Alex687

I may be wrong but I'm pretty sure the two jets within the float bowl were screwed all the way in so I returned them to this. and only the one jet accessible from the outside of float bowl was set in a particular place. I returned this to original posituon. Excuse me for not knowing which jet is which. I believe the two inside at the main jet and idle jet. The adjustable one is pilot jet? So confusing! Someone at work has suggested a possible vacuum leak on engine side of carb. Will investigate this and maybe replace some clamps and o ring seal.

So I recently gave my engine and carb a bit of an overhaul. I tried to revert all the carb settings to as they were but I'm not sure how good a job I did. I've never owned a vehicle with a carb before this and am only just learning how they work. Anyway I've been having a bit of trouble with it since putting it all back together. It's rather difficult to start when it's cold. Before I took it apart it started no problem. It has a choke operated by a lever on the handlebar. There is some adjustment in the cable where it attaches to the carb but I have absolutely no idea how it should feel at the lever, and how it should behave in terms of engine running. Haynes was very vague, mentioning something about a bit of play but not too much play in the lever. This was very unclear. So eventually I can get it started using the choke but it behaves wierdly as soon as it's going, and I find that I quickly have to close the choke and just give it some throttle until its warm before I can leave it to idle without it cutting out. Once it was warm I decided to set the idle screw for a desired idle of around 1700rpm which is fine. But I then find that if you leave it to idle, the revs creep up over 10/15 seconds to around 3000rpm. If you then blip the throttle a bit and let it go, it returns to 1700rpm (ish) before doing the same thing again. I was thinking maybe this is something to do with the choke not being fully closed... or perhaps the float height isn't quite right so during the time that the revs rise, the float bowl is actually filling until the float closes the valve. I don't know! I need some advice or need to find someone to give the carb a proper tune and setting up. I thought I'd check here first for any advice.

Forgive me for my lack of knowledge, especially when it comes to electrics, but I am a new rider and this is my first bike (2005 xt125r)I've been struggling with the carb and getting a nice steady idle but that is for another thread. The issue here is the way the headlight is reeeeeally dim at low revs. Haynes says the idle should be around 1700rpm and when I have had it holding idle at that speed the light is incredibly dim (like just a faint orange glow from the filament) I've not used it at night yet but I know that as it is, it wouldn't be safe. It only really gets bright above 3-4000rpm. It's hard to say, but even at this stage I'm not sure how well it would illuminate the road...Reading Haynes, it would appear there are two coils, one for lights, and one for charging. I check the resistance in these coils across the connector pins like Haynes says, and I'd say the resistance is 20-30% above the limits advised in the manual (manual says around 0.6-0.9 ohms and I see around 1.1-1.4 depending on how good a connection I get). I don't know if maybe this is a big problem. The voltage across the battery when the engine is running is between 13.5-14.5V depending on rpm which suggests it's charging ok.On this bike there is no light switch, they are constantly on - when the ignition is on but the engine is stopped, the headlight and tail light are both completely off (the battery is new, and showing 12.7v when not running). The indicators and brake light all work fine with the engine off.Are there any tests I can do, testing resistance between connectors, checking grounds - which ones and how? lolAny help or opinions much appreciated.

I got the engine off last night. Will strip it down over the next few days and hopefully figure out where it came from and what needs replacing

Yea. That's what I thought it was from. But which oil seal...?

So I drained my engine of oil and took the casing off each side. I discovered a spring beneath the oil "filter" that looks like its come from an oil seal. http://s1300.photobucket.com/user/alexofsmeg/media/1815CFC0-F47D-4D57-BA00-F216B6F70745_zpsuwvi4zgc.jpg.html?o=1 It looked like it must have been 50-60mm diameter if it was from an oil seal. I looked at lots of parts diagrams and couldn't figure out what it was from. Then I found a video on youtube and saw this: http://s1300.photobucket.com/user/alexofsmeg/media/01005F40-9C73-4898-8A90-27220B8DF547_zpsdgnmvy60.jpg.html?o=0 Some sort of crank shaft seal on the inside of the flywheel side of the crank casing I think. Is this an oil seal and do people think that spring came from here? I hope I don't have to dismantle the whole engine!!!

Hi, I'm a new rider having just passed my CBT and purchased a 2005 XT125R in the last fortnight. I rode up to visit a friend this weekend. I'll talk about all aspects of the trip that i think could possibly be contributing to what happened. The trip involved a 1.5mile off road climb and there was no running problems on the way up. Although the idle was so low that it actually struggled to keep going when left to idle. The bike then sat outside uncovered for 48 hours and got a thorough soaking due to the typically terrible UK weather. The bike also has a fuel cut off tap that I usually close but I actually forgot this time so it was open the whole time. When I came to start it on Sunday I couldn't kick it into life (previously it always started 1st or 2nd kick) so my mate helped me bump it and we got it going but it didn't sound very well, and was still struggling to idle. I set off back down the off road decent, obviously never really loading the engine during this decent. In fact for parts of it i didn't even have the engine running. So I got to the bottom and onto the road, where I could start loading the engine a bit and immediately noticed it hesitating when I gave it throttle at low revs. This gradually got worse and worse and after half a mile I started to climb again and it became incredibly bad, hesitating, sputtering, occasionally kicking in with a bit of power, before bogging down again. It wasn't long before I came to a halt because it simply wouldn't produce enough power. I looked round and there was a big cloud of whitey blue smoke. Luckily there was a garage nearby and even more lucky it was open on a Sunday! So I wheeled it there and we had a little look. The spark plug was very sooty, there was still compression, and a spark, and plenty of fuel in the tank but it wouldn't fire up. After it sat for a while we noticed the sump had filled up with petrol. I'm no expert but if I had to guess I would say there is an issue with a stuck float (this could also be causing the struggling idle). In the two days the bike was sat with the fuel line open, fuel has slowly seeped through the carb and into the engine, found its way around the rings and mixed with the oil. This was maybe leading to the bike not starting and sounding rough when it bump started. As I descended, because I wasn't loading the engine i didn't notice the problem. The next part I don't know - why did it get worse and worse and then why was there a big cloud of smoke before it died. I'm hoping I haven't damaged any internals and I can get away with new oil, filters, carb clean, etc. So what do people think? any help/advice much appreciated