I've got an issue with my F2 that is a tricky one.

Sometimes the engine will just quit. It's just like if you flipped the kill switch off for a second and then back on. If I'm idling, the bike will die, but I can immediately restart it and then it runs fine. If I'm at speed, I lose all power for a second or 2 and then it fires right back up and run normal again. It's a bit unnerving in traffic.

It's not a loose battery connection, because I never lose electrical power to the gauges and the volt meter shows normal.
It's not vibration related, it's done this while idling on the centerstand.
It's not the kickstand switch or the kill switch itself, I've checked both as much as I can.
It's extreme random, happens maybe once every 100 miles or so, so just putting a meter on something doesn't help.

Any ideas? Wild thoughts? Exorcism perhaps?

 

Not a glitch in the wire harness to the ignition coils? Or fuse related?

 

Definitely a glitch somewhere. Coils are fired independently by the ECU and both coils cut out at the same time, but why? I've pushed, poked and prodded everything I can think of and it never happens when I'm looking at it. Bike ran fine all yesterday. Then today it cut out for about 2 seconds just after leaving my house, but then ran fine all the rest of the way to work.

It's some kind of dying electrical component:
ignition switch
kill switch
sidestand switch
ECU
ignition timing pickup

Maybe I'll just hit it with a bible a few times before each ride.

 

The worst kind of problem. I have the same with my KTM 690 Enduro -08. Sometimes the electrical glitch sends the fuel injection system to hell and I can't seem to find the problem but people say that the harness is too tight so it can be a cable related problem.

So the kill switch... It has happened to me a few times that the switch seems to be in the on position but it won't start, just by touching the button, not pressing it, it makes contact and runs again. Maybe just the tiniest vibrations shake the little ball out of place?

And it's not temperature related, I take it? Some kind of thermal expansion related problem in a connector or so? Shouldn't be, but hey, if you're out of ideas, I have plenty .

 

My guess as well is the kill switch, which is why I never used mine. Just touching it was enough to kill the engine, it wasn't anywhere near jumping over the seesaw threshold it has, barely even moved in fact. Take it apart, give the contacts some 00 steel wool (careful not to rub through the protective layer or you'll be cleaning oxidation annualy) give it a good squirt of WD-40 and hope for the best. Be careful though, I don't remember the exact construction of the f2 kill switch but those things tend to contain small bits under tension that has a strong will to spring around never to be seen again.

 

Like you, Mattson, I never use the killswitch which is a source of frustration every time someone else has been fiddling with the bike as it doesn't come naturally to me why the bike refuses to start... Anyways, are you a frequent user of the switch, Phil? Maybe it's worn?

On another note, when I had some strange problems with the KTM (related to the other problems I've been having, but unfortunately not solved yet), it turned out it was a somewhat loose ground point causing the neutral switch to flicker in and out of existence, and although not the same problem, it made it impossible to start. Whenever I tried to fire it up with the bike in neutral, the vibration caused it to cut off and since my clutch lever switch is broken, it didn't help to pull in the clutch either. It's a long shot but ever since I always check grounds when I have strange electrical problems.

 

It does not appear to be temperature related.
It does not appear to be vibration related.

Kill switch looks fine and clean. I use it occasionally. Futzing/wiggling it or the wires to it, when the bike is running has no affect. Kickstand switch seems to work fine. Wiggling it and moving it up and down has no affect. If I flip it all the way down, the bike kills as it should. I really don't think it is either of these 2.

Unfortunately, the problem occurs very randomly. Somedays the bike is fine. Yesterday it cut out 5 times, each time for only a second or 2. Just enough time for me to try to reach and shaking/wiggling something. But it would usually fire back up before I got the chance.

I'm going out to replace the ignition switch right now. But I'm still leaning toward a bad ignition timing pickup as the culprit right now. But of course it's running just fine today. I hate to just randomly replace parts, but it's getting really annoying and dangerous in rush hour traffic.

 

Well, I replaced the ignition switch. And while I had the front fairing off, I pulled apart all the main harness connections behind the gauges. They all looked normal. So I slathered them with dielectric grease, and put them back together.

Then I went for a ride. Bike worked fine the whole time. But that doesn't really mean anything. Sometimes it just works fine. Only time will tell. I'm not convinced I've fixed anything yet.

Since I was working on the bike. I also replaced the helmet lock and gas cap lock, with new WORKING ones. It's really nice to have a new key and all full set of working locks. All the old ones were beyond worn out.

 

Well, I think I finally figured this out.

I replace the ignition switch and the ECU. I checked the kill switch twice. I determined it had nothing to do with the sidestand switch because it died a couple times in neutral. So it must be the ignition timing pickup.

So as I pull it into the garage to replace the timing pickup. It dies. And I realize that I had just brushed my hand over the kill switch. So I took the kill switch apart for the third time.

There are 3 parts to the kill switch. The black part with the wires and contacts. The red rocker switch with the metal spring loaded bridge that connects the 2 contacts in the run position. And the white C shaped clamp that holds all 3 together. Well it was then that I noticed the tab on the while piece had a very small hairline crack. Almost impossible to see with my old eyes, but it was just enough to allow contacts to move out of position, so the bridge was just barely touching both contacts most of the time. And occasional disconnecting and killing the bike for a second or two. Very weird.

So I grabbed one of my extra kill switches and rebuilt the switch with a new while clampy piece. Seems to work good so far.