Maintenance & Technical > KX250 / KX125

'89 KX250 Project

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keithluneau:
First, let me say that this is a great site for Kawasakis! I've been lurking and searching while I waited for my account to be approved. Loads of good info here!  :-D

Now on to my bike. I just picked up a '89 250. Long story short, the engine was supposed to be rebuilt top and bottom and running great, the only problem was supposed to be a stuck float. I didn't get the hear the bike run, but bought it anyway. I get it home, find that the overflow tube on the bowl is broke off, and fixed that. Float was fine. Put gas in it and fired it up. It blew water all out of the head gasket and smoked white like it was burning water too. It ran a couple minutes like this, then I shut it off. I pulled the head off and cleaned up the cylinder deck and head, and put it back together with sealant on the gasket and it stopped leaking water, and wasn't blowing water out of the radiator anymore.

The bike refused to run now though. It would start, run a second or two, and die. I tried new plugs, checked spark, went over the carb again, checked the reeds, etc. Every now and again, it would try to start then die. Most of the time it wouldn't do anything at all. Then all of a sudden, it started, cleaner out, and started to run great. It idled for about 5 minutes and warmed up, so I got on to take it down the road. It would start to sputter right about when it should get into the power band. Low end power was great. I made it about a mile down the road before it started dieing out, and just quit all together. Now it refuses to run.

I've checked spark, it's strong and blue. Compression is great, it's got a fresh top end on it. I put a little gas in the spark plug hole and tried to kick it over, still won't even pop. Could it be the timing is off? I pulled the flywheel cover and there was water in there. The gasket was old and torn up. There was rust on the flywheel and the timing plate. I cleaned up the flywheel and pickup with sandpaper and got all the water and rust out that I could. Should I pull the flywheel and check the stator, and that the key isn't sheared?

keithluneau:
Well I pulled the flywheel this evening, and this is what I found behind it...

The Key is fine, slots in the flywheel and crank are both fine. The stator however, is another story. I'm not to impressed with it...  :|





If anyone has a flywheel and a stator that will work, I'd love to pick them up for a fair price!

KXcam22:
I would just clean those up. Some naval jelly or other rust remover should work. On the stator, mark the position with a punch, clean it up and replace the retaining screws with new ones.  Make sure you spray abunch of wd40 or similar over it all before you put the cover on (to prevent more rust).  Splurge on a new gasket (or make one) and seal it up good. Cam.

keithluneau:
Thanks for the reply!

I did just that, took the stator out and cleaned in the motor, the stator, and the flywheel. I got them all nearly spotless, and put everything back together, set the gap on the pickup, and it started first kick after that. I was happy. ;)

Then I found the rest of the problems.

Here's what I've been dealing with since then. Looks like someone put a sleeve in the cylider, and did a crappy job!





So I had it pressed back in place. It'll probably move again, but maybe I'll get to ride a little while I hunt down another cylinder...

Here how it looks now.



I'll put the top end back together while I wait on the drive gear for the governor. I pulled the side cover to change the water pump seal, and found that plastic gear was broken. The center valve in the main exhaust port was in a bind with the sleeve hanging it up. So none of the valves were working. I got all that sorted and cleaned up too.

As soon as the gear shows up in the mail I can get this thing running right, unless that sleeve decides not to stay put...  :-o

KXcam22:
That port mismatch might the cause of your "no power" problems.  It doens't take much of a trasfer port mismatch to screw things up.  Back in the 70's I remember some husqvarnas came from the factory with the sleeve mismatched like that or twisted. They had to heat up the barrel then twist or press it back like you did. Those ones stayed in place if I recall. Good find. Unfortunately the steel sleeve makes them slower.  Cam.

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