be battery related. Even fully charged the battery will have been static for a long time and it’s still cold out.

If it gets more frequent it’s obviously more of an issue. I’m not sweating it at the moment.

MTC can be linked to the ‘exup’ valve which is easily removed and ‘coded out’ with a device from Healtech if it comes to it.

It is a bit of a bugger though isn't it. Not what you expect on a brand new bike, but having googled it, it isn't uncommon. The battery was one thing that did come up which surprised me with mine being on trickle charge. Oh well, we will carry on and hope it clears.

[nomad63]

I feel your pain, OP.

I`ve had both the Gen 2, and then the Gen 3, which I bought a little stupidly, hoping that my Gen 2 had been a "Friday afternoon" bike.

Unfortunately that wasn`t the case, and the Gen 3 didn`t take long before giving the infamous "MTC failure" warning. A brand-new battery made no difference, and the warning, although seemingly gone after the replaced battery, returned again shortly after, with the bike going into limp-mode.

Paired with stupid sticking fuel cap nonsense, I was left with a feeling that I just couldn`t trust the bike on anything like a decent run, and got rid.

There will be no more KTM`s in my garage; brilliant bike to ride and enjoy, but the gremlins are just too much of a nuisance to put up with !

[Biker9090]

I've been doing fairly indepth research on the 1290 series before buying. Can't justify new as a toy but consensus seems to be they ALL have this error. Generally related to battery. My VFR on the other hand just flashes its ABS light in morse code and then settles down when charged....

[robinh73]

It is such a shame as I absolutely love the bike and had seen various posts on forums about such gremlins but had hoped that by 2023 they would have been ironed out. I tried the new Triumph Speed Triple RS but ruled it out as there were even more issues reported with that. Maybe I made the wrong choice. My 2017 Triumph Speed Triple R was an absolute blast, no issues and was a joy to ride. I am not giving up yet on the KTM but I hope there is some light at the end of the tunnel.

[GriffoDP]

Ah yes it's a bit sad to see this still happening! I've a 2021 GT and it was fairly regularly doing it until I got a new battery near the end of last year. Although I haven't done that many miles since, so far so clear. OEM battery FYI.

[anonymous-user]

You need to be able to read the code/diagnostic for what the error is. It can even be caused by the oil temperature sensor - which was common on the Gen 1s and 2s.

[podman]

robinh73 said:

It is such a shame as I absolutely love the bike and had seen various posts on forums about such gremlins but had hoped that by 2023 they would have been ironed out. I tried the new Triumph Speed Triple RS but ruled it out as there were even more issues reported with that. Maybe I made the wrong choice. My 2017 Triumph Speed Triple R was an absolute blast, no issues and was a joy to ride. I am not giving up yet on the KTM but I hope there is some light at the end of the tunnel.

Sorry to see you’ve had issues already with the bike, im sure it’ll be an easy and swift fix , BTW you did the right thing swerving on the Triumph, they are not built like the earlier models.

[robinh73]

podman said:

Sorry to see you’ve had issues already with the bike, im sure it’ll be an easy and swift fix , BTW you did the right thing swerving on the Triumph, they are not built like the earlier models.

I have spoken to my KTM dealer (who I know well and get on very well with) and they are going to hook the bike up to the diagnostic doodah.
As for the Triumph, I still had my 2017 Speed Triple R when I took the new 1200 RS out and I really did feel it wasn't necessarily a massive leap forward. The engine had lost a lot of the character of the 1050. It was muted in character whereas the 1050 really sounded almost Rolls Royce Merlin like. Such a shame.

[SteveKTMer]

Biker9090 said:

I've been doing fairly indepth research on the 1290 series before buying. Can't justify new as a toy but consensus seems to be they ALL have this error. Generally related to battery. My VFR on the other hand just flashes its ABS light in morse code and then settles down when charged....

Not all, mine hasn’t. It’s a common low battery issue, but not all bikes are affected as it’s the battery, not the bike. All depends how the battery has been stored and used.

You could argue that KTMs are too sensitive to battery condition, I think KTM ought to fit a better battery but it’s already one of the largest available.

They could make the charging system more effective too.

[robinh73]

SteveKTMer said:

Biker9090 said:

I've been doing fairly indepth research on the 1290 series before buying. Can't justify new as a toy but consensus seems to be they ALL have this error. Generally related to battery. My VFR on the other hand just flashes its ABS light in morse code and then settles down when charged....

Not all, mine hasn’t. It’s a common low battery issue, but not all bikes are affected as it’s the battery, not the bike. All depends how the battery has been stored and used.

You could argue that KTMs are too sensitive to battery condition, I think KTM ought to fit a better battery but it’s already one of the largest available.

They could make the charging system more effective too.

This is what I don't understand though, the bike is 6 months old, the battery has been on an Optimate system since November and it still has thrown up the error message.

[trickywoo]

It’s annoying but it’s also not a real fault in my experience of the same thing. Mine was fine yesterday.

I think it’s related to voltage regulation and a big v twin. These glitchy codes will nearly always be at start up of if the engine stumbles. They need full heat in them to run smoothly.

If you get faults in regular riding it’s a bigger issue but intermittent codes from time to time are part of KTM ownership.

[snagzie]

robinh73 said:

SteveKTMer said:

Biker9090 said:

I've been doing fairly indepth research on the 1290 series before buying. Can't justify new as a toy but consensus seems to be they ALL have this error. Generally related to battery. My VFR on the other hand just flashes its ABS light in morse code and then settles down when charged....

Not all, mine hasn’t. It’s a common low battery issue, but not all bikes are affected as it’s the battery, not the bike. All depends how the battery has been stored and used.

You could argue that KTMs are too sensitive to battery condition, I think KTM ought to fit a better battery but it’s already one of the largest available.

They could make the charging system more effective too.

This is what I don't understand though, the bike is 6 months old, the battery has been on an Optimate system since November and it still has thrown up the error message.

My 1290 SAS was bought new in June and havent had any issues at all. The bike has been on and off an optimate since nov too but I have ridden it during this time.

[robinh73]

Just at the KTM dealership as we speak and they have plugged it in. It is a slight voltage drop. On the way to the dealership, which is half an hour away, the warning lights went out. Most bizarre but at least it isn't anything major

[carinaman]

Thanks for the update. Those little problems can be annoying. I am glad it's sorted.

[Discendo Discimus]

I have the same on my 2017 GT, low battery is always the cause.

I think they're just over sensitive to voltage drop rather than there being an inherent issue. I now keep mine on an optimate with a brand new battery and it's golden.

I also got to experience full throttle in sport mode and 3rd gear on Friday. st me it's quick.

[poo at Paul's]

my mate fitted a second battery to his 1290 SA!!
They're consumable items on KTMs, like tyres!

[robinh73]

The dealership did explain the reason behind the voltage drop. I may have got this slightly wrong, so this may not be entirely accurate, but the CanBus system that oversees the whole bike creates a voltage drop of about 1/2 volt from the battery reading so the system believes that there is an issue. The correct voltage should be 13.4 but my Optimate was reading 13.2 which was enough to trigger the warning over winter. It shouldn't be an issue when the bike gets used more frequently. Anyway, I have probably got the above all wrong and stand to be corrected but that is what I think they said!

[snagzie]

poo at Paul's said:

my mate fitted a second battery to his 1290 SA!!
They're consumable items on KTMs, like tyres!

bloody hell.... in parallel or a 2nd that he/she could slave in upon failure?