KLX250SF died on way home from work

[TSiding]

Guys,

We've got a week long trip planned for tomorrow, and my brother's 2009 KLX250SF died on the way from work today. I live about 100 miles away, and am trying to help him out. Here's what happened he started it up and noticed it sounded louder than usual. Rode for a while, and noticed a whining sound, then the engine died and would not restart. It would not even crank over. He got it towed home, and the driver was thinking maybe the battery. I'm thinking that's not case as the lights and everything were still working. Any known issues with this bike? I ride a KLR and am pretty familiar with that but, not so much with the KLX. If anyone familiar with this bike has any ideas, I would appreciate it.

Thanks,
TSiding

[DS Cowboy]

It was the battery on mine. Lights would come on but go off if you pushed the starter button. I was able to shift up to 4th and push start it to get home.

[TSiding]

He tried a new one last night, with no luck. He eventually got it to run for a couple seconds, he said it sounded kinda strange, but then it died out.

[Blackheart]

Is it still full of oil? Was the exhaust sound louder, or the engine sound louder?

[TSiding]

There was oil in it. But we're in rough shape now...

They got it going this morning, but it blew a dime-sized hole in the bottom end of the engine casing, right hand side. I'm thinking a bearing blew on one of the gears somewhere based on the noises he was hearing, and eventually it went and the cam chain jumped the track. We did not crack the cases open yet, but took the tensioner off and there is nothing but pressure if you push through, my KLR has a good amount of play, I'm thinking it is jammed up. We're thinking its going to need a new engine at this point, any suggestions?

Thanks,
TSiding

[Blackheart]

Ouch. Sorry, Dude.

If it were me, yep, I'd buy an engine. Or, buy another bike, and take the best parts off of both bikes to use on the new bike, and part out all the rest...even the frame.

Hopefully the cylinder and head are unharmed...there's a good start in sale-able parts right there.

[TSiding]

Yeah, we were headed for Maine. Better here than on the road I guess, really sucks though. About 10,000 miles on the bike and it has always ran solid until this. You think there is any chance of repairing something like this, welding the case or something. Not sure of the internal damage or anything yet.

[Blackheart]

Originally Posted by TSiding

Yeah, we were headed for Maine. Better here than on the road I guess, really sucks though. About 10,000 miles on the bike and it has always ran solid until this. You think there is any chance of repairing something like this, welding the case or something. Not sure of the internal damage or anything yet.

Oh, sure, anything is repairable. If you have the time, and are willing to strip it down and examine everything. It could be fun, if that kind of thing is fun to you. If you'd rather ride...maybe not so fun. Best of wishes to you, whatever route you choose to follow.

[TSiding]

Yeah, just thinking about options right now. When we were younger we used to have a quad that liked to throw the drive chain. Once in a while it would bash against engine, and bust it open. Luckily it was just a cover which you could completely replace. But I think we had it welded once, and actually epoxied it once or twice, and it held oil solid.

I'm thinking right now to split the cases, see what's busted and how bad. If we could get it to a point where we can manually turn it over maybe it will work again, who knows worth a shot.

Appreciate the response
TSiding

[TSiding]

We got a chance to look at this some this some over the weekend.

Took right side engine cover off and the valve cover off, expecting to see an awful mess, it did not look that bad.

Found some chunks of metal in the oil screen though. We were rotating the engine manually and finally noticed a tooth missing on what looked like the gear attached to the crank.

Also, the cam chain seemed to very tight. I'm not sure what it should feel like and can only compare it to my KLR. It's tight enough where the tensioner seems to really have no purpose, we were actually turning it over without it in with no problems.

The drag also seemed kind of jerky, it more or less turned over fine, but again, I never did this with a good KLX, so not sure if that is normal or not.

We can probably replace that gear, I'm thinking, but that does not seem normal for something like that to break, so not sure if we can call that the cause of the problem, or if something else is wrong, and that just happened to be what gave.

Also, I want to get in and check the valves again. When we were taking things apart we did not have feeler gauges. Later we picked up a set, and I already had the cams out. I had pushed them in manually and measured(It was getting late), and they were at least over the minimum clearance. One thing I had the engine at TDC, but I can't remember if I had the lobes pointed in or out at that point when I pulled them. If I put them back in, does it matter, if it does what is the best way to tell what position they should be in.

If anyone has any experience with this motor or any ideas, they would be appreciated.

Thanks,
TSiding