Replacing hoses on a KTM Superduke. Flushing coolant as well.

[Helipos]

This is a warning to all Superduke and probably all the other LC8 engine bikes. You need to replace the coolant, like yesterday if it hasn't been done once from the factory. Thanks to the sand casting of the engines there was a lot of sand (flat teaspoon) flowing around in the coolant circuit.
This will wear the craphola out of water pump seals and shafts, hoses and everything else. So here is my guide to replacing the hoses , see at the end of the guide for flushing the coolant system to get rid of the sand. It's a pretty hard job, ie takes an entire day and can be a little frustrating at times but is worth the effort.

Start by getting yourself the following materials.
1 set of hoses. There should be 7 of them.
1 set of hose clamps. From memory there should be 4*25mm, 4*30mm and 6*35mm. If your using silicone hoses get press threaded worm drive hose clamps as apparently cut threaded ones will chew through the hoses quite easily.
1 box of Large Glad snap bags. 26*38cm
Rags. Two sets, one for sealing things another for cleaning.
250mm cable ties. Length is not critical as long as they are reasonably thin, like 4mm or so.
Either the wire you see electrical cord wrapped up with or some small cable ties. 100mm cable ties or a 50 cm of that tie wire.
1 Jerry can with enough capacity to store what fuel is left in the tank.
1 Siphon hose. Small enough so you get the vast majority of the fuel out.
2l of coolant concentrate.
4-5L of distilled water
Low strength Loctite

Tools required are.
Small Socket set
200mm extension for small socket set.
The KTM tool bag is pretty handy for this task.
Allen keys
Scissors
Screwdrivers
Jars for screws and bolts.
Good side cutters that can handle stainless steel.
Long nose pliers.
Bull nose pliers
Small needle nose pliers
Sharp as knife or scissors.
A torch

Work area needs to be somewhere comfortable and free from wind.

If the bike is dirty as then get too it and clean it up.
Ok if it's winter you might want to warm the bike up until it's got 3-4 bars on the temp gauge. Makes it more pleasant to work on.

Remove the side panels on the tank and the bits that sit above the radiator.
There are 2 Allen key screws and two hex/torx head screws on each panel.






Remove the Tank.
First siphon all the fuel you can get out, in to the Jerry can.
Remove the seat.
Remove the two Allen key bolts at the rear of the tank.
Remove the Allen key bolt up near the handle bars.



Disconnect the fuel pump electrics at the back of the tank.
There are two hoses from memory.
The first one is up at the front left of the tank.
Remove and block that using bits of rag.
The next is the pressurised fuel line.
Lift the tank at the rear partly to allow better access to the connector. Its a simple collar, you just push the collar across and the connector then can come apart.
Block both ends. Hose and the pump.
The tank should then come off.
Store all your crews from this part somewhere handy. Old jam jars are great.

Removing the air box and throttle bodies

Now is the important part of having a wind free environment. As your going to expose your intake manifold to dirty air.
So don't drop stuff into the engine parts from here on in.

Loosen all 12 (i think) screws off the air box and snorkel.
Remove the sensor connector off the top.
Remove the hose off the top and the back. Use the bull nose pliers to get the hose clamps off
Block the hose ends. Don't worry about the air box ends unless your going to take a break.



Give the fame and surrounding area a wipe with a rag.
Lift the lid off the air box.
Remove the snorkel, noting how it fits under the lid.
Remove the plastic pipes (for want of a better name) that go through the air filter(shown in BLUE). Turn anticlockwise about 90 degrees to undo them.
Pull the air filter over the lips of the throttle bodies(shown in RED). You will see what I mean when you have the plastic pipes removed.



Remove the filter and store in two glad bags. One bag will cover most of the filter the second bag slips over the uncovered part and over part of the first bag.
Seal the throttle bodies as the next part takes time. Using the rags with zip ties to secure them in place.




Removing the throttle cables is good fun.

Remove the triangle pieces off the sides of the air box.



Now undo the throttle cable retaining nuts. (shown in Yellow) You may need to undo the other side of the metal bracket I can't remember exactly.



