Khunangkaro

At my SR250 When stand for a while the oil comes down from the filter. This makes a lot difference to the level after running some time. Wait for your intro. Welcome & take care.

That head gasket looks very wet. My simple (unexperienced) question is: Is the head flat, and did you use a new head gasket? I know from car engines that after lifting the head it usualy has to be machined flat and anyway must use new gasket. Good luck.

Sure, you can bypass. Use a thick wire or just any thick piece of iron will do. Best to first fix one thick wire on the lowest one of the solenoid terminals. This is neutral, connected to startmotor. The upper one goes to battery (+); put there some thick wire on but carefull that its blank never touches the frame (-). When you connect these wires you get sparks (firm touching = less sparks) and the startmotor turns if not at fault. If startmotor turns then solenoid is at fault. Repair might be easier, much cheaper and faster then finding a new one. Just use some time, solder, a smooth file and effort. You unscrew the nuts of terminals. Unsolder the two thin wires from the small bushes that go inside; unsolder more and pull separating the solenoid so that the inner wires come loose from these bushes. (Solder all clean, so you can easily put back later) Take things apart. You can turn upside down the contact plates. File (careful) all contacts flat and clean. (If you like, finish with rubbing paste or very fine sandpaper flat on piece of glass.) Put all back together, guiding inner wires into copper bushes, solder full and solder outer wires back on. I did this one month ago. My solenoid is now as new, good for another 30 years. .................... This repair won't do no harm, but I am afraid your startmotor needs attention. .................... Take of left footrest, shift pedal and carter cover. Undo wire and clean contacts (also at solenoid and battery). Try start with all wires connected, clean and greased contacts. If NO Start. Repair startmotor. If you take off the startmotor its sprocket will drop into right cartercover. So you must take this off. Drain oil first. Take off right footrest, unscrew oil filter and remove carter cover. Keep brake pedal down on hold. On right side you must (let) make new gasket. Replace oil seal in right cover. On left and right cover replace all old screws with stainless allen screws.

When I put the gasket into water it swells up to 1.7 mm, becomes moch mor flexible and shows fibres and centered lining, it can be pressed back to 1.3 mm. Oil does not have this effect. If pressed water comes out. I wonder what happens... Can this easily evaporate out of carter?

Did the clutch a year and few thousand Km ago. There was some dripping of oil after repair, but most came from seals on left side. Replaced except the highest one on the main axle behind the flywheel a few months ago when I had to repair the starter motor. Because its sprocket drops into the right crank case, I took this off and put all back with a thin paper gasket (self made) and liquid bond only on outside. I knew it might not seal, but this repair was 1200 Km away from home where I thought to have a good thicker blue gasket extra made in Bangkok the year before. The man who made this was right when he said that I could not keep and use this blue one over time (I don't know why, as it was carefully sealed in plastic bag and never bend). Anyway, Back home fed up with some oil dripping, I put on the extra blue gasket with silicone bond on each side and when I pulled the bolds again with right torque the next day.... it started to drip furious. Take off again cleaned and dry, put on with only three bond, which is very liquid thus thin and quickly dry (it advices to put on in one minute, impossible). So now it realy drips (20 cc per day). Living up-country outside small town 700 Km from Bangkok, I could buy a carton colored 1.3 mm thick gasket sheet feeling like paper, but not, quite tough to stretch. The man said to put it into water; I guess after cutting? Would it be better to put into oil or keep dry? Use three bond on either side or none? The gasket reads "GUAMO TOR G". Cannot find this on the net. Thanks for any experienced advice.

Look up in the manual. Little ticking are valves: adjust. Rattling is loose distribution chain: adjust. Mine has irregular ticks (like electrical sparks) at low revs, mostly when cold starting. Guess this is/are sticking piston rings loosening. I do not care. Also have a slight knock down, when starting cold. Stops after 15 seconds or so. Guess this is main bearing loose/wear dry with little oil when starting up. Just carefully wait till oil is pumped there. These engines are thirty or so years old. So i do not drive faster than 100 km/hr (~6000+ revs) and usually keep it around 80. Drive most of the time with two up. My wife weights only about 55 kg, but it makes a difference with driving one up. Where we live the roads/country are/is almost flat. On very steep hills it was hard work in first gear when we made a 1200 km trip to North Thailand.

I have a picture of self made tool. It worked easy. Even the smallest seal on the shift axle just popped out in one second. How to get the picture here??

Welcome as new members, but... Please... Please... STICK TO THE TOPIC. puddle of oil I appreciate your useful discussions, and it would be smart to open these as new topics with its specific heading like: XS400 VIN? XS400 Manuals? Is win win. Good luck.

