Yamaha XT250 Thread - All things related to the XT from riding to modifications.

Just downloaded the 2008 manual which will be handy.
The bike's in the shed in bits, and it's really only half an our with a wire stripper, soldering iron and shrinkwrap and I'll have all the wires joined in the right order again. Not knowing is a problem, but an obvious cockup like this is easy for me. It'll be running tomorrow night I think.

This might have been done to find a way around a short, or two. Be sure to check each wire for voltage and resistance to ground, before re-connecting.

Does anyone have a set of plastics for sale for a 2019 or have leads on where to grab some?

Troubleshooting help, please!

Was riding today when at 60mph on the highway the bike (2017 XT) suddenly stopped running. All lights stayed lit, no trouble lights. Coasted to a stop and would crank but not re-start, as if no fuel. Had been riding in heavy rain but don't know if that is relevant (have ridden in even heavier rain w/o any issues in the past). Parked bike for an hour waiting for a tow and it restarted and then ran fine for about 10", then cut out again the same way. It feels like it suddenly runs out of gas (tank is full). Towed it home. An hour later it has re-started and idled fine, and taken throttle w/o problem. I have not tried to ride it as i do not want to again get stranded. There have been zero problems with this bike previously in 4,500 miles.

There have been no modifications to the engine or the electrical system.

I'm no mechanic. Anybody have any suggestions about what's going on or how to diagnose this problem before it ruins my vacation in North Georgia?

My soaking wet gear and broken down bike. Note the feral cat in the background. When I stopped he came out of the woods, soaking wet, and sat on the guardrail looking pitiful. During the hour I was there he slowly moved closer and closer to me on that guardrail. When the rain stopped he carefully cleaned his matted fur. Under other circumstances I would have tried to capture it and take it to a shelter, but I selfishly had my own problems to worry about.

What shorts ignition?

Spark plug cap?

Coil should be sealed.

Kill switch? Any WD40? Spray inside the switches, around the outside of each switch.

If no WD40, blow as hard as you can around the kill switch.

All I can think of.

Kickstand safety neutral switch.

Spark plug cap appears fine. Coil is sealed. I’ll spray kill switch with WD. I’ll check side stand switch. Thanks.

How do you seal the coil?
The coil on the XT250 is located super low compared to the XT225
I am little concerned about water crossing

@flei
Our bike has the same color.
Care to share what happens to the bike?
Thanks

I would go back to get it, you will have a friend for life. Someone dumped it and it is still looking for the right person with a heart.

OTOH since the starter cranks but it doesn’t start, it’s not the kill switch or stand switch if my logic is correct.

I had a mess that looked like that. My old KLR 650 got stolen and was recovered with butchered wiring. I went to a nearby moto junkyard and found something with a pair of 9-wire connectors and managed to splice them into my bike's harness to get me going again. Fun project.

Should be sealed as in one piece protected wire coil to spark plug cap, so nothing to worry about there. Not like the old days.

You are right, the XT won't turn over if the kill switch is in the off position.

What else could be grounding ignition cycle?

Hopefully someone here can bring me up to speed on the air filter. I took it out and it was reasonably dirty - seen much worse on other bikes, so not in the OMG category, so I looked them up on ebay expecting them to be in the $10~$20 range, only to find they are in the $30~$80 range.
The question then is whether it is your normal practice to just wash them out in kerosene etc, or is regular expensive replacement the norm?

A short somewhere? I doubt I am a good enough mechanic to find it within the wire bundles.

No one is mentioning the FI system and it feels to me like it is the fuel, not the ignition, that is failing. I have no idea how to further diagnose this.

Do these bikes throw error codes on the dash or elsewhere? My BMW lights a dash code if i even look at it the wrong way.

Take the bike to a dealer? Still under warranty? With countless XTs around the world, riding in the rain is common, there should never be an issue.

$12 to $24 on Amazon with free shipping seems reasonable.

Wash a paper filter? No way.

$12.60 for Yamaha filter seems very reasonable.
https://www.yamahapartspro.com/oemparts/p/yamaha/5xt-14451-00-00/element-air-cleaner

Get two to be prepared for the next time.

I’ve bought filters and many other items from Procycle and have been very pleased with them. OEM air filter: https://procycle.us/product/705-air-filter-oem-element

Does the FI pump run audibly for a couple of seconds to build up pressure when you turn the key on during the failure times?

I found out about code 30 on my recent CDR+COBDR. When the bike takes a good nap, the dash shows "30". It will crank but not fire up with this code displayed. Turning the key off and on resets it.