Remove the bit of rubber at the front of the air box holding the cables, noting which cable goes on each side.
Remove the triangle covers on the air box.
Looking through the triangle pieces of the air box you should see the rubber boots on the throttle bodies which join on to the intake on the engine.
Undo the bottom hose clamp until it is loose.



Remove the fuel line clamp coming on to the throttle bodies. Use the long nose pliers to get that spring clamp off.
Now cut all the zip ties that hold cables on to the throttle bodies.
Undo and remove the 2 or 3 screws that hold cables in place. remove these because they will invariably fall out at some inconvenient time.
Pull the cabling back out through the air box side hole.
Now wriggle the throttle bodies left and right and pull up at the same time and it all should come out. It will take a bit of pulling especially if they haven't come off recently.

This part will give you some grief. It may pay to remove the throttle assembly on the handle bars to see if will help.
You may need to undo the nuts on the other side of the metal bracket that hols the throttle cables I can't remember exactly how I did it.
With one hand crank the throttle butterfly forward and get your small needle nose pliers and get the "pull open" cable off.
Once this is done we can continue with the air box removal.

Store the throttle bodies in a Glad bag and block the intake manifold with rags.





Block both ends of the fuel line. Use a zip ties on the both sides as the holes are a bit too small to shove rags in to.
Now remove the two screws at the back of the air box if you haven't done so already and then lift up, trying to keep the rubber seals in place. If you knock them off don't panic they are not too hard to fit back on later.
Now the photo shows the rags jammed in the intake manifold, I would suggest placing rags over and zip tying them in place the same as the throttle bodies as it's more effective.





Draining the coolant



See in the photo the screw with the green arrow. Remove it and take the radiator cap off. This will do it's best to piss on your foot so get on the other side when you take the cap off.
Remove the hose on the radiator that connects to the overflow bottle, swing that hose to a lower position, remove the bottle lid and it too will drain out.
Now I'd pour tap water through the system until it is coming through quite clean to try and flush out the majority of the coolant as its a wetting agent and is pretty slippery stuff.

Replacing Hoses

Now get the side cutters and chop through each and every factory hose clamp and remove the hoses. Some hoses you wont be able to get cutters to. Use a flat blade screw driver to wedge them open as shown here. The two plastic bits that connect near the heads are different so know which one is which.



Remove the radiator there are 4 hex head bolts holding it on plus the connector for the fan and the temp gauge. Then use the pliers for getting the spring clamps off the hoses. Remove the lot and set it aside for later
The thermostat can be a bit tough to get to, it may help to remove the solid piping from the water pump then you only need to get one of the other hose clamps off and you can drop the off whole lot out and get the clamps on the thermostat body off with ease.
The pipe in yellow comes out once the two screws on the water pump (the blue ones) are removed and the plate is loosened off.
Now grab the hoses, compare them for size with the new ones. I had to shorten the two that run from the motor to the thermostat and on to the radiator (shown in Red and green) you might have a set that looks like they will fit good. I wouldn't cut them yet even if they look like they will need it.



Get the hoses and fit them. Start with the ones off the cylinder heads plus the joining hose across the motor. Set all your hose clamps on but don't do them up. Take particular note of how you might be able to do them up later if they ever need it and put them on with the appropriate direction.

Now is a good time to clean the radiator
Grab it and flush it out with a hose.
Also a good time to clean out the fins if you need to as it will never be any easier.

Back to the hoses
Clean up the solid piping there is usually a bit of scale on the ends and push a rag through it to remove any embedded sand.
Check how it will all line up with the radiator sitting in it's usual place. I had trouble with this hose in green, the section off the thermostat before the bend was too long and it would kink with everything was in place, so I had to trim both it and the one in red.



Cut yours if they need it, just keep in mind you can only cut shorter not longer, so don't winge if you screw it up.