Thanks for your post Daryl, I have same question although not yet a puddle of oil. On my SR250 I am loosing oil when I fill it up to high level. Drips out while hanging low on the side stand. Dirty mess. Still driving..... But want to change the seal on the drive axle and that on the gear shift. I think of first cutting the rubber and get rid of the spring, then carefully drilling one or more holes in the metal seal casing. Then try to push the side inward with very small (watch) screwdriver and some other things. Hope it will come loose that way to easy pry out. I ones got the seals out of the front shocks by first carefully filing the rim with very small key files and then braking the rim as above. But I must say, it took me a few hours and those seals are much wider and easier to get at without disturbing axle. Any other ideas are welcome. Good luck to us.

Hi Wabba, I don't know about your cutting out problem, wish you solved it. (Did you check the ignition relais under the seat?) I am most interested in your and anybody elses experience with the drive sprockets. I need new ones badly. I ride now 15/40. It pulls terific up to 4th gear, but is weak in 5th. I do not get it over 100 km/hr. At 5000 revs it goes 70 km/hr. And I use between 28 and 33 km per liter. (I usually ride two up and my wife feels fine if I not go faster than 80. Which is reasonable safe on Thailand traffic. You must drive very defensive here, so I don't mind not to go faster than 100.) From pictures in the manual I count 16/46. Would that be less economic? Or.....?

On my SR250 I need to replace (secondary) DRIVE CHAIN and SPROCKETS. The drive sprocket now has 15 teeth. The driven sprocket now has 40 teeth. The drive chain has 98 links now. When driving in 5th gear it shows 5000 revs at 70 km/hr Looking in the manual I found: Page 3-2: Drive sprocket (picture) 16 teeth. (On engine drive axle) Page 5-4: Driven sprocket (picture) 46 teeth. (On rear wheel) Page 7-8: Specs Secondary drive chain:: Type 520 DS :: 102 Links. My bike has plenty of pull and used 28 up to 33 km per litre when I drove over 1000 km with two up (73+53kg) and some luggage (~20? kg), from Eastern to Northern Thailand. Does anybody know factory recommended specs? Or can anybody share experience from use of any distribution(s)?

In the manual I read: Headlight "sealed beam" 50W/35W. With mine there is a plane reflector and it is not worn, with a complcated lense. The H4 bulb in place looked worn and gave no good light. So I replaced with OSRAM Bilux H4 NIGHTBRAKER 60W/55W. ("90% more light" ??) The low beam shines OK, but the high beam goes everywhere except where I expect it. What might be the right bulb???

The right side fork gives up oil. Like to replace the oil seal & dust ring. The dimensions are not given in the manual. Does anybody know, please? PS Few weeks ago I put fresh oil in the tubes. Before that I had a hard time to get the rusty stoppers out on top. Forced them down with a bamboo rod and hammer just enough to free the clip. Hardly moved...... .....UNTIL next morning.... When I loosened the upper telescope clamps the stoppers rocketed into the air LOL I learned my lesson as there is no such advice in the manual

The pushrod and ball look fine and oily. So I took off the too badly worn thrust plate and all and found a shop to show the whole assembly. They found me new clutch plates from Japan but could not find new thrust plate. Than they let it weld on and machined cheaper than new, looks like a very well done job. When put all together it sticks solid with minimal pressure. Hope to fix it on the bike to-morrow. Also have a new spring (made for free) to replace the weak one on the lever. Guess this will all do well. (Cannot start yet waiting two weeks now for modified carb replacement)

Wish I could find that in Bangkok. Have a tank that would appreciate....

Hi, Good question and probably here comes my bad answer: In Bangkok it seems they just think 'a pipe is a good whenever you like its sound' so.... The more noise the better. Pipes are custom made for cars and bikes and the final muffler (or none) added according to (sound)taste. Now it looks like the same all over the world. If you toggle youtube at SR250 you get all kind of examples to view and hear. It seems to run on anything fixed on that hole in front. Most very important tune your carb right. And a bit less important set your valves. It will also help to screw on a new plug now and then. Good luck and have worryless ride. CARB TUNINGVery interesting!!! http://www.factorypro.com/tech/carbtun.html

I have two very well equiped seal shops around here. They just lacked mine. To-day walked around my area where are many most car parts shops. But now I found addresses of manufacturers. The "big bike" shops usually deal with expensive popular and recent bikes, most built (assembled) in Thailand. Go to Yamaha parts shop: They ask what kind: Oh Japanese (Not Thai Yamaha): NoNo. The "classic" workshops you must be lucky to find. Second hand parts never for SR250. SR400 is popular. SR250 maybe only one in Bangkok or Thailand. They know about it and that is history. To old. The problem with any import bike is the registration and that is extremely expensive. As much or more as you pay for the bike. Control is tense in Bangkok and gets more and more tense outside. So people have these bikes for show, to fire up in their back street. But what is the use of that? So they get bored. And try to sell. They not want to spend on registration, because when you sell, hardly get that money back. In fact most people do not like "classic". Most like noisy with racy look. If you see what they do to a SR400.... Well, not my taste. Still have seen five originals but never an SR250. The reason I bought mine was because it is original and has registration of 15 years. And I was so blindfold by the registration that I believed the guy who said it's a SR400. And I did not check the papers carefully although I can read Thai. So in fact I made a mistake because I first would like to have a SR400. But now I like my SR250 much more because never saw a second one in Bangkok. Besides, I think it will be much more economic on petrol while it is fast enough for me in the dangerous traffic here.

