Kx250 kickstarter slipping (but not stripped)

[plurpimpin]

The kickstarter on my 1990 kx250 is slipping. I took it apart yesterday and nothing is stripped. nothing actually appears worn or broken. I can't figure out what the problem could be. The only thing i could think of is there is alittle bit of play in the kickstarter shaft. You can move it in and out of the case about 3mm. Could this be the source of my slipping? What else should i check?

[sak384]

hey man having the same issue with a 1995 kx250. When i got the bike used the compression reading was 190psi. I believe the problem is the worn out rings.You might want to check your compression. Sears,pep boys etc, sells a compression tester that screws into the spark plug hole on top of the cyclinder. Kick the bike over with the throttle wide open for a couple of kicks. The highest reading is your compression. If you get a low reading that might explain why it feels like the kickstarter is slipping. good luck man...

[deucer]

If I understand you, you are saying that when you apply pressure to kick start, the kicker will slip down as though the gears are out of alignment. Correct? If so, you have already answered your question. When you engage to kick start, you should be able to feel contact "gear meshing", which means the shaft is applying load to the engine. If this is only momentary and the gear slips freely when you apply force, your gears are worn or you have some bushings that are worn and are creating a misalignment. This is not difficult to troubleshoot and identify the root cause and not hard at all to fix.

[nd4speed]

sometimes worn gears or bad spring most people would say.

Is your trans oil thick or a heavy weight? Is it cold where you are at? Is there water in your trans oil?

When my water pump seal went bad my trans oil got thick cause of contamination and the kicker started slipping. Fixed the seal and added ATF type F and it doesn't slip anymore.

[balbirnie]

not to sure if you are having the same problem i was having a while back, but if it is the same check out the link to the thread, i put pics up to try and explain it(not easy to explain)

http://www.kawasakimotorcycle.org/fo...ml#post1380501

[KX450_#122]

I had a similar problem on a 1995 YZ 80. How far did you dig into the cases or did you just pull the kick start lever off? The problem that had arose with the 80 was the inner teath had hardened over time and became brittle and upon one day of kicking the teath on that inner gear broke. this would cause that bike to seem like it was catching for a moment and then all of a sudden give way to nothing. If nothing else has worked I would look into this scenario as a last/ worst case. Good luck

[coupe3234]

This happens to most KX's, it's not the gear teeth that wear, it's the bush in the centre that wears. Buy a new gear or shim both sides up to the circlips.

[Polar_Bus]

Originally Posted by coupe3234

This happens to most KX's, it's not the gear teeth that wear, it's the bush in the centre that wears. Buy a new gear or shim both sides up to the circlips.

I've had 9 KX's over the past 22 years and NEVER had this issue with the kickstart ratchet mechanism.

[KDXGarage]

worn spring, worn idle gear, worn spur gear

[coupe3234]

Originally Posted by Polar_Bus

I've had 9 KX's over the past 22 years and NEVER had this issue with the kickstart ratchet mechanism.

You've obviously never owned an old poorly looked after KX then.....there are a lot of them out there...!!!

[nd4speed]

I don't doubt what Polar_Bus is saying because I have owned 6 used KX250s from years 1984 and 1986. The bottom end on one 1984 had badly worn crank bearings and 3rd gear blew up; it appears that bottom end had never been split since 1984. That's 25 years of kicking the motor over.

I had to swap the kickstart mechanisms a few times cause the shafts broke or threads stripped. Not one of them failed to function because of wear to this washer or the gear teeth or the spring. I already stated above my findings when I found my kickstart lever slipping.

[Gunjji]

Originally Posted by KDXGarage

worn spring, worn idle gear, worn spur gear

I had the same problem and I believe KDXGarage told me same thing. So I took the spring and stretched it just a bit. It worked fine until I could order one.