Bought '99 ninja 250 Needs some TLC (Video & Pics). Help wanted :P

[Calix]

Hey again guys its Calix,

Picked up my baby today but found out my problems are past a short in the wiring harness. My problems are now the whole wiring harness, the exhaust, broken levers and rust.

Basically the guy I bought it from had it running for awhile on a new wiring harness but for some reason decided to go back to the old one. Upon doing so he encountered a short and took all the fairings off and unplugged the harness from EVERYTHING and everything else on the bike (radiator hoses, exhaust) so the bike I went to pick up in nice "Almost Ready to Run" status turned into "Ready to Run when you replace this old harness and figure out how to reconnect/replace all this other stuff" But for $445 I cant complain too much.

But, there's another side to this story, I need this bike to be running in ~30 days. My parents decided that it was time for me to get my own vehicle and prepare for the world. So after my 30 day grace period is up, no more rides from the parents. Time to walk to work,or school, or anywhere. But the details aren't all that important and thats some of my own first world issues so /end rant

So im calling out to you wise riders on here to at least point me in the right direction as to what im looking to repair / replace and how to go about it. Im pretty good at fixing things but im kind of at a standstill here since I lack knowledge in motorcycle mechanics.

Im going to start by removing this old harness and replacing it with the "new" one to see if I can get it to at least start to try and turn the engine over and work from there.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOFS...ature=youtu.be
Pics : http://imgur.com/a/6WOyK#0
Sorry for some of the blurry pics, the gopro needs to be reaalll still.

[Ghostt]

Well first of all get the wiring harness installed, and then hope it cranks, and has spark, after that then comes the carburetors, I'm gonna guess those will need a meticulous cleaning, and refurbishing, I recommend PM @ducatiman for all your carburetor needs. Also check the inside of the fuel tank for rust.

You need patience, just keep us up to date. I've done plenty of basket case projects, just take it step by step, and don't take shortcuts.

[Calix]

Originally Posted by Ghostt

Also check the inside of the fuel tank for rust.

Yes, there's lose rust in the tank, I can hear it. Going to try and use the ol' sand and distilled water trick. maybe go for the magnet route as well for some of the bigger pieces.

[Ghostt]

Originally Posted by Calix

Yes, there's lose rust in the tank, I can hear it. Going to try and use the ol' sand and distilled water trick. maybe go for the magnet route as well for some of the bigger pieces.

I personally recommend having the inside of the coated, most radiator shops can do this, or at least get the inside of the tank cleaned.

[Calix]

Originally Posted by Ghostt

I personally recommend having the inside of the coated, most radiator shops can do this, or at least get the inside of the tank cleaned.

Will look into this, thanks!

[Ghostt]

Originally Posted by Calix

Will look into this, thanks!

Good luck, better to let a professional do the tank, unless your skilled with chemicals, I did the one for my EX500 with muriatic acid, but I don't recommend it, due to there are dangers involved. A radiator shop has all the equipment to clean the tank, and most offer a coating service, which prevents future rust problems.


Below are pictures of my EX tank before and after, note that the after picture you can see a little flash rust. I then had it coated by my local radiator shop.

My local shop charges $75 for cleaning and coating of a tank, money well spent.

[Calix]

So removed the old wiring harness and it was a mess. Electrical tape wrapped around cut wires that had been twisted together. About to put the new one on. Checked the fuse box as well.. The 10a ignition fuse had been replaced with a 30a that had popped. Along with the 10a gan fuse. Will replace both with 10a fuses.

Checked the inside of the tank today under some light and it really isn't all that bad, not as bad as your after picture. Light specks of rust over the place and some heavier areas, but you can see clean metal.

Old harness: left / New harness: right

[InvisiBill]

It might be a good idea to check the new harness out with a multimeter before installing it. Just make sure that there are no shorts or broken circuits. Hopefully it just verifies that it's working properly, but if there is a problem it'll be a lot easier to figure out before it's installed on the bike.

[Calix]

Will do @InvisiBill

But on another note, looks like someone tried to "fix" the blown fuses by wrapping some wire around the blades.

[Calix]

Got the new harness plugged in after testing it for shorts.

While looking at the harness schematics I noticed that the batteries negative/ground wire (the one with the bullet terminal for the system ground) was being used for the positive side of the battery and being plugged into the main fuse / starter solenoid. So i went and removed from the solenoid and reconnected it to the frame and put the other positive wire back.

I'm sure this was a problem, but when I went to try and start the bike I got no signs of any electricity running through the bike. So I figured that this battery was dead and decided to charge it using a 2amp trickle charged and blew the main fuse (still had ignition on?). So now I'm SOL till tomorrow when I can go down and pick up some more 30a fuses.

[Ghostt]

Shouldn't have blown the fuse normally, you might want to double check things even triple check.

Unless it was blown to start with, after seeing the DIY fuse, I'd check them all.

[Calix]

Originally Posted by Ghostt

Shouldn't have blown the fuse normally, you might want to double check things even triple check.