The existing seal reads S7 14 - 27 - 6 HS. The seal seems to be the original. It has the right specs, but has been inserted in the wrong way. If installed the right way one cannot read the specs. The nearest replacement that I could find is TC 14 - 26 - 7 and looks like having two lips. The head gets oil when running. But the filter cavity has no oil after a few days not running! Is that normal? What to do? Replace with the wrong new one or should I just pry out the old one and turn it around? The lip seems to be undamaged but might be worn. The rubber casing has some damage from priying out before. How to fill up the missing 1 mm on the outside diameter at new the seal? Is there enough room for the 1 mm more thickness? ANY SUGGESTIONS very welcome.

See my post "SR250 Repair Manual" Good Luck.

Thanks for your support, Yes I want to check the whole thing to-morrow first. The left rod and ball are still in place. This bike is full of surprises, like a lovely old man/lady having had the bad luck to see to many bad doctors. So sorry. The registration is from 26 May 1993. So how much older than that, I don't know. Import from Japan usually. VIN number starts with 4 J 1

Wanting the best bright light I bought a halogen: OSRAM BILUX H4 NIGHTBRAKER 60W /55W. To be used in cars. "90% more light" it says. It fits, but..... The low beam comes out quit good, but the high beam goes everywhere except where I need it. If put a bulb in a cars' reflector I was used to put a bulb in with the cup for low beam on underside \_/ (Thats what I think to remember, did not use car for over ten years) The reflector on my bike needs it the other way (upside down) to get the beam down. What is the best to use???? I have a plain reflector with a lense with complicated pattern and nothing else in between.

When driving fast (well... not very, but...) the clutch slips when change gears with much throttle. If then give less throttle the clutch picks up. First thought it was because the cable had much resistance from dirt. But with new smooth sliding cable still the same. So last week took off the left crankcase cover. In the manual there are 6 friction plates and 5 not burned clutch plates. I just have 5 and 4, but the thickness all together comes to the same. The clutch plates have friction. Five dry clutch plates can not be turned among each other when pressed between hands. The springs are of the right length (34.5 mm). Did not find a shop yet to check the springs' set weight (20.65 kg /27 mm). They feel strong anyway. First thought was to put more pressure with a washer 1.5 mm on top of each spring. Does not feel real nice and the washers (15mm x 10 mm x 1.5 mm) that fit around the studd are not steel and might worn quick. Lucky last weekend to get the very useful final part of the manual. Thank you YamaGod. After reading found out that the clutch adjustment was done wrong (Thai "mecanics"..... ). The push lever far out of line. I guess (hope) this must be the cause of the trouble. Did not yet take of the left cover to check the state of the push lever assembly . Usually there are unwanted but expected surprises when opening things for the first time after put together by "profis" with hammer and chissel.

My original carb is giving problems. It has been running very nice, but then: a ) Its overflowing I cleaned out the inlet last week. Runned sometimes reasonable. But get after fire in exhaust. The fuel level seemed to be low down enough when looking from above into the main jet then. But when I took off the carb last day it was wet with petrol left overs in the bore. b ) The diafragm is dammaged. At one or two cracks the rubber is gone a little and exposing the fabric on under side. But as far as I can see not (yet) all through. Does worry me. Might already or soon be leaking. Is there a way to check and repair the diafragm? So far I cannot find parts new or second hands here in Bangkok. A friend recommended to change to carb from 250cc TZR or TZM saying the first one would be best. I found MIKUNI carbs second hand with written mark TZ. All the same. Not knowing that there are many kinds of TZ. In Thailand maybe only one kind. Anyway worth the try for less then 15 Euro). Looking at internet what I bought looks like MIKUNI VM 32-33. Bore slightly less then 33mm Main jet 190 Pilot jet 32.5 Jet needle 6 DP 7 (clip at 2/5 from top) ASK SUGGESTIONS for JETS size and JET NEEDLE ans FLOAT LEVEL The float lip looks bend up much (over 30 degrees or so)The float needle top is metal to metal seat. It is not overflowing but rubber head against metal might be better. So I got a new one with rubber head which is also longer so that the lip can be more flat. Right??? The back side fits nicely. The clamp on rubber tube from the air filter is already smaller then original. (Was actually a bit of a problem before) Spigot is 38 mm and leaves a gap of 15 mm with the mounted inlet rubber. To-morrow I can pick up a machined adapter alu tube that fits the gap. I let it make screw on the VM and close off with a 1.5 mm flat rubber ring inside between. The front side same as original carb. Here you can let make things very cheap. As example: Carterstop was in terrible state and leaking because missing rim for seal. New one machined for 200 BHT. One packing for right carter cover plus two packing for inlet rubber, ready made for 50 BHT all.

I got my bike in July last year by accident. Like to enter picture here. BUT HOW?? (To be continued)