What is the failure rate and cause of FE450 fuel pumps?

I'm sorry for all your problems, but I applaud your honest posting.

Blaine said:

1. Fuel pump failed completely after two and a half hours.

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Yes this is a bad situation and it is strange KTM don't grab this by the balls and fix it. If I was in KTM marketing, I would be in damage control and at the very least post something on UHE that was good news. The KTM marketing team all must have MBA's and have their heads in the clouds or heads somewhere else? :roll:
I have not had this problem, but would not swap my Husaberg for any other bike going around because of a Fuel Pump. It would just be a step backwards in my opinion.

Blaine said:

2. Handle bar clamp recall.

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I see this as a small issue, you are still on the best woods bike going around currently and the smartest looking bike there is.

Blaine said:

3. Stripped upper and underside bolts in the sub frame assembly. Sub frame replaced.

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Good excuse to put a 70 Degree Racing Subframe Fuel tank in.

Blaine said:

4. Bike goes in for fifteen hour service. Oil is replaced. Engine is started and is now making a horrible noise. Engine is torn apart. Explanation from service "engine spit a shim associated with the exhaust valve. Valve spring, shim, shim holder, and rocker damaged". After almost another two week wait for parts, bike was finally fixed yesterday

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This is strange, I wonder if the Dealer made an error adjusting the valve clearance?

Stick with Husaberg. From what I learn on UHE it feels to me you just are having bad luck, it is not the norm.
I feel for you, and hope everything works out too.
Regards,
Dave.

I've got to admit, I feel a little left out.. I have an 09 FE450 with no fuel pump problems.. I've put a couple of thousand miles on it lately and she starts right up and runs great.

X 2 mines so far been fantastic and fingers crossed it stays that way

700 miles on a 2011 570S and no issues here. I have taken some precautions with adding a fan kit, heat wrapping the mid-pipe and adding reflective heat shield to the under side of the tank, removed the ball valve in the cap etc...but I'm hoping like hell I don't end up stuck in the middle of nowhere. I'm sorry for all you've had to go through but I do think this is NOT the norm with these bikes. A bad fuel pump is understandable (how they deal with it is what's concerning) but the rest sounds like 1 in a million bad luck. Sorry...and I hope I'm not wrong here.

Fuel pump failure at 6 hours and hot gas blowing out of tank. KTM service stated the problem is with the ethanol here in the US causing the pump to stick. I have replaced the pump and currently have 25 hours on the bike. KTM also stated to add 50cc of 2-stroke oil to your gas to lubricate the pump. Also if yu have not removed the one way check valve. If you call KTM give them your VIN otherwse they will not resond. Thanks

Bluesnow said:

Fuel pump failure at 6 hours and hot gas blowing out of tank. KTM service stated the problem is with the ethanol here in the US causing the pump to stick. I have replaced the pump and currently have 25 hours on the bike. KTM also stated to add 50cc of 2-stroke oil to your gas to lubricate the pump. Also if yu have not removed the one way check valve. If you call KTM give them your VIN otherwse they will not resond. Thanks

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We're being told to add ..... TWO-STROKE oil .... to our FOUR STROKES .....???!!! 8O

*THAT* is one of the reasons why I ride a 4T ... so I DON'T HAVE TO SCREW WITH PRE-MIX!!

BTW, was the adding oil advice a "do it once in a while" thing? Or for every tank?

Surely, this is the seventh sign of the apocalypse. Can the zombies be far behind? (grin)

Bluesnow said:

Fuel pump failure at 6 hours and hot gas blowing out of tank. KTM service stated the problem is with the ethanol here in the US causing the pump to stick. I have replaced the pump and currently have 25 hours on the bike. KTM also stated to add 50cc of 2-stroke oil to your gas to lubricate the pump. Also if yu have not removed the one way check valve. If you call KTM give them your VIN otherwse they will not resond. Thanks

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My pump didn't fail till I moved to Barbados. I don't believe they import ethanol laced gas here. The far as I can tell Barbados sends it's own crude to Trinidad for refining. I don't think these government are subsidizing corn to add to the gas like in the U.S.
I still can't believe KTM would use a pump that was made in China and then give us a hard time when it fails. I have installed a CA cycleworks pump and it has not left me yet (about 20 hours since install). :cheers:

The KTM service tech stated to add the 2 stroke oil to lubricate the pump all the time. I have also started using ethanol fuel stabilizer also just to be safe. Thanks

Bluesnow said:

The KTM service tech stated to add the 2 stroke oil to lubricate the pump all the time. I have also started using ethanol fuel stabilizer also just to be safe. Thanks

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Question is how much oil to add........?

Bluesnow said:

KTM service stated the problem is with the ethanol here in the US causing the pump to stick.

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That is why there are not so many fuel pump issues in EU.