Putting it back together.
Pretty much the reverse of removal except some deviations and extra checks can make the job easier.
Do up all the hose clamps.
Refit the radiator. Join up the sensor and radiator fan.
Now wipe the inside of your air box clean.
Remove the rags that are covering the intake manifold.
Fit the air box making sure the seals fit down properly on the intake manifold.
Get the throttle bodies and remove the hoses on the bottom. Fit the the hoses separately to the intake manifold.They will sit on a lip inside the hose. Now bring the throttle bodies down onto them. At the same time connect the fuel line inside the air box. The throttle bodies should seat down quite firmly and not show much movement at all. cast an eyeball through the air box sides to get a good picture of what is going on.
Now the intake is sealed again, connect all the hoses that join on to the air box, connect the connectors onto the throttle bodies, throttle cables ect. Put Loctite on the throttle cable nuts and the screws that hold the electrical wiring in place on the throttle body.The last thing you want is a screws or nut hoovered down into your engine.
Once the throttle cables are on confirm the throttle closes and there is some detectable slack on the throttle cables. Strangely enough the photo below was before I adjusted the throttle cable, once adjusted to fix the idling issues I was having it only sat a bit lower, not on the stop completely. Once adjusted the throttle grip will have a slight amount of slack. Too much and it's hard to blip the throttle, too little and it will idle high.



Fit the air filter, snorkel and plastic pipes that go above the throttle bodies.
Fit the air box lid and connect the hose and sensor.
Fit the fuel tank and join the hose and electrical connector.
Now stop there.

Fire it up
Your engine may behave a little differently, especially the thermostat as they all behave slightly differently.
Also be aware of the hot water, surprisingly it will burn you.

Put about 1 litre of fuel in it.
Turn the key on check that the pump primes without pissing fuel everywhere.
Hopefully no leaks, then start it up. Now remember you don't have any coolant in there yet, so if it starts, let it run for about 5 seconds and then turn it off. It will take about 5 -10 seconds of cranking to fire up during which you will get the EFI light up, don't stress just check that it will start and the EFI light clears once it is going.
Now fill the system up with straight distilled water. Undo the two screws (red and green) until water starts coming out and then do them hand tight. Take note it should take two litres of water in the system, if it only takes about 1 there is an air block, we will get rid of that later.
Put two more litres of fuel in. Start the machine up with the radiator cap off.
If it only took a litre of coolant, you should see it disappear pretty quick into the radiator when the water pump starts moving. Keep filling it with distilled water.
If it doesn't disappear after a couple of temperature bars undo the top screw (red) slightly and you should see it bubbling away. Once it stops, do the red screw up fill the radiator and put the radiator cap on but don't do it up.
As the temperature climbs up it will get to second last temp bar and then the thermostat should open. You will know if you keep you hand on the radiator on the right hand side, it will suddenly heat up. At this stage more water might be needed at the radiator, if so do it. You will also notice the temp gauge drop about 3-4 bars.
Let it run until the radiator fan starts.
If it ever maxes out the temperature gauge, turn the engine off. You have an air blockage and need to remove both screws (red and green) until they let water (without air bubbles) out the holes. Best bet is to not remove the screw completely just back it off one of two turns and the water should seep past the thread.



If your happy with that, drain the distilled water. Via the bottom screw plus the radiator cap removed.
Mix up the coolant and pretty much repeat the process.

Final fitments
Flush out the coolant overflow bottle and fill it too.
Put the three bolts in the tank.



Fit the black plastic radiator covers (the bits that fit on top of the radiator) and the tank covers.

First Ride
Check there are no left over bits.
Check the radiator is full.
Go for a ride down some straight streets, if the coolant decides to pour out it will be as slippery as an oily bit of road.
Keep an eye on the temp gauge and don't be afraid once it's warm to really rev it, as it will shift some stubborn air pockets easier. Once you have done about 5-8 km's turn back and park it up.
If the bike idles high or it's too much hand movement required to blip the throttle adjust it near the throttle grip until there is just a small amount of slack in the system.
Wait an hour or so and check coolant levels again, top up if needed. Don't be shocked for it to have used some, there is always some stubborn air pocket that doesn't shift until you are revving it up


Job done, get a beer or two you have earned it.

[emuexport]

Hi Helipos. Nice write up one trick (it's in the manual) that you may need is to lift the front end by about 2 foot to make sure you get the air out. The way the coolant system is designed this is the only foolproof way to shift trapped air. I lift the front wheel then undo the radiator cap and opposite side bleedscrew then start her up and watch for bubbles and splashing coolant as you blip the throttle.

Hope it helps if anyone gets stuck.

Oh and check out superduke.net if you have an SD for lots of info and tips.