XR 250 road conversion

[sAsLEX]

Due to recent circumstances I am having to get my crusty old XR out of retirement and get it on the road. Its not going at the mo due to lack of spark, went when it was ridden on to trailer then didn't go when taken off same trailer later in the day (around sep last year).

A few things Motu, whats the deal with indicators, is it the same as reflectors in that they need a standard of some sort on them to pass a WOF? Oh and the likely prices of VIN etc would be cool as well if someone has that at hand.

Its and 11'84' model ME-06 6104204 or similar forgot to write down and blurry photo. Anyone out there got any knowledge on why it would of conked out? Gone through and checked for frayed/poor conections and cant seem to find anything. Was told its often the spark plug holder thing (red arrow in pic) so got a new one of them(didn't change the situation), going to get a new spark plug in the next few days and try that as well. Any more ideas, and info will be great.

Alex

[Posh Tourer :P]

New VIN and plate is over and above 1 years rego. COF = $150 + Rego = $370 + a little - I think it was just over $400 for the ZXR400

Did you try and clean the plug? It ought to spark anyway, even if it is cruddy. Is your coil charging up?

[sAsLEX]

how do you test that?? Another thing it could be is the pickup coils but again dont know how to test them.

oh and what sort of tyres can the standard wheels take?? The current front says not for highway use!

[Posh Tourer :P]

Is it clicking? Is there battery charge? Jam your finger in places and see when you ge a shock....

Or get some testing equipment - dunno how that works...

[F5 Dave]

Is it clicking? Is there battery charge? Jam your finger in places and see when you ge a shock....

Or get some testing equipment - dunno how that works...

Is it clicking? What when you kickstart it? Battery? e ess a dirt bike, e not got no battery. (these pretend mexicans don't know a double negative when they see one)

The killswitch may be shorted out, but most likely one of the ignition coils (under the engine cover) is duff, or the Ignition.

[Motu]

Seeing as it was running when put on the trailer I'd like to think it wasn't the CDI unit,pulse generator or trigger - but they are still possible faults.First thing is as Dave suggests - just remove the wire from the kill switch,eliminate it completly,then go over all connections,has it got an ign switch? bypass that too.To check for a weak spark that's not comming through - use an old analogue multimeter set to any voltage setting,AC/DC,whatever - put one lead down the plug connector,kick it over and look for a needle flick (you won't hurt the meter,mine is over 25yrs old and been mistreated like this for years) if you get a flick,then everything is working,you just got to find out why it's weak.

As for the indicators - the book says ''approved''....any indicator lamps off a bike will be ok,after market mini units....mmmm,dunno,that will depend upon how nasty the inspector is - be nice to him eh? Just for your information - the XR has always been in the book as not requireing indictors...this goes back to the first ones in the late 70s,early 80s when they were supposed to be competion only bikes that needed road registration - but they can't actualy remove the exemtion without a lot of hoo ha,so it stays.Whether you can exploit this fact is doubtful,you are more likely to set him into ''I'm a miserable prick'' mode.

[F5 Dave]

With the indicators/lights etc if it is getting VIN’d it will need to have those DOT numbers on them for some dumbarse ‘safety’ reason. Most of the cheap aftermarket stuff doesn’t. I wonder how many accidents have been caused by this omission? [Currently using a vacuum to take the piss].

Didn’t read the bit about how it went on trailer same day, I usually don’t believe people who sell or give you a bike that went just fine. Their memory is often quite selective, (like you will find bits missing etc) but it sounds like it was yours to start with.

However corrosion would be a good candidate, but sometimes coils stop working with temperature change, possibly this is what has happened & Motu’s advice with the meter should confirm this. Any decent coil rewinder should be able to check the coil.

[Holy Roller]

XR has always been in the book as not requireing indictors...this goes back to the first ones in the late 70s,early 80s when they were supposed to be competion only bikes that needed road registration -

Ahhhh those were the days my old 81 XR500a twin shock pathetic headlight and just stop and tail lights, what a bike took me on some adventures that bike did. I believe that the XL models had the full indicators and decent headlight... more to break when one fell off.

[sAsLEX]

Didn’t read the bit about how it went on trailer same day, I usually don’t believe people who sell or give you a bike that went just fine. Their memory is often quite selective, (like you will find bits missing etc) but it sounds like it was yours to start with.

However corrosion would be a good candidate, but sometimes coils stop working with temperature change, possibly this is what has happened & Motu’s advice with the meter should confirm this. Any decent coil rewinder should be able to check the coil.

it was me who rode it on to the trailer so I knows what happened.

Coil Rewinder near the Shore??

[F5 Dave]

Just on the site to check out something myself (seems numberplate lights have to be white (boo) kinda rules out LEDs for my special)

LTSA WOF for bikes

[F5 Dave]

This is the only guy I’d use


J Halsey Rewinds Ltd
49 Mellons Bay Rd
Howick
Auckland
0-9-534 4161

[Posh Tourer :P]

Is it clicking? What when you kickstart it? Battery? e ess a dirt bike, e not got no battery. (these pretend mexicans don't know a double negative when they see one)

I wasnt talking about starter motor clicking, more about any other electrical component not charging up/discharging too soon when you turn ignition on. I seem to remember that some of them will do that if they are switching off to early or summat.

[NordieBoy]

Just for your information - the XR has always been in the book as not requireing indictors...this goes back to the first ones in the late 70s,early 80s when they were supposed to be competion only bikes that needed road registration - but they can't actualy remove the exemtion without a lot of hoo ha,so it stays.Whether you can exploit this fact is doubtful,you are more likely to set him into ''I'm a miserable prick'' mode.

My local inspector dude races classic mx and rides..... XR's.
I think I'll have no problem registering mine

Headlight with dip, tail light, plate light, reflector and brake light working off both front and rear brake.

I've attached a zip file of all the LTSA pdf's for bikes...

[sAsLEX]

thanks for all the info guys.

Went today and got a new plug, and a second hand coil ( coil guy said there was no way to test so I just got another one 30$) and have taken out the kill switch.

Result still no spark, even put my finger across the terminals to see if the old finger multi meter read anything but nope.

Guy where I got the spark plug suggested the thing iniside left of engine ?stator? or something could of gone, any other ideas??

[Motu]

I'm not too familiar with the 250,it's about 10yrs since I was working on them,but there will be a CDI pulse generator coil in the stator,that's in the left case and the trigger is in the right side case.The pulse coming out of the alt will be a high voltage,say 250 to 600 volts,so a multimeter should pick that one up.The trigger is a lower voltage and slow,only once a rev to fire the spark - I like to use a scope to pick this one up,but you may see it with a multimeter.If you are getting the correct inputs to your CDI unit,but no out put to the coil,I'd say the CDI was stuffed.

All those exemptions in for indicators were model specific,like KT250,TY250,PE175,IT175 etc - none of those are likely to be getting WoFs anymore,so it's a non issue really - cept the XR is still a current model,and the year is not specified....heh,heh,heh...