ninjette.org - View Single Post - Reviving a Ninja 250 - Low compression

spotmaxdog · January 31st, 2022, 01:58 PM

Bob, what did it for me was being militant about tracking down EVERY way air could get into and out of the carb. Took my time with all the intakes and exhausts. Plugged every vacuum line out of the thing until I could figure out I was losing vacuum out the petcock and idle air enricher lines. Popped new lines on those and I was in business.

One step forward but two steps back. Got the milkshake oil. Torn it down and head gasket was leaking as evidenced by two extremely clean piston heads. Serves me right for being impatient and not waiting for new head gasket to arrive in the mail when I redid the rings. Luckily it only ran for about 15 minutes before I realized I was losing coolant SOMEWHERE. Another piece of luck, self inflicted... one of the locknuts for the valve adjusters unscrewed itself and adjusted the valve to max clearance, must have forgotten to torque check it. it sounded like someone was banging on a snare drum. QA fail for me, shouldn't be doing that stuff at 11pm on a Sunday...

Putting the new gasket on it now. Too bad getting to the head gasket is like doing dental surgery through the rectum. Entire bike is back to pieces again.

January 31st, 2022, 01:58 PM	#20
spotmaxdog ninjette.org member Name: Terry Location: Pensacola FL Join Date: Jan 2022 Motorcycle(s): BMW R1200GS, R1100S, Suzuki GR650, Ninja 250 Pregen Posts: 24	Bob, what did it for me was being militant about tracking down EVERY way air could get into and out of the carb. Took my time with all the intakes and exhausts. Plugged every vacuum line out of the thing until I could figure out I was losing vacuum out the petcock and idle air enricher lines. Popped new lines on those and I was in business. One step forward but two steps back. Got the milkshake oil. Torn it down and head gasket was leaking as evidenced by two extremely clean piston heads. Serves me right for being impatient and not waiting for new head gasket to arrive in the mail when I redid the rings. Luckily it only ran for about 15 minutes before I realized I was losing coolant SOMEWHERE. Another piece of luck, self inflicted... one of the locknuts for the valve adjusters unscrewed itself and adjusted the valve to max clearance, must have forgotten to torque check it. it sounded like someone was banging on a snare drum. QA fail for me, shouldn't be doing that stuff at 11pm on a Sunday... Putting the new gasket on it now. Too bad getting to the head gasket is like doing dental surgery through the rectum. Entire bike is back to pieces again.