Just bought an 89 KX250....and its rough.

[kawboy]

My '89 kx 250 by far had the best forks that I have owned . The only forks that felt as good to me were late model KTM 200 forks. I have an old '89 500 fork that I will put on one of my newer 500's.

[sandblaster]

UPDATE: The bad news...

The radiators are bone dry. There was no apparent leakage around the head gasket, and the plug was oily (not water washed white), so I was pretty sure the water didn't get into the cylinder. I drained the transmission and a 50/50 mix of water and oil came out!     Me thinks she needs the seal between the tranny and water pump replaced.

I let it drain for an hour, and then refilled with clean oil.  I didn't put any water in the radiators since I was only going to start it for 30 seconds.


The Good news.....It runs! 

With a clean carb, and fresh gas, it fired on the 3rd kick and the top end was even pretty quiet! I didn't even slap a new plug in it! LOL

I let it idle for 20-30 seconds, then shut it off.  After cooling for 15 minutes, I took a quick back alley excursion to check the tranny.  All five gears are present and accounted for, and the clutch was even pretty good. I rode the bike very gently, and when I got back to the garage, the cylinder was just warm to the touch.

Things are looking good so far!

You may have to change the oil once or twice more before the grey goes away so don't get too nervous when you go to change it again

[motopunk]

UPDATE: The bad news...

The radiators are bone dry. There was no apparent leakage around the head gasket, and the plug was oily (not water washed white), so I was pretty sure the water didn't get into the cylinder. I drained the transmission and a 50/50 mix of water and oil came out!     Me thinks she needs the seal between the tranny and water pump replaced.

I let it drain for an hour, and then refilled with clean oil.  I didn't put any water in the radiators since I was only going to start it for 30 seconds.


The Good news.....It runs! 

With a clean carb, and fresh gas, it fired on the 3rd kick and the top end was even pretty quiet! I didn't even slap a new plug in it! LOL

I let it idle for 20-30 seconds, then shut it off.  After cooling for 15 minutes, I took a quick back alley excursion to check the tranny.  All five gears are present and accounted for, and the clutch was even pretty good. I rode the bike very gently, and when I got back to the garage, the cylinder was just warm to the touch.

Things are looking good so far!

You may have to change the oil once or twice more before the grey goes away so don't get too nervous when you go to change it again

better you change also the headgasket. in case of a damaged headgasket, can be that no water comes in the cylinder, but if the engine runs, it makes pressure to the cooling system and destroys on this way the waterpumpseal. in the case of water in the gearbox i replace always gasket and seal, to make sure that the problem is gone...

 if you change the waterpumpseal lean the bike without clutch cover to the right side and let it drain out over night, so your able to get the most of the water out of the gearbox before refilling with new oil. 

[Enginerd]

You may have to change the oil once or twice more before the grey goes away so don't get too nervous when you go to change it again

Right you are! The last 500 that I did the seal replacement on took a couple oil changes to get back to normal.

...if you change the waterpump seal, lean the bike without clutch cover to the right side and let it drain out over night, so your'e able to get most of the water out of the gearbox before refilling with new oil. 

Good thinking!  Thanks! 

[KXDINO]

Yes i had a 89 kx250 from new many moons ago great power for the time,it would pull in cr 250 on a straight no promblem,but cause it was the aussie model it had 41 mm upside forks which to me were way behind the model before the 88 that we had at the same time ,so you americans got the good stuff thanks to jeff ward,they say he had a lot of input on what forks they ran on the 89er.