Russ

Member
Jan 17, 2001
91
0
My local dealer has a 2001 XR250 with less than 50 miles on it. He said that the ring seized to the piston and after it was fixed (by this dealer) the guy just traded it for a CR. I found this to be a little odd of an XR motor. The dealer said that it has been a problem with 2001 models. Still, I've never heard of such a thing. I thought the bike has pretty much gone unchanged since 1996. Why would they all of the sudden have these problems? I called another dealer and he's never heard of the problem either...of course this guy wants to sell me a new (2000) TTR250. So, thought I'd ask around here to see if anyone else has experienced this problem.
 

shredda

Member
May 20, 2001
21
0
I had an 2000 XR200 and about 7 months after I bought it(new) the whole bottom end seized up. Almost every major part in the engine needed to be replaced. I don't think it's something that runs in the 2001's just one of those strange things. No, an XR shouldn't have a ring siezure with only 50 miles on it, but stranger things have happened.
 

penguin

~SPONSOR~
N. Texas SP
Feb 19, 2000
390
0
get the XR, the guy just wants to sell you a new bike. A seizure like you describe would be a freak thing on an XR, they are one of the most bulletproof bikes in the universe.
 

DualSportr

Member
Aug 22, 2000
527
0
I don't even know what the dope meant by "ring seizure".

Either the piston seized, or it didn't.

A "ring seizure" could only mean that the rings rusted to the cylinder and then were broken free when ridden. Then it started smoking because oil was leaking through the porosities caused by the rust in the cylinder.

Either way - ANY four stroke engine that seizes has been poorly treated. There's no way around it - the bike had something either done wrong to it, or was wrong from the factory. And in either case, the damage would probably not be limited to the piston/rings.

This is not a "common problem" on the '01 XR. It's not a 'common problem' with any modern four stroke that I know of. Also, as you mentioned - there have been ABSOUTELY no engine changes on the XR250 since they dry-sumped it in '96.

If the rest of the story is true - about the owner trading it in on a CR - I'd think the scenario went something like this.
1. Pick up new XR at dealer.
2. Take it to the MX track.
3. Scream the guts out of the poor thing for a couple of hours in a hopeless attempt to keep up with buddie's CR.
4. Return it to the dealer because it 'runs funny' and is smoking lots.

The dealer is a dummy - or thinks you are. Either way, I don't know that I'd want to purchase from him.
 


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