1986 Honda VT250FE

[Jonathan_D]

First time in... hello everybody!

I have a 1986 vt250fe and I have two problems...

1) For the life of me I can't find any manual/book that covers this bike. I have been actively seeking one since December. The only leads I have so far are on Japanese, Chinese and Korean websites... unfortunately, I only speak english... If any one knows of a manual (even if it is one for a similar bike) then I would appreciate a point in the right direction.

2) The reason I am seeking a manual is because of the rattling sound that eminates from the engine when engine breaking. I would love for this sound to stop, as I am worried that it's associated with internal engine damage. After much riding and a little tinkering I have decided that it's coming from inside the engine.
My query is this:
Does anyone have any ideas for what the sound might be - it's kind of a rattle and only happens when the throttle is closed and the bike is decelerating. It sounds like something rattling against something else in a rotational fashion (like in time with the piston movement) I believe that it's coming from inside the front half of the engine - but it's hard to check because it doesn't make the sound when the bike is in neutral and stationary.
Even when on the centre stand with the rear wheel in the air and the bike in gear - "the sound" only happens occasionally.

I realise that that is a bit vague.
Please ask me questions if you think you can help.
I'll check back regularly.
Thanks,
Jonathan.

[rwh]

First time in... hello everybody!

I have a 1986 vt250fe and I have two problems...

1) For the life of me I can't find any manual/book that covers this bike. I have been actively seeking one since December. The only leads I have so far are on Japanese, Chinese and Korean websites... unfortunately, I only speak english... If any one knows of a manual (even if it is one for a similar bike) then I would appreciate a point in the right direction.

I was referred here: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~kthmpson/vtr250/

It's a different model name, but appears to be a very similar bike - presumably just due to different markets (mine's a Japanese VT250FG))

Richard

[Squiggles]

i've got some parts of the manual, but not complete..... one of the kiwibiker guys has the one that can be downloaded off the net (you can no longer download the whole thing from that site, only a couple of the bits) and he's sent me a few more pieces, but i dont have the complete manual

can be contacted via pm or msn/email squigglesxv@hotmail.com

[Mr. Peanut]

Re: Rattling - could it not be a dry/maladjusted chain?

[Wasp]

rattling is the cam chain, all up it comes to $2,600 for parts to replace the entire system.

Contact insanity_rules as he now owns my old vtz and he delt with it himself.

[aff-man]

ok my first bike was a vt250fe. And i popped the engine. It was making a rattling sound and by the end of the week I had a proken piston head and a bent crankshaft.

So what did I do. Bought another engine and replaced the entire thing did the work myself (it's pretty easy but talk about crash course in bike mechanics) anyway all up with getting bike shop to change over flywheel (put a vtz engine in) cost me about $900..

Got told by a mechanic that the vt250 engines run in to serious problems after 50000km. Mine had like 89000km so was long overdue. If it's just the came chains it's an easy fix. Just take off the head and the tensioning screw is like right there. I actually have the old cam chains out of my biek from years ago lying around somewhere.

[Jonathan_D]

Thanks for that team.

I have been informed by a helpful fellow at blue wing Honda in Auckland that the VTR250 and VT250 are similar bikes... so the manual link (rwh) was very helpful.
Just one thing... he also mentioned that the cam timing and some other values might be different for the two bikes... does anyone know how to determine these values without the factory manual?

aff-man - I have also heard that the vt250's get into trouble after 50000kms... mines in the upper 30's so I'm lookin to keep it in good nick for as long as I can.

It seems that the sound is indeed the cam chain. Hopefully I'll get a chance to look into it this weekend.

Cheers for the assistance all!

[Wasp]

ive got a pdf version of the honda common service manual and a pdf of one of the other vt bikes (not vtz or vtr)

ill dig it up tommorow (unless i deleted it...)

oh yea - new cam chains are $300

[aff-man]

Thanks for that team.


Just one thing... he also mentioned that the cam timing and some other values might be different for the two bikes... does anyone know how to determine these values without the factory manual?

Cheers for the assistance all!

That's why i swapped the pick up flywheel over. The 2 engines have different firing sequences I think I still have the vtr cdi floating around somewhere so you either do the flywheel or the cdi adn you'll be sweet. Basically for the cam chain as I said just take off the head and the tensioning rod should be staring you in the face. Make sure to either be very carefull or get new gaskets and tighten the head with the correct torque.

[Jonathan_D]

Cheers for that Wasp, please let me know if you find the manual.

aff-man, cheers also. I am only beginning to get into motorcycle maintenance and as yet know very little. Now that I have a few manual hook ups, I think that all I need is tourque wrench and I'll be away. I'm hoping this "crash course in bike mechanics" is a good place to start!

Another question: You mention that you had a broken piston head and a bent crankshaft, do you think that the cam chain will have damaged these parts in my bike also? How wrong do you think things have to go before I was looking at damage like that?

Thanks again.

[aff-man]

Cheers for that Wasp, please let me know if you find the manual.

aff-man, cheers also. I am only beginning to get into motorcycle maintenance and as yet know very little. Now that I have a few manual hook ups, I think that all I need is tourque wrench and I'll be away. I'm hoping this "crash course in bike mechanics" is a good place to start!

Another question: You mention that you had a broken piston head and a bent crankshaft, do you think that the cam chain will have damaged these parts in my bike also? How wrong do you think things have to go before I was looking at damage like that?

Thanks again.

things would have to go pretty wrong. The simple answer is no. But if your cam chain gets loose enough it could chip off teeth or in a worse case senario it will pop off and do some major damage. The bent crankshaft was (I am almost sure) due to the piston head breaking of a piece and it siezing the piston a little bit.

Loose bits of metal in your engine are not a good thing. If you tighten up the cam chains to spec and look after your engine should be fine for another 20-50000km with regular oil and filter changes.

[Wasp]

I dont think I already said this but the main reason for the cam chain problem is the oil journels that transport the oil to the top of the cam chain get blocked - and no oil gets on to them (oh noes)

if you havnt already contacted him contact insanity_rules - he ran some sort of oil treatment thing through his (my old one) to unblock the journels - just doing this resulted in a 50% reduction in noise. after that he replaced the chains just to be sure.

[Roj]

I was referred here: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~kthmpson/vtr250/

It's a different model name, but appears to be a very similar bike - presumably just due to different markets (mine's a Japanese VT250FG))

Richard

looks the same, thanks for the link downloaded the whole thing