250es cold start

[tri again]

8-10 kicks cold with choke on full or the shortest spritz of quickstart with a bum leg
(which is why I have the trike)

Choke cable moves, choke slider with needle moves.
Passages in the choke needle are clear when blowing air thru with a piece of fuel line.

Starts and runs/idles Purrfectly when warm.

All I have to do is push on the kickstarter as I sit down.

This is my newest bike and I would just Love to put on a carb from a 200 with a flapper choke I can SEE! I have tons of those and been thru them lots of times with wonderful results.

I know it may sound dumb to go backwards
but I just don't know what I'm missing with this newer style carb.

When it IS running, sliding the choke on sorta raises the engine idle by a few hundred but doesn't sound like a choking type death for sure.

Ps x 2 - Are these fuel tanks really stainless steel on the 85's?
What kind of gear oil for the differential?

I just use this around the farm since I have trouble walking.
thanks

[hublake]

The tanks are not stainless steel. If it is an 85 BR they are known to be difficult to start in cold weather. Honda did have a kit that you could buy to fix it, but don't think it is available now. I am sure some other members will chime in and come up with a solution. I have one and it is hard to start in the cold so I don't use it much in the winter. I use 80w-90w gear oil

[Northman]

Mine are cold blooded both a 85 and 86 like to be warm , there is a block heater option that was available here in Canada. I have seen guys use magnetic block heater on bottom end that would solve your issue. Get the electric starter fixed save your leg.

[rdlsz24]

Does the electric start not work?

Rob

[Thorpe]

Mine are cold blooded both a 85 and 86 like to be warm , there is a block heater option that was available here in Canada. I have seen guys use magnetic block heater on bottom end that would solve your issue. Get the electric starter fixed save your leg.

How does that work on an aluminum motor? Richening up the pilot will help some to start in the cold climates....

[Dirtcrasher]

Since our search feature doesn't work......, take a look at .org for this same topic. I'm not positive, but I believe that if you open the pressed in starter jet to about .080, that corrects the cold start. Plz confirm that before you pull it out and start drilling and or leave it in place and start drilling. If you leave it in, you had better blow it all out real well when your done. Just confirm that size, sounds big to me now (scratching my head............) but it works!

Nothing else in the kit helps it start cold, nothing. It's just a new starter jet thats larger. On these carbs, bumping the pilot up may not help it start up in the cold...

Or, find a Keihin model 08 carb and that corrects the issue. Thats an 86/87 250SX carb, probably the ES too..............................

[Northman]

use some special removable adhesive to attach block heater to alluminum blocks I assume would not be hard to do.

[jeswinehart]

Yep, DC and i had that size all figured out at one time in discussion about the jet sizing. We both got out our orifice drills (numbered drill set from real small to very small).
I did not dig to deep in the 6 pages that come up when I put in "cold start", but I am sure that thread is in there from maybe 2 years ago(?).
Anyway Joe, read this thread, call those folks posted in there and you should be all set, just a few dollars leaner.
http://www.3wheelerworld.com/showthread.php?106592-Cold-Starting-quot-85-250ES&highlight=cold+start

[honda250sx]

WESTERN HILLS HONDA IS NOW OUT OF STOCK ON THIS ITEM....

UserJ8670 / Jim, got the last one a while back...

[tri again]

wow thanks everyone
I thought it was me on the cold start issue.
No WONder I had to replace the starter brushes.
Startes like an absolute dream when warm so I guess it likes to be warm.
DuH!



The radiator shop called and said the tank was cracked from not being mounted correctly and needed to be welded and that it was stainless so solder wouldn't work.

Maybe that was just to charge more.

We'll be running a 5 day festival here on Oregon in July and we NEED everthing to run.
If we start out with 8 bikes we usually end up with at least one that still works by the end.

[cattle-dog]

i have the newer carb if you are interested . my 85 250sx starts 2 kicks no matter how cold.

[tri again]

i have the newer carb if you are interested . my 85 250sx starts 2 kicks no matter how cold.

very interested

Doest it use the same silly choke plunger needle? or is it a flapper I can see working

[muddog]

what with you guys having problems starting i have a stock 86BR i drive it too work all the time it sits in the shade and howling winds all day at -20C and starts no problem

[cattle-dog]

muddog i ride my 85 250sx everyday to work also life is great isnt it ? another thing you bringing that trike up on compression before you kick it?. if i do it will often start one kick at around 30 degrees now i am not saying you dont have to let it warm up i do or she will stumble a little . i usually push it out the garage door fire it up then put on my helmet and gloves close the door by then she is ready to go. pm me about the carb. drjoe i have a good starter also

[tri again]

muddog i ride my 85 250sx everyday to work also life is great isnt it ? another thing you bringing that trike up on compression before you kick it?. if i do it will often start one kick at around 30 degrees now i am not saying you dont have to let it warm up i do or she will stumble a little . i usually push it out the garage door fire it up then put on my helmet and gloves close the door by then she is ready to go. pm me about the carb. drjoe i have a good starter also

Just fixed the starter. Looked great but needed brushes.

