I want to take the best possible care of my 250R as I can. When you hear people say a quad is just "tired" or "worn out", will a rebuild do the job or what? I may get the engine rebuilt and frame painted back to red this winter, but I was wondering how a person can keep their 250R in top shape. Mine seems like it had to be broken in again, if that makes sense. Why I say this is, at first it wold have trouble idling without you giving it gas to keep it going. If you didn't give it gas, it would quit. You had to do this for the first 1-2 minutes to get it warmed up. After the first 10-15 minutes of riding, it would run very well. It also smoked more at the start than it is now. It's like the proper oil mixture, coolant, etc... brought it back to life, because at the start it seemed a little tired, and now it has awakened. Now, I can often start it on the first kick without kiving it gas, and it will continue to idle like it is supposed to. This relieves me, and it seems like I actually had to break it in a second time.

Are older quads like this? It's like they were ridden hard, then sat for a while, then had to be sort of "re-charged" or "re-broken in". For any of you with experience, is this the case?

You 250R owners out there, what are the secrets to keeping your Four Trax healthy?

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- 1986 Honda TRX250R, 1996 Kawasaki Mojave, 1998 Kawasaki Mojave, http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/B...8090/home.html

 

Sounds like you just "woke it up", yes after sitting they get a little hard to wake up,, what you have said is pretty normal for older bikes as the reed's get dry and hard, the crank seals may seep gear oil in the crank case while sitting and the fuel gets nasty in the float bowl, all this makes them run bad for the first few minutes of rideing. To keep it the best shape do this every 6 months, put a new ring in it or complete piston kit if needed. but just a ring every 6 months is cool. new plug, re-pack the silencer, change all 3 shock oil's.This should be done every ride: air filter and gear oil change. To get it back in shape right now,, id do this if you already have not: new pipe and silencer, new boyson reeds, pistion+ring kit, plug.

 

All right, now I have a problem. First of all, in the last week, my dad and I have been doing a lot of work with engines, and I have developed great interest in the mechanical side. He's taking apart a boat engine, and I've been messing with 2 4 stroke engines just to understand them. I'm getting a lot better with it, and I'm currently switching engine parts back and forth between them for experience. Last night he said "I wish we would have found something like a cheap old beat up Quadracer that needed some work, it would make a good project". Why I tell you this is because our problem may not be the worst thing in the world for the 2 of us...

The problem is... Today I went riding down to the river, went through a straightaway, slowed down to turn around, shifted down, etc..., turned around, and just as I finished turning around, my engine sort of slowly quit. If I hit the throttle, the volume got a little higher, but I didn't speed up, and the "voice" of the engine just wasn't there. Someone pushed me a long ways to start it(in gear), and the same thing, throttle did something to the noise, but the "voice" wasn't present, and it just wouldn't fire up. I had to be pulled to a phone and call someone to come get us. I'm now wondering...

What could have happened? Will the engine have to be totally rebuilt, or could it be something minor like the spark plug? Could that be it...the spark plug just went bad? I may take it to the dealer, but I was wondering what this sounds like to any of you. Thanks, any response is GREATLY appreciated.

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- 1986 Honda TRX250R, 1996 Kawasaki Mojave, 1998 Kawasaki Mojave, http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/B...8090/home.html

 

yeah just pull the plug and replace it with a new one. then go buy anohter plug and always keep it on the quad with a plug wrench. a lot easier than pushing.

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Robert Hammond---and one BAD Suzuki lt 125 RLH151@Aol.Com

 

Awesome, we went to Wal-Mart, got a new plug, switched it, and it fired up first kick!

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- 1986 Honda TRX250R, 1996 Kawasaki Mojave, 1998 Kawasaki Mojave, http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/B...8090/home.html

 

Ride,
Ok, heres the deal. You trade me your Honda 250 R and I will trade you my "project" Suzuki Lt 250 R. SOund good? See what your father has to say. This is the perfect project if you want to learn about quads!

RoostKing..

Kidding of course!

 

Ride .
What kind of fuel to oil mix are you running.To much oil could fowl the plug.32/1 seems to be a good mix these days,With a good oil.

 

It's at 32:1-34:1. I've only had it for a little over 2 weeks, so I think the guy who had it before us ran it too rich.

[This message has been edited by RidE (edited 10-10-1999).]