85’ Honda 250es

[Halligan86]

Backstory on the ATC:

I bought this at a auction in a not running condition. I bought it from the estate of the original owner. I ended up replacing the clutch, lashing the valves, replacing all of the gaskets, a side cover, plastics, stripped and rebuilt the carb, new ignition, stripped and sealed the original tank. New petcock on top of it.

Issue:

It starts right up with a little choke especially on a 14F morning here in Michigan. I only run rec fuel in my machines. If I don’t anticipate using it for a while I’ll run the carb out of fuel. Again it starts right after I give it about a minute for the fuel to flow and a little choke. I can ride in reverse and in 1st gear without issue. When I shift into 2nd it maybe makes it a foot and dies. After like 4 or 5 restarts it’s fine riding in 2nd and the higher gears. Pretty frustrating. It will also become boggy in the throttle in 1st during some of these restarts before it “fixes” itself.

I’ve tried letting it warm up without choke for a timed 5 minutes. Then running without the gas cap thinking the venting feature was not working on the gas cap.


any thoughts on where to go next?

[Jim mac]

I know your thinking a fuel issue, but just for giggles pop the rotor cover off and check the condition of the return springs. you might be having a timing issue due to rusted, broken springs. jim

[350for350]

The 250ES/SX don't have the rotor on the end of the cam like a 200/185 does. Halligan, if you can start it with just a little bit of choke on a 14* morning, I think that you're probably running too rich. Will fixing this solve all of your problems? I don't know, but I do know that you should have to use full choke to start when it's that cold unless it's kept in a heated garage.