Unless it was blown to start with, after seeing the DIY fuse, I'd check them all.

I had checked all the fuses before and only found two blown, which I replaced. The main fuse gave an audible pop about two seconds into charging so I'm sure it wasn't blown before hand.

Since I don't have anything better to do tonight I'm going to go ahead and recheck the fuses to make sure no more are wrapped with wire. Then I'm going to go ahead and check each wire on the harness real thorough like.

[Calix]

While checking the harness again I noticed what I believe is the wiring for the kickstand cut from the sensor and twisted together (open to ground). So I have since removed the leftover cabling and disconnected from harness.

[Calix]

Pulled out the carbs and the insides were actually really clean, some varnish, but minimum. The diaphrams were perfect and all the jets were clear. Went ahead and pulled everything apart though and set it in some cleaner. Nothing wrong with a shinier carb.

Getting the carb out was a pain, I still haven't gotten the airbox out, postponed that till the morning. Got it all unscrewed though and in two halves, found out that the plate underneath the battery box actually isn't connected to the airbox but just bolted down to the frame. Hinting to someone taking out the airbox at some point and forgetting to bolt that back through the box.

On another note, I will pick up a new battery Thursday. Then we can see how everything works on the electrical side. "Fingers crossed"

Looking at the fairings I'm doubtful some will go back on.. I'm short on fairing screws and the under belly fairing's left "arm" was completely bent, I straightened it out and realinged it the best I could though.

The gauge cluster housing (white side and black side) are cracked away in some places and void of any apparent mounting structures. How is it supposed to go back on

[Calix]

Carb is all clean, jets are good, mixture needle at 2.5 turns out. And I cut off the battery box from the airbox. Not my cleanest job. But it was hard to work around the frame.

[Ghostt]

Here's some helpful tips of mine,

Your initial setting should be 3 full turns out from the bottom, remember just slightly tighten them, don't go all Conan on them.



Then warm it up, slowly turn 1 side pilot screw in until the rpms drop, then back out till RPM's peak (and no further)* Twist throttle...see how it reacts...tweak to taste.
Repeat on other side... test ride. You're looking for best throttle response and transition from just cracked to 1/4 throttle opening or so.*

Thats a quickie, 10 cent tutorial on setting pilot screws.**

Also if your feeling adventurous, let's check the carburetor synchronization, using my method,

You can sync with the carbs in hand. Back the idle adjustment off to close that carb then match the second carb to it with the sync screw. You can then turn the idle adjustment up while using a thin feeler gauge (maybe .002") between the throttle plate and the throttle bore, adjust to just fit, and then check the second one and adjust to match. If you have good feel for this it will run fine once installed.

It would do folks well to take a minute to review and understand what a sync tool does, how it works. And take another minute to look at the carb linkage and sync adjustments available to fix irregularities that might occur. It can help take some of the mystery out of this as well as stop unnecessary carb sync screwups.

Meaning, that the carbs were right once, the butterflies were matched and it performed well, but then changed. Undecided And the problem somehow occurred in the butterfly direct shafts, or the sync screw turned or wore that pad that it rests on, or the carburetor pairing/ bridging brackets twisted in relation to each other, and enough so that the butterflies no longer operated in sync, such that performance noticeably suffered. And a fix will be accomplished by changing the butterfly position, the only thing the sync adjustment does. Hmmm. Really? Undecided

Meanwhile, the tool measures vacuum at each individual runner. That's all it does, how it works. And vacuum is effected by a huge list of things, butterfly position being only one of them, and the only one addressed with that tool while turning those sync screws. The rest of that list includes, valve adjustment, jetting, float level, compression differences between cylinders caused by wear as well as factory CC differences in the head, intake runner, as well as flow by port variations, etc. Variations in cams, wear or factory tolerance. Then there's the potential big one, pilot jets and pilot screw mixture settings. All of those effect the vacuum and will be read by the sync tool, accurately identifyng the difference that exists, and with the only adjustment being used to "correct" the problem, move the butterfly relationship, one to the next.

It's that clear understanding that has me of the opinion and long time practice to not touch the sync screws on a set of carbs that were right once and were never dismantled from the rack. And jet cleaning as well as float needle changing doesn't require that they be dismantled. And further, if I DID dismantle a set of carbs, I just matched the butterflies on the bench at assembly, using a feeler gauge, and then never touched them again, never gave them another thought.

That method, properly executed, will have THAT portion of the complete equation, balanced flow to each cylinder in a multi-cylinder/ carb application due to butterfly position, satisfied entirely adequately. And in fact, it has worked for me every time I've done it on every bike (as well as individual runner/ butterfly V-8 intakes, all eight) that I've ever owned or any that I've fixed for others. And the times I fixed for others was usually after an attempt by others to sync the carbs, chasing a problem, or sometimes not even chasing a problem, but one they created wth a sync tool, chasing a problem from that list, that was never a butterfly position change problem. Those linkages are so direct and simple that they don't know how to screw themselves up. Not enough to care about.