I have a hand crank 47 john deere so pretty familiar with finding compression stroke.

It's the one that will break your arm, chin and teeth.

10 kicks at 40 degrees, full choke, or whaever that circuit thinks it is.
pencil eraser sized plunger with a pencil lead type needle about 1/2 inch long...kinda like a mini mainpiston and needle. Prob is s;posed to open some hidden air/fuel passage. and there is a cold start retrofit kit that should do that same lame compensating.

I'd rather just get your kinda carb that works.

Guess I could drill out the jet from 080 to 085

Tomorrow I'll try to run the starter with switches off like they say in the xl100 owners manual, so it sucks in unburned fuel and THEN switch on and see if it fires.
Maybe I can outsmart it with switch off stupidity.

Darn thing is magical when warm but ankle buster when cold.
Prob why the starter brushes were smoked. Have more sympathy for that starter than I do for my leg and don't want it to work too hard either.
I just got this thing and all my other stuff is pre 85, ya know, carb off, apart, back on in under 15 min.

so... you might have a carb that fits?

I need to move on to other projects like fireroad building, waterlines, gates and fences, chainsaw festivities etc etc.

We'll have over a thousand people here for about 4 days so I may just rent some electric golfcarts and move on to stuff I can actually do something about.

These projects are great for the winter but we're running out of time.

Did you say you have an sx carb that doesn't have that 85 br cold start prob?

thanks

[cattle-dog]

i have a 86 sx carb that should take care of that problem with the cables, my 85 250 sx has never been a problem starting altho i just finished this bike with all new stuff including carb and motor were both nos honda. pm me and we will work out getting that carb to you.

[muddog]

muddog i ride my 85 250sx everyday to work also life is great isnt it ? another thing you bringing that trike up on compression before you kick it?. if i do it will often start one kick at around 30 degrees now i am not saying you dont have to let it warm up i do or she will stumble a little . i usually push it out the garage door fire it up then put on my helmet and gloves close the door by then she is ready to go. pm me about the carb. drjoe i have a good starter also
no i just put on full choke and no more than 3 kicks or a quick tap on the electric start will usually do it

[ATC250ES]

This describes my 85 big red to a tee. It is very hard to start when it has not been cranked in several days or a week or so. Once it has been fired up and warm it will crank with the slightest bump of the starter switch. Does anyone here have the part number for the kit that Honda offered to solve this problem so if I happen to run across one on ebay or elsewhere I would know that is the correct kit? Here is the article in the manual I have that addresses this problem. My frame number falls within the ATC250ES complete kit. I was hoping to maybe find one at the western hills honda mentioned in the thread here but seems they are out of stock now according to what honda250sx wrote.

Thanks,
Eddie

91190

[tri again]

i have the newer carb if you are interested . my 85 250sx starts 2 kicks no matter how cold.

YES please.

how do we go about doing that?

thanks

[tri again]

i have a 86 sx carb that should take care of that problem with the cables, my 85 250 sx has never been a problem starting altho i just finished this bike with all new stuff including carb and motor were both nos honda. pm me and we will work out getting that carb to you.

I dont know what PM means and not sure if we're allowed to swap email addresses
but all my other trikes fire right up and I can run across the field and get stuff done and put fires out instead of playing with them for 1/2 hr to get 20 minutes work done.

That's reserved for the mowers.

[ATC250ES]

An update and maybe help for others. My 85 is very hard to start cold also but runs like a dream once it is started and running. I have called around looking for the kit also with no such luck. While on the phone with a guy at a local Honda shop he knew exactly what I was talking about and he said I know this is going to sound crazy but he said just try it. He told me before I try to crank it to grab it by the handle bars and shake it side to side. I was thinking in my mind yea I am sure this is going to work. Well it had not been cranked in about a week when I thought let me try this so I shook if back and forth maybe 8 to 10 seconds pushed the choke on and hit the start switch and it cranked as if it where like cranking when it is warmed up. I could not believe it but I have tried this every since and so far it cranks right up now and even tried it without the choke on once and fired right off. I still would like to find one of the cold start kits but this has helped me as I used to crank and crank for several minutes or more it seems before it would fire off. Hard to believe and sounds crazy but helped me with my cold start problem. Hope maybe this helps some of the others as it did mine.

[BIGREDGUY]

Its good to here theres an easy solution to this!