Mech

Yup. Anything that might have a sticker or printed number on it might help. I've found what things were off before by googling vague component part numbers that weren't the actual manufacturers part numbers, but the number of the company that made the cdi/switch/coil for the bike manufacturers... (does that make sense !).

Oh yeah, never seen a set like that. I've got welding tip cleaners in a holder, but we should never use those ! Are the ones you have round section or square or triangle. I can't really see round section ones doing much good getting varnish or verdigris off. The wood works really well, and if a bit gets broken off you just burn it Gw.. Simple and nothing gets hurt or reamed out.

Year and market. Canada quite often has different options than America.

If you look, or try the tapered wood in the jets, you will find some of them are tapered holes. You need to clean them from the big side. The reaming out is a bit fussy and most of the time jets just have some particular hunk of dirt that you can see and get out, but if the jets are gummed up or corroded or anything then reaming them with the wood is the cure. I always do it..

All the books, and myself always say never poke steel or any metal through a jet. If the wire's skinny it will get a big bit of dirt out, but it won't get the varnish and verdigris out, and if it's a tight fit it might damage the jet. Jets need to be the right size, and nice round holes, and some of them are tapered holes.. Get a bit of hard wood, hickory or something like that, and slice a big slither off with a knife, then lay the slither on a bench and carefully slice it down to a slender three sided taper. One bit/whittling will probably do most of the jets, then reshape it finer for the tiny holes in the emulsion tube. Poke it in gently and rotate it. If it breaks off by mistake(which it shouldn't if you are careful), then char/burn the bit of wood out on a gas cooker or some such thing.

The carb model might narrow it down too. I'd look underneath that frame member further because the first of the LT250 we got here had the numbers on the lower frame but they were almost underneath, at an angle of about forty-five degrees form horizontal or vertical, and they used to get rubbed by grass and dirt etc so they were real hard to see. They weren't just on the top or side like we might hope and expect. And.. I'd use a scraper or knife to try and find the frame numbers. Wire brush and sandpaper don't work as well as scraping gently which sometimes shows up the slightly raised metal that's caused by them stamping the numbers in.

Bugger. Well you can probably figure out the exact model by looking through a parts place online, and I'd recommend Babbits because they have a more graphic index, or, by comparing wiring diagrams. They change cdi, and wiring plug shapes and colours from year to year and model to model.

#58.. Oh man that's a bummer.

I agree, try the original carb after you've given it a good clean. As Gw says, take out all the brass bits, blow gently through every drilling to work out where the drilling goes, then give it a good blast from the engine side of the drilling, against the usual air or fuel flow. You don't want to force any dirt stuck in a hole in any tighter. And clean the jets with a slither of some hard wood that you've whittled down to a fine three sided point. It needs to be three sided point so it scrapes slightly as you rotate it. And that emulsion tube Gw's mentioning, which is the long tube the slide needle drops into, it has very tiny holes up the side of it that need careful cleaning with a bit of wood, and the drilling that tube fits into needs careful cleaning too. It has to hold a certain quantity of fuel and if there is too much crud in the drilling it effects acceleration. The tiny holes in the emulsion tube are very tiny and hard to see if they are clean sometimes, but they are drilled on opposite sides of the tube so you can look right through from one side to the other. Those holes, well all the jets really, need to look like nice round holes. If they look a bit not quite round or a bit fuzzy, clean them some more with the wood.

Good one. Hope that is the cure.

Yeah, and you get to repair it with them... That's a good thing.

Check all the earths. Big and small earth wire at the battery, on the engine, and to the frame. If you mean the regulator isn't working, check it's earth too. It has an earth wire and it's probably meant to have a good earth where it mounts.

Haha.. I'm all for bribery.. Whatever works. Started my two on a PW 50 two-wheeler when they were 5 and 7. Dug them some mud holes and made some hill climbs, then a hill climb with a mud hole at the bottom.. haha.. Then bigger and bigger hill climbs. Ya gotta have fun !

Yeah. Never checked it out in the specs but it's possible the 230 was the sporty and the 250 perhaps a bit more utilitarian. They aren't the same as the first of the LT250 we got here either.

Haha.. Welcome along. That sounds like a fun bike for them.

If you get the engine number and it has some J4** or G4** number I can identify the bike(hopefully). I can possibly identify it off the vin too.

Good story Bro. Very amusing. Amazing it ran ! They do make a 230 and I think the service manual is in the manuals dept. If it's not there let me know and I'll upload it. They are very similar to 250 and they come in chain or shaft drive. Here's an extract from the manual telling where to find the frame and vin numbers.. output.pdf

Brick on the throttle ? Stick between seat and pedal ?

Ok. Yeah heat shielding can make it hard to detect a leak. If there's no pressure build up though then there must be a leak somewhere. If you rev the engine slightly while it's blocked off it may make enough pressure to hear.

If it's only one wheel then it may be a piston sticking or it may be the hose to that wheel. Undo a brake bleeder and see if they free up, if they do, it's not the caliper pistons. If only one side frees up then the other side has a blocked hose going to it's wheel. If they both free up then pump the brakes till they start dragging again then undo the hose up at the master cylinder and see if that also releases them. If undoing the hose there doesn't release the brakes then you have a blocked hose going from the bars to the frame. The hoses can get blocked or get a flap of rubber that only lets fluid go one way. The master cylinder applies hundreds of pounds of pressure and forces fluid through a blockage, but the pistons only rely on the flexing of their rubber seals to push the piston and fluid back once you let the brakes off and it's not strong enough to fully return the pistons if the hose's partially blocked.

I thought they had a soft ride talking to the only two owners I know around here, but they both enthused about the long travel and how it soaked up the bumps, which on their farms would have been cattle ruts on the side of hills, if you know what they are like.. haha.. Pretty damn bumpy.

Yup, check the fuel flow from the tank, then at the drain screw on the carb. If that's ok then take the carb out and strip it entirely, clean it carefully, and it will probably come right. I doubt it is going to be spark, and if it is it's going to be tricky to diagnose. The fuel system is easier to work on, but you have to be thorough and when the carb goes back on you have to know it's right/clean. Otherwise, if you don't know it's all real clean, and been blown through every jet and drilling, you are going to be back to guessing whether it's fuel or electric.. Make certain the fuel system is operating first.

Bargain. You could part it out and make money. I'd check it all over real careful before I spent any money on it though. Lots of little things can cost more than an engine overhaul.. a lot more ! Steering, brakes and suspension, wheel bearings and rust are the killers around here that add up to more than the bike's worth if they have been neglected.

Oh ok. I'll keep that in mind. Perhaps not cussy... more like maaate.

Long travel...