Xs250 project

[Dazlin]

Hi all second go at this as posted it in newbe section first.cut a long story short xs250 rusty but started,stripped frame ect rust treated repainted put back together .havent touched inside of engine but cleaned and painted out side plus new oil ,bike still awaiting a few bit so not working ,had compression by way of kick start but it lost it over night and no resistance to kick start.a friend said might stuck valve does any one have a diffrent opinion .cheers

[DirtyDT]

Sticking

valves stick open and this would show as a possible low compression. A couple of things to check.

1) you say no resistance on the kick starter - does the kick starter turn the engine over?

2) take out the plugs turn the bike over putting your thumb or a cloth over each plug hole. Do you feel different compression in any? Make sure the HT leads are out of the way or you might get zapped by one of them.

If it is the valve sticking open it could be as simple as a little Plusgas on the valve. The valve could be bent or it might not be the valve. Hard to tell at this stage.

[drewpy]

hope your not puling in the clutch to kick the bike over, otherwise it wont connect to the crank.

[Dazlin]

Hi ,I managed to start the bike yesterday by shorting across the starter switch as the electric start not working ,a broken wire I think.had to keep the revs high to stop it stalling,but today main fuse keeps blowing ,so phoned bike electrician he wants $110 an hour ! Not pulling in clutch to kick trying with bike in neutral

[drewpy]

sounds like clutch slipping then. hope you didn't put car oil in

carbs will be gunged up so won't help in a smooth tickover

[Dazlin]

Put castrol gtx 20 -50 might be car oil I didn't think there was a diffrence ?

[slice]

Oh dear!! We have all done it I'm afraid, you have to drain the oil out and start again, you will also have to have the clutch out as it's now contaminated with the wrong oil. Car oil has additives and bike oil doesn't. This is where you say "Oh FFS!!!"

You might get away with washing the plates with petrol if it's not to soaked in but otherwise your looking at replacing all the cork plates mate.

[dt502001]

Sounds more like the kick start shaft locating boss broke to me,so pull the clutch cover and see if the gear moves out when the kicker is depressed, The shaft is held and the spring is not broken.

I have been running valvoline car oil in my bikes for 20+ years bandit and wr since first oil change,, never had a problem with clutch slip! And both bikes have the original clutch plates from 2001. So unless they put something in the oil on your side that they dont here that's not the problem.

hardleys run plain old atf in the primary on all bikes but sporties and v rods.Though 20-50 is wrong should be 10-40 but if anything it's a thicker oil so should have more grip cold.

If the main fuse keeps blowing then trace the wire to the ignition switch it's rubbed through to ground( earth) or after painting the bike you failed to clean the grounds up so they can actualy ground back to the battery through the frame.

Normaly findin a fuse blowing problem is not that hard,just a matter of making sure all grounds are good and no wires pinched or rubed open to ground. so start with grounds and anything that is ignition feed.Like the wires to the starter seloniod

[Dazlin]

Thanks all .took the ignition switch apart looking for loose/ worn wires .cleaned all contact points ,did the same with the electric start / lights hand controls and bingo have electric start again .i have new plugs / plug caps took starter motor apart and clean it ,took carbs apart and cleaned them so bike wants to start but just won't catch any thing I'm missing ?

[DirtyDT]

Try a spoonful of fuel down each bore through the spark plug hole. Did you connect the spark plug leads back to the correct plug? Did you set the carb up right?

[Dazlin]

Didn't set the carb right just reconnected it .what do i need to do to it ?