Hi all,

As a few of you know I fell off during a trip here in South America. Finally now I am reunited with the bike - Honda xr250 it won't start!

She has been sitting in a very dry climate. Before I left I disconnected the battery. And emptied the tank.

I reconnected the battery and to my surprise there was enough charge. Well I turned the engine over for a good minute or two. No joy.

Tried to hill start it but just a weird whirring sound came from the engine.

Any ideas?

Much appreciated.

Rtw

Ps tried starter again but it made a weird clicking noise now does nothing at all? Amy help would be great.

the clacking is the starter telling you that there is not enough power coming from the battery to turn the starter motor only engage the electromagnetic switch.recharge it and maybe drain the carb float bowl,look to see if there are any signs of water contamination -white residue.look in the tank for white deposits,wipe clean with a cloth wet with some alcohol,check the fuel strainer and lines working your way to the carb. if so take off the carb and give it a good clean and blowout,you can do a quick clean by blowing out the air screw passage-count the turns out from fully seated ,blow out the main and needle jet ,the fuel float needle and inlet passage but by the time you have done all this and a few test runs thru the whole rpm range it is just easier to give it a good clean. Did you throttle it while starting or just choke ,if so you may have just flooded it and can remove the plug and clear it while charging the battery.if no carb cleaner is available use a high content alcohol which usually is mixed with water.

Battery is flat. Charge it up to 100%. Don't cook it by using the wrong charger.
1 amp max for no more than 1 hour or .5 amp for two hours. High current (over 3 amp) will quickly boil battery, warp internal plates.

Your bike may have a "vacuum type petcock". this means that NO FUEL will flow unless engine turns over and vacuum petcock releases fuel to Carb. Test this doing the following:

1. Make certain fuel is fresh, clean.
2. Open float bowl drain screw, (bottom of Carb bowl somewhere) drain fuel out of carb bowl, letting it fill (screw closed) then open it and drain. Repeat. This should flush water and debris out. Wipe up any spilled fuel.
3. If no fuel flows, then you've got Vacuum petcock and problem is ... your Carb is DRY. Cranking over engine will eventually fill Float Bowl.
4. re-connect fully charged battery.
5. Choke FULL ON.
6. Do not touch throttle.
7. Pull clutch lever in ....
8. Hit the button! ... Voila! (hopefully!)

Thanks all,

I was supposed to edit this - in the end a second hill start got it going again. It was an air-punching moment believe me! So glad to get on my way again. Will change oil and filters tomorrow.

She ran a bit choppy on the way back but I think it's the altitude (2400m) rather than anything else. Just get carb changed as will be in the altiplano next week with a bit of luck.

Cheers!
Rtw

Good to hear you are running,6000 ft is not enough to make a good running bike stumble,may want to get it sorted before you get into real elevation.

I'm not sure what it could be, it's only a 250 and has 10,000 on the clock - bought it new! The surging went away after I dropped in altitude so figured it must be that.

I went the mechanic today and he changed the mix by screwing a little screw beneath the carb. It ran better but still uphill with the wind it was surging a bit. Is this just a limitation of a small capacity bike?

Would actually changing the jets get it running any better? Also - how about removing the cover for the air filter or would that cause problems with dust?

Lastly, is keeping a gear lower and keeping the revs high with a lot of throttle a good idea when hitting altitude and steep hills?

Thanks in advance,
Rtw

Hmm

Yesterday I rode my Enfield. It has been in the barn since before Sept 3rd.. Just turned on petrol and it was away first kick. Did not choose to use the electric starter after such a while, but charge rate was just normal so there was plenty of charge in it. These bikes might need a bit more maintenance but they are survivors...

I know my XLR250 can be a right one for starting after a long lay-off (okay a couple of weeks!). It knows just the right moment to start, it's always the last swing on the kick-start, the one just before I walk away in disgust, then all is forgiven. Bikes with character eh?

It's true, those old XR's/XL's can be stubborn buggers. I've owned a bunch of them, the 600's are harder than the 250.

Here is my technique if the bike has sat for a month or more:

1. turn on gas (fuel should be FRESH, (if old, change it out, drain float bowl)
If sat several months drain float bowl (water collects there).
2. Pull in decompression lever, ignition OFF. kick through gently about 20 times. No throttle.
3. FULL Choke. Don't touch throttle. Find TDC on Compression stroke.
Ignition ON. Kick through firmly. Any luck?

If no start after two or three kicks, take Choke OFF. Hold throttle wide open,
Ignition OFF, kick through with De-comp lever in, about 20 times.

Now repeat #1. through #3 but NO CHOKE used.

Hopefully you will get lucky!

If it's below freezing try to leave bike in the Sun for an hour, if possible. Let her warm up some. Or, use a hair dryer for 10 minutes, or some such to warm up carb.
IT WORKS!

We have a holiday place at 6000 ft in the Alps and I've gone there on quite a few bikes / cars over the years. They vary tremendously on how they cope with the altitude. Some don't notice it at all but others have real problems. The worst (I've had anyway) are the old single cam Hondas (I've had four (of different sizes) over the years inc a 400/4 atm). They all stumble and spit and run really badly by 6000.

Anything with a CV carb runs ok but you can feel some power loss. You'd think modern F.I. stuff should be ok but a couple of those (cars) have been sluggish starters and my TD5 Land Rover (an instant starter in the UK) coughs a few times before firing up at 6000ft but can be really tricky when the temp drops below -10C - even with winter fuel etc.




Re starting after a lay- up, it's the float bowl fuel that's the killer - it kills me anyway trying to get them going without changing it. I've got two bikes that absolutely won't start if left for more than a couple of weeks without draining the float bowls and refilling with fresh fuel. After doing that they're first or second kick (or electric crank) starters. I once spent a "happy" complete morning (8am - lunch time!) at 6000ft and -10C trying to get my XR600 going after not using it for a week before I twigged the float bowl fuel issue.

It must be carb design or something as it's evaporation of the volatile bits of the fuel while the bike's standing that's to blame. I've got other bikes where it takes months rather than weeks to do the same and a couple that start straight away no matter how long they've been left. In general the more "sporty" the bike the more of a problem it is. My antique 125 commuter bike, designed to be used and abused, will start after being left for months.

Yeah my Honda xr250 runs like a pig at altitude, even with the pilot turned in. Will follow Molly's advice and remove air filter panel in future. Other than that the bike has been outstanding.