Last winter I was really disappointed with the performance from my 2001 250. I had a hard time starting and the machine never seemed to warm up. I live in northern Texas so I am not talking extreme cold here. It seems that any time the temperature dropped below 40, I could hardly keep the thing running even with the choke. I have never run anything but 10-40 in my cat, but do you think that running 5-30 during the winter months might help? I have heard and read on this forum that the factory over jets the carburetors from the factory to enhance winter performance so I don’t think that it is the problem. Any Ideas from you cold weather guys?[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

 

250CAT
I use 10-40 year round here in Idaho with no problems. Don't have to use my choke if I ride every day, even in tne winter.My cat is 2,000 500M.I can't help you with your problem,sorry. I WOULD TAKE IT TO YOUR DEALER AND HAVE HIM FIND THE PROBLEM.
Jim

 

250CAT
My old 250 was a pain in the cold weather here's what I did to help cold weather starts:
-Always keep the tank full (top off at the end of the day) and added dry gas.
-When starting give two good tugs on the gas then fully choke. Stand by for a few minutes to feather the throttle (sometimes I'd let it run a good 5 to 10 minutes... adjusting the choke as needed).

I ran strictly 10-40 and never had any trouble; Cats (in my opinion) are just cold blooded.