Sounds like it could be a fuel issue my berg had boiling fuel all the time in the woods, it's still on the original map, I've never bothered having it re mapped it runs so well, I agree the cost of a replacement fuel pump is disgusting, and ktm's attitude towards their customers is very harmful to the brand, they should jump to make the customer feel special instead of spending huge amounts of money employing the fastest riders on the planet, in the hope that this will sway people's opinion towards an omnipotent brand

when I called ktmusa customer service, the rep I spoke to acknowledged a problem with some pumps, and had a replacement pump sent out to my dealer right away. I dropped the bike off last night and looked at the pump and it had the brown top as opposed to the black top...don't know what difference it will make, but I am hopeful.

I think the slower the terrain you ride, the more likely you are to have a pump overheat and seize up. I right 90% goat trails...I have 54hrs and 825 miles on the bike so my speeds are slow and it has been a hot summer.

I do have my entire pipe wrapped tank heat lined and the "good" straight through exhaust. the only thing I don't have is the fan. I just don't want to make it any more difficult the get the tank off....

chevydiver said:

The 2011 pump has more clearence. It was also strongly recommended that I run Startron fuel additive too.

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1. Who gave you this recommendation? The dealer? Official factory advise?
2. Startron is an enzyme that kills bacteria. Is no normal injection cleaner
3. If you'd throw camel poop into your tank your pump would first suffer, cause your engine to overheat
4. Pump overheats and dies, Chinese pump may die sooner than others
5. Ethanol based fuel is hygroscopic, it attracks humid. Water seperates from fuel and sinks to bottom of tank
6. Some gasstations are infected with this bacteria
7. These bacteria seems to live on the edge of water and fuel, and consume the fuel
8. What eats has to ****; they **** white flogs, which plugs up your fuel filter

I am aware of the fact that these contain a lot of assertions which could be false. Let's discuss and sort this thing out. :cheers:

I am interested in buying an 09 FE 450, that has been sitting for a couple of years... looks like new and still has the lil nubbies on the tires.... supposed to have less than 200 miles on it and was senior owned and well taken care of and stored indoors........

So If I pull the trigger and decide to but it I will have to drive accross 3 states and right now it is snowing hard in WA state and the drive would be loooooong and trecherous;

so any words of wisdom or advice?? Man I really wanna get this bike.....

These really are great bikes, but the resale value on them isn't great. If you can get a good deal and it is what you want, go for it.

I would suggest doing some maintenance before running the bike - which might be tough because you probably want to test drive it. I would suggest pulling the tank (kind of tricky the first time), dump all of the old fuel, inspect the inside of the tank, inspect the fuel pump intake filter. Make sure everything is free of gunk.

Then be prepared for the day your fuel pump fails. Once you get a replacement pump installed, the bike should be very reliable. The original pumps are just poor quality.

Here is a write up on why I bought one...

http://gardinerfamilyadventures.wordpress.com/2012/04/04/why-husaberg-2010/

Tfunk said:

I am interested in buying an 09 FE 450, .................

so any words of wisdom or advice?? Man I really wanna get this bike.....

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In November 2008, I test rode a new 2009 Demo FE450. It was all that I could think about every time I rode my then current dirt bike (RM250). It was super easy to ride, a great confidence building bike, traction galore, stable and smooth. For me, it worked much better than my converted MXer to off road duty (and I had a very trick RM250 2 stroke set up for off road/enduros).

I bought a new 2009 FE450 in March 2009, raced a 16 race hare scramble season in 2009, 2010 raced the national enduro series and a local hare scramble season, and a few local enduros (28 weekends of racing that year), 2011 about 10 weekends of racing, 2012 about 10 weekends of racing, lots of trail rides some mild MX mixed in. Still have the bike looking forward to 2013, just finished up some service work getting it ready for enduros to start back up in January.

Other than regular maintenance and the occasional shrouds that I ripped of from trees, no issues. Still on stock pump and injector (knock on wood), replaced the stock battery in 2012 - it wasn't bad, but I was just being preventative. The valves have stayed in spec, I change the oil every 10 hours, clean air filter for every ride/race. Clean the bike after every ride, inspect and replace any wear items (brakes, chain, sprockets, wheel/heim joint, steering head bearings, etc), service the suspension at least once, sometimes twice a year. I am at about 180 hours currently.

Liked the FE450 so good, I sold my DRZ400 dual sport and bought a 2011 FE570S in Jan 2011. I have had good luck with it too. I was thinking about selling it to buy a 2013 FE350 to race, but have since decided against it. I don't know if I will like the new KTM/Husaberg model as good as I like the 70 degree bike. I am going to keep racing/trail riding the FE450 and dual sporting the FE570.

Man....... decisions, decisions... 8O

ThumpDrunk said:

the only thing I don't have is the fan. I just don't want to make it any more difficult the get the tank off....

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get a fan...seriously.

i ride mostly 1st or 2nd gear trails and even yesterday as i plowed though 6" of snow my fan kicked on.

you just have to loosen off the 2 rad mounting bolts to remove the tank, don't have to remove the rad.

Just put the 4th fuel pump on my 570. Laughable is it weren't so sad.