help a brother out with his kaw!

[sick 96 250]

just wanted to let all the guys that helped me out during my problems. After i changed the needle position and rode my bike, I noticed that the bike was lazy or sluggish :bang: so i put the needle back to the factory setting and tried my friends suggestion by running my oil mixture 60:1. I took my bike out for a ride this weekend and had no problem with this mixture. I than yanked my plug out and noticed that it was just about perfect :ohmy: (light brown tint with very very minimal oil deposits on plug. I guess I should of followed the oil manufactures suggestion but i didnt because i read that just about everyone at this forum runs about 32:1 to 40:1 on their bike. I have however learned alot about jetting now that you all have enriched me with. :cool: Once again thanks again. :)

so your saying that with richening up your fuel mix it helped you out and now your plugs look normal? I would still suggest to mix at 40:1 or 32:1 and re-jet properly, you might not be lubing the internals all that well running at 60:1 which will cause failure down the road. Something still doesnt sound right though, from what you said earlier in the post you were running on the rich side to begin with and now going to 60:1 your making it even richer on the circuits. I guess if it works for you then :cool:

 

[dirt ninja]

I talked to some oil reps. and they said their oil was good enough to run at 60:1 with no problems. He also told me that some of the racers are running 100:1 but are obviously rebuilding their motors more often. I guess i should of described my spark plug better earlier on in the posts. (plug was wet from being fouled out and covered/caked with oil deposits) Now that Im running 60:1 as opposed to 42:1, Im using less oil and now my bike is burning up the gas and oil fine now. :nod: Maybe you are right about running 40:1 and rejetting my bike? :think:

 

[sick 96 250]

I talked to some oil reps. and they said their oil was good enough to run at 60:1 with no problems. He also told me that some of the racers are running 100:1 but are obviously rebuilding their motors more often. I guess i should of described my spark plug better earlier on in the posts. (plug was wet from being fouled out and covered/caked with oil deposits) Now that Im running 60:1 as opposed to 42:1, Im using less oil and now my bike is burning up the gas and oil fine now. :nod: Maybe you are right about running 40:1 and rejetting my bike? :think:

when your plug is oily and black that is normally a rich condition causing that, when going from 42:1 to 60:1 your actually making the bike run even richer. So it didnt make much sense to me

 

[dirt ninja]

This is my take on the issue

This is my opinion (not saying im right) but Im guessing that when i was running my mix at 42:1, my bike wasnt burning all the oil that was in my fuel thus causing the plug to become oil fouled. I then took my friends suggestion and tried running a 60:1 mix (less oil) in my bike which apparently did just fine. Plug was light light brown with very very minimal oil deposits on the plug. What confuses me is that every body that i know who rides dirtbikes down here in Fl.(croom) runs their oil mixture around 50:1 - 60:1 using fine synthetic oils. :fft:

 

[xprojectstevex]

You might be right. The easiest way to tell is to buy 2 different 2 stroke oil brands and try them both out at the manufacturer reccomended mixes and see how your plug does. You should be able to use any brand of oil at the man. reccommended mix and not foul plugs excessively, if you can't then you probably do have to much fuel coming through your carb.

 

[Badgadjit1]

i did my seals twice for my yz, messy job. one thing about them is you have to keep that stuff super super clean.
1. take fork off
2. remove dust cap
3. there is a metal clip under the dust cap that presses against the seal itself. rmove this
3. unscrew cap off damper rod
4. removed springs
5. remove damper rod (can't remeber if you have to or not)
6. might wanna empty out the oil already in there first too heh..
7. when you just have your inner and outter tube there, push them together and pull them apart quickly and forcefully. you may need to do it more than once. this will rmove the seal, clips, spacers and stuff.
8. swap out the seal, you may want to get a fork slider thing to get all the part bake up in there, its very hard to get that C clip back up in there (i've found it to be)
9. Check your specs and fill apropriatley and pump in a few times, reinstall everything and your good to good

messy and i hate doing it. but it beats 60 per fork from a dealer.

if i said something wrong of anything please correct me, its been a while.

you can allso look around on the net for fork seal replacement or installation.

