I've got an '87 250X and this thing goes through on average 1 plug ever 2 tanks of gas. The engine is stock the jetting is right and i've tried gapping it everywhere to see if that'd help and it didn't. Is this just something common that I'm going to have to live with?

 

oil?..;...compression rings.........may be time for em......makes a good excuse to do some mods while the lid is ofF!....

 

I just had the top end off it to replace the cam bearing cover, it's not burning any oil or smoking at all and it has compression.

 

you sure the jetting is set right?

 

Try the float needle and needle seat. Replace them.When they go bad they let the gas go in the carb to fast and that forces the gas up the pilot jet and makes it run rich.

 

You have something out of whack somewhere. Our '87 250x can run all summer on the same plug.
Maybe your valves are out of adjustment. Also our decompression cable broke once and we started fouling plugs before we knew it had snapped. Make sure it is adjusted properly.