I'm sure this will start a lot of controversy so I won't argue it, just offering it for those who understand the whole picture that I outlined and might make good use of it. It is what I've done, on every engine I ever worked on, including blue printed racing engines as well as regular old, high mileage street stuff. I've had at least four, four cylinder bikes with over 100,000 miles that ran quite well, the whole time, and never had a carb sync performed. When they did finally get a total disassembly, this is how I set them up, on the bench. Over the years I've straightened out at least a half dozen messed up ones, probably more, and on the bench, after fixing the original problem which was fouled pilot jets.

I only posted this because it seems like its coming up fairly often, especially with problems from a sync gone bad. One I would suggest was never a sync problem to begin with. A big or sudden change in performance is NEVER a sync problem. NEVER. Remember that. Cool If there is a problem, and you connect the gauges? YES, there will definitely be an imbalance indicated. But because that hole has a problem that is from the rest of the list. A bad plug, a plugged pilot jet, a screwed up float, a bad valve or setting, etc. Every one of them effecting the vacuum in the intake but NOT from a sudden move of a butterfly position, a sync adjustment.

Also do the washer modification to the main needles, it helps the mid range, between the washers and tuning the idle mixture screws, your all set.

[Calix]

Main fuse still blowing have it singled out to one pin/ connection. Anyone?

[Ghostt]

Okay let's try a long shot, unplug the R/R and then see if the fuse blows, if it doesn't odds are the R/R is dead. If the fuse still blows, look at the wiring diagram again, and start chasing wires with a multi-meter.

If in fact it is the R/R, I would recommend upgrading to a MOSFET R/R, as I've done on both of mine with no issues whatsoever. Below is my write-up.

Who wants to see a MOSFET R/R upgrade?
https://www.ninjette.org/forums/blog.php?b=8354

http://faq.ninja250.org/wiki/Wiring_...s_%26_diagrams

Good luck.

[Calix]

Unplugged the r/r..still wanted to pop the fuse, as soon as I went to plug in the red connector that same pin sparked. Could it be that the starter solenoid is specific to what side the positive lead is plugged into? It's currently plugged into the left side.

Might try swapping them and checking the starter motors ground. P/o swapped the positive and negative lead cables, I wouldn't put it past him to mix these up. I already checked all the wires running from the red connector, ignition, and fuse box, all should be fine...

EDIT: No cigar, could not unscrew the starter motor lead from solenoid. I'm assuming that's due to it not being moved in 16 years, so stock position. Can't find a ground for the starter
motor, assuming it's hidden.

[Ghostt]

The main ground is attached to motor itself, on the right side towards the back of the engine, and starter, see picture below.

Sounds like either the solenoid itself could be bad, or a wire is grounding out somewhere, or hooked up wrong.

[Calix]

Originally Posted by Ghostt

The main ground is attached to motor itself, on the right side towards the back of the engine, and starter, see picture below.

Sounds like either the solenoid itself could be bad, or a wire is grounding out somewhere, or hooked up wrong.

On my bike, the main ground lead was/is connected there. anyway to test the solenoid?

[Calix]

Will re-test the harness while in its current position on the bike

[Calix]

I decided to test for continuity between some ignition wires and the main ground. Found continuity between ground wire and a gray wire that leads from the ignition module to the ignition. Unplugged harness and set it aside to test again, no more continuity.

Opened up the harness along the gray wires path, didn't find any cuts/breaks in the gray or ground wire.

Put it all back together, decided to put the harness back together while the main fuse connection was plugged in. As soon as the main ground was connected, poof bye bye fuse.

So dont know if there is still a short in the harness somewhere or if something else is connected wrong. But I know I don't want to open up that harness again.

Would it be easiest just to by a new harness? Or does the problem lie elsewhere?

[Calix]

Ordered new harness and put it on..Still popped. Yayyyyy Instead of using up all these fuses I'm just using the multi-meter and checking ohms. As expected .2-.4 ohms ... Started moving wires around and got a couple spikes above 100 that stayed for about 2 seconds when messing with the negative cable, switched it out, still .2-.4 ohms. Cant get it up past .5 ohms now.

[Calix]

The new solenoid fixed it! She starts!

[Ghostt]

Awesome

[Calix]

Put gas tank back on everythings good but she won't start. Turns, but that's it.

Checked petcock, it leaked about 2tbsps gas straight from the dial before stopping. (20 mins ago hasnt restarted). Check my fuel filter and see that there is very poor flow. (Installed fram inline filter. ) so at this point I'm just thinking I'm not getting flow to the carbs.

Nope, the carb Is leaking from its top left corner ( if behind/siting on the bike) so I'm getting flow.

Did I manage to flood my carb and/or this just a bad seal
I feel the fuel line is too long right now but that's the only way I can fit the filter in there.

(Edit: no leaks now. No vacuum no leak) Could be bad spark plugs not igniting. Will grab some replacements this weekend.