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Message: [QUOTE="rodH, post: 952088, member: 63000"] I recently bought a 1997 RM250. The last owner mentioned that I might want to run it 50:1 to avoid all the oil coming out the exhaust (spooge??), etc.... I bought the bike and after realizing that I am getting use to the bike (I hadn't riden in over 10 years) I realized that it isn't running 100%. I also started to foul plugs every ride after my 4th day. I took it to my mechanic and he said I need a new top end. He takes it apart and says that the piston is scuffed from the exhaust valve sliding into the piston and hitting it. He said he would do the top end, grind down the valve a bit (He use to have a 97 RM250 as well and I guess this is common practice??) and clean it. After he put it back together he said it wasn't running as fast as it should (like I experienced earlier) and he needed more time with it. He calls back and said he got it to run pretty well by adjusting the Valve springs, but it still isn't 100% because I have a HUGE crease/dent in my header pipe (Bills pipe) just exiting the cylinder. I ride it for a few rides and agree, better, but not 100%. I send my pipe out to get fixed and decarbonized and reinstall it. now the bike sounds better at idle (starts on 2nd or 3rd kick everytime), MUCH more poppy and fresh, only problem is, when I go past 1/2 throttle the bike jerks back and forth like it is misfiring. THE ONLY change I made was fixing the pipe, I am still getting a TON of black oil coming out of the pipe/header. I adjusted the valve springs to the stock settings (1/2 turn) and it seems to run better, but still seems to cut out in a alternating fashion and runs horrible (impede exhaust flow at greater than 1/2 throttle and under half throttle it sounds OK, but still runs slow) . Plugs look GREAT, jetting is the exact jetting Bills recommends on thier site for my bike (Main Jet...Stock=175 Bills=165, Slow Jet....Stock=48, Bills=45, Jet Needle=3rd positon). Called Eric and asked for advice, he gave me some ideas, and sold me on his book (which I immediately bought, buy haven't found the answer to my problem) I was convinced after reading that that my spring was crisscrossed or the valve was sticking, that that was going to be my problem, but after going home and taking the whole dumb thing apart, that was NOT my problem!!!!!, BUT, BUT, BUT....I look next to the spring at the outer lever and I notice that the valve assembly Rod isn't connected AT ALL to the outer lever, so I connect this ROD, but it feels like it isn't connected to ANYTHING inside the crankcase???? But I put it back together and test it out.......SAME PROBLEM. As I completely take the crank case apart to see what I find is connected to the other end of this ROD, and it is connected, BUT NOT CONNECTED PROPERLY, at the end where it is supposed to go in the hole of the Actuator, it isn't actually in the hole, it just slides back and forth without actually moving the ACTUATOR!!!! (or the actuator when it moves, would have NO EFFECT on the rod, which means it would move the outer lever/exhaust valve) My conclusion WAS that this HAS to be my problem. I rush to get new bushings/clips, put it all together. I get the thing started and SAME FREAKING PROBLEM?!?!?! At full throttle the bike jerks back and forth and has, and if I modulate the throttle just right I can get this to decrease, BUT the bike has absolutely NO power (bottom end, and especially TOP END). On a flat road, it can bearly maintain speed in 3rd gear. It is sort of like a bike when it is flooded, but it is in a more on-and-off feeling, NOT just bogging. Things I have checked that look fine: 1. Exhaust valve moves freely when I move it by hand and watch it move when I twist throttle 2. Spark plug looks great (put in a new one and no change) 3. Exhaust valve springs both adjusted to stock settings 4. Jetting in Bills Spec 5. Bills pipe was just fixed 6. New premium gas 7. Suzuki premium oil 32:1 8. Silencer repacked 2 rides ago 9. Air filter recently cleaned 10. Reeds inspected and look fine (no crakes, chips or gaps) 11. Gas filter flows properly Things that concern me that it still maybe the problem: 1. Jetting, it maybe what Bills recommends, but maybe still off??? (since the problem was worse after I fixed the pipe, even though the bike wasn't 100% to start off with?) 2. Top end-was done a few rides ago, BUT what we found on the old piston/rings was the valve rubbing and scrathing the piston, I rode it 2 times since the new top end, but maybe this was enough to screw it up again? 3. problem in crank, lower end, bottom end??? 4. Something electrical??? ANY OTHER IDEAS???????? This is driving me crazy. I have a Clymer manual, Erics Manual and decent mechanic skills, but I just don't have any experience or knowledge on how to diagnose what the problem is. ANYONE???? I am supposed to go riding on Tues with my bro out of town (he is flying out over 1000 miles for a vacation and has been bugging me to teach him how to ride, I took a day off work to do so, and we don't have a bike to ride, no mechanics in the area have the time to do it either). [/QUOTE]

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