- Joined
- May 5, 2019
- Messages
- 40
- Points
- 601
- City
- Nebraska
- Vehicle Year
- 2004
- Transmission
- Automatic
- Tire Size
- 225/70R15
Hello everyone, I wanted to show you guys my first motorcycle, an XT225 enduro. Last summer I acquired it, and it has been a fun bike to ride. I live in a rural area, so driving up and down ditches on gravel roads is a good way to pass the time. Last year towards the end of the summer I had changed the oil and took it out on the highway. It reached 60mph, then lost all forward power. The motor was still turning, and when given throttle I could tell it was being loaded, but no forward inertia at ALL. It slowed to 0mph, I pulled off, and it promptly died. Had my sister bring my pickup out to me and got it home. Ripped the head off and it seemed fine, so I tore the cylinder off and inspected the rod and piston. Clutch was good, crank turned super smooth, no slag/streaks/marks in/on the cylinder wall, and the piston/rings was dirty but okay.
I came to the conclusion I couldn't find the issue, and I didn't want to split the crank case/trans unit. I sorta just... gave up for the winter. I left it wide open with no rags covering it in the garage, for about 7 months. I finally decided it was going to run or be sold cheap, so I got a gasket set, resealed and reinstalled the engine, cleaned the carb, and added a small amount of fuel to the tank. Started up after about 15 seconds of cranking. I did not know what was going on, it didn't make sense to me that it broke, didn't get fixed, and suddenly started working. BUT, while filling the tank full for a road test, I found the issue. Fuel fouling via rust and water. I didn't believe that could have been the issue, because of how it died on the road. At the end of the road test (3 miles), I gave it a few pulls, and suddenly burnt oil and white smoke! I was 100 feet form the drive so I pulled in, shut it off, and saw I had forgotten to tighten the valve covers....
It runs like a dream now, and had a gasket set on at 2800 miles, so even though it was a dream before, it runs like a dream now. My father bought a Super Tenere and we plan on trying to make it to some offroad riding in Nevada next summer. If I make any adjustments or repairs I'll keep this thread up to date
I came to the conclusion I couldn't find the issue, and I didn't want to split the crank case/trans unit. I sorta just... gave up for the winter. I left it wide open with no rags covering it in the garage, for about 7 months. I finally decided it was going to run or be sold cheap, so I got a gasket set, resealed and reinstalled the engine, cleaned the carb, and added a small amount of fuel to the tank. Started up after about 15 seconds of cranking. I did not know what was going on, it didn't make sense to me that it broke, didn't get fixed, and suddenly started working. BUT, while filling the tank full for a road test, I found the issue. Fuel fouling via rust and water. I didn't believe that could have been the issue, because of how it died on the road. At the end of the road test (3 miles), I gave it a few pulls, and suddenly burnt oil and white smoke! I was 100 feet form the drive so I pulled in, shut it off, and saw I had forgotten to tighten the valve covers....
It runs like a dream now, and had a gasket set on at 2800 miles, so even though it was a dream before, it runs like a dream now. My father bought a Super Tenere and we plan on trying to make it to some offroad riding in Nevada next summer. If I make any adjustments or repairs I'll keep this thread up to date