 

[dirt ninja]

thanks for the tip on the fork seals.

Im going to give it a shot! wish me luck. :laugh:

 

[Badgadjit1]

i would still look around a read. its not all that easy, and its very time consuming. heres acouple sites i just looked up. both i think are for street bikes but same basic premis (sp?)

http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/howto/howtoforkseal/
http://www.motogoose.com/tech/forkseal/forkseal.html

 

[KC10Chief]

I have an 01 KX250 and I was having the same problem as you. I went down only ONE size on the main jet. The jet was around $5 at the dealer. This solved my problem. I haven't fouled a plug in over a year. I would NEVER run my oil at 60:1 no matter what some oil rep guy told me. You'll be burning your motor up soon I'd imagine. I run a 40:1 mixture. If you're fouling plugs at 40:1, don't change the oil mixture, change your jetting! It's a piece of cake to do. Remove carb, take the bowl off, unscrew old net, screw in new jet. You can't even tell a difference when you compare the two. But it will help. I also run the cheaper NGK plugs that are around $3.50 each. I tried one of the $10 iridium plugs once and I couldn't tell one iota of difference. Stick with the cheap plugs, run your oil at 40:1, and change your jetting. I promise you, you are going to regret it later if you keep running that fuel mixture.

Also, there was somebody on here saying they didn't get how by running a RICHER mixture at 60:1, that solved your problem. I don't get his way of thinking. Sure, there's more fuel compared to oil, so you COULD call it a richer mixture, but it's not really. As far as oil, it's LEANER. At 60:1, you are running less oil through your engine than at 40:1. That's less oil to burn which means you're not fouling your plug. But you're ALSO not lubing your engine properly in my opinion. Switch your fuel back to 40:1, and go buy a leaner jet. They're only a few dollars and super easy to change.

I've also done my own fork seals. You can get the seals and wipers for around $40. It's a bit tricky when you do the first one, but after that, they're not bad at all. I would highly recommend getting the manual, and also recommend getting some seal savers. They're around $20. Since I put seal savers on in 2004, I haven't had any fork seal problems at all. I change the seal savers out once a season too since they stretch out a bit.

 

[dirt ninja]

kc10chief

I will take your advice and buy a 5 dollar jet and run my oil 40:1. seems very simple to do and very inexpensive. My biggest problem with this trial and error is not having anywhere to test my bike out after doing the changes to the carb. grrrrrrrrr...... :aj: The closest place to ride is an hour and a half away. :bang: Maybe ill just ride the street and tear my brand new michlins s12s away.... :ahhh: I'll be back.

 

[KC10Chief]

A quick street run won't hurt those S12's too bad. That's what I run on my bike. I did a race last year that was a grand prix race. About a mile and a half was through town on the streets. I thought I would surely ruin my S-12's, but they held up fine. Just don't accelerate too hard!

 

[FruDaddy]

Do you have any powerlines nearby that you could sneak into?

 

[dirt ninja]

nope

:moon: no powerlines, just tons of asphalt. I just have to dodge the cop that lives down the sreet. :moon:

 

[FruDaddy]

It will probably be simpler to just get the parts and do it at the track on your next trip.

 

[rjl250]

Fouled plugs can be cleaned with just a little bit of time. Soak them in straight gas for a couple of hours and hit them with a bristle brush. If it is really bad you can use a diamond nail file to clean the contact points. I keep one in my tool box. Just make sure to regap and clean off any residue from the filing before reinserting it into the cylinder. This will save you money replacing those ten dollar spark plugs while keeping the correct one in the bike. You only have to buy a new one if the contact point is erroded to the point of no return.

 

[rcd771]

I also have an 02 KX250. I run bel-ray at 32:1 with a BR8ES plug. I do foul one every so often, especially when following my son on his CRF50. However, I would rather replace a $2.00 plug than have to replace a top end. my .02.