Seller Said This Bike Wouldn't Run...I Fixed It In 20 Minutes (Weird Problem) 

The throttle slide may have been over adjusted, but it's noted that you were opening the throttle as you kicked the bike over. You don't need to open the throttle when the bike is on choke and, when you do, it usually floods the cylinder and spark plug. When the engine is hot, a little throttle helps, but when it's cold and on choke, no throttle needed.

I'm 61 and rode a Honda R75 (bored to an 80) back in my pre-teens, and stumbled across your videos - Flashbacks galore. Might have to buy me one just for the nostalgia. Excellent videos. Clear, concise, and perfect step-by-step troubleshooting. Demonstrates intellect. Wish I had this channel in the '70s. Probably could have put another 200 hours on that Honda!

Choke (actually an enrichment circuit) only functions when the throttle is closed! If the throttle is opened the air will flow thru the least restrictive path, straight into the venturi. A closed throttle allows the air to go thru the "enrichment circuit" many call the choke. Then she'll fire right up.

You shouldn't use the throttle cable to adjust idle speed. I know you turned it down on this bike, but in the past you've used the cable adjustment on the throttle to adjust idle. The idle is adjusted on the carb, then the cable adjustment is used to take adjust the free play out of the cable. The throttle and the clutch lever should have a slight bit of free play before the cable grabs. With a throttle cable that's tight like that, you can go for a ride if it's ro right and you turn your bars. It can open the throttle and send you for a wild ride.

A local guy posted his relatively high end dirt bike for sale at an unbelievably low price. Said he had tried 'everything' and it just would not start. I looked at the pictures he posted and messaged him to turn the gas on at the tank. Problem solved. I didn't need a sixth dirt bike, anyway.

what memories this brings to mind. I owned a Honda 250 Elsinore. That bike was cutting edge at the time. It boasted longer fork travel and suspension like no other, weight savings with an aluminum gas tank. That bike handled so well for what it was. Your bike here was eons ahead of my Elsinore. No one ever heard of liquid cooling in a 2 stroke. Congrats on your find. I can't believe just how clean your bike is. When you dropped the bowl on the carb my chin hit the floor. Enjoy your classic machine. Cheers from Louisiana.

Just a couple of points….if you think about why it’s called “choke”, its original designed to restrict air flow, or increase fuel flow to enrich the fuel/air mixture for starting. So on that point, twisting the throttle defeats the purpose as you are increasing air flow through the carb body which will cancel out the choke circuit. Also, by adding oil to the cylinder it increases the ring(s) efficiency to seal against the cylinder wall, rendering a compression test as a false reading. Once the bike has ran and cleared the excess oil, only then would you get an accurate reading. Apart from that, good job. It’s shocking to see the need for a breaker bar, as it should only be torqued to 20Nm.

Great job diagnosing and repairing! You really scored on this bike.

Nice you got it running! If you sell it you will probably get better paid if you sort out the rich carburation issue first. Runs fine on main jet but quite bad on mid/lower RPMs, way too rich is my guess. I spotted the rear disc protector was hanging loose on your test run, probably a screw missing there. Another tip, put away all adjustable pliers and wrenches, bolt heads will go round sooner or later.

I've been watching your channel for few years now . I love this channel and all the projects you've done. It makes me want to start doing this you got a very special talent and people can learn from everything that you do just want to show my appreciation and say thanks and great job keep up the good work

It sounds way better than the other yz you repaired recently👌👍👍

The first step to diagnose a no start is to hit it with starter fluid. That well tell if it's a gas problem or a spark problem.

Keeping them 2 strokes alive.. I love it. takes me back to the day!

something tells me that it wasnt a 20 min fix

crazy steal man, actually stopping to look at the slide would have been one of the last things I did. runs like hell for a $1200 2 stroke! enjoy!

$1200 seems kinda pricey to me for a bike that doesn't run when you buy it . I guess if you're a repair guy you have confidence you can fix it then it's not a problem . It's a nice looking bike to be sure for it being 20 years old . Nice work to get it running again !!!!!

Maybe I'm gonna tell you something you've already figured out....when pouring liquids out of container (like your oil) hole it on its side rather than up/down as you did. It allows the air to pass as the liquid pours, it stops that pulsing flow so it's easier to hit the target. Keep up the good videos!

Satisfying fix! I just managed to get an old moped going. Went through a very similar process. I think the main issue with mine was also a blocked pilot jet! She's running now which is great

Fun to watch the wrist twisting the throttle every kick. Yup.

I'm super impressed what you are able to get done with a $12 tool set.

That looks and sounds like so much fun. I want a 2 stroke now

Sounds a little rich at top end but they last longer rich than lean. One commented about reving so high cold. I agree. Had me cringing. Bought my 8 yr old a2023 Yz 65 and I warm it up for him because he likes that pipe sound a little too much. Overall great job. In your defense this is a video that’s been edited so in reality I don’t know how warm that bike was. Keep it up on the pipe.

Gotta love how you always start a bike from cold and rev the sh1t out of it cause that never causes damage.

Real issue was the clogged pilot.....then the throttle slide. I had a 97 yz 250 that looked just like that when i bought it! I miss that bike, but it was a lot to handle after not riding for 10 years lol. So much power!

That was a great catch noticing the slide. Good job.

Excellent systematic troubleshooting. A bike that looks good but won't run is a problem I may have.

I wonder if you would have removed the 4 bolts on the rubber part going to the head if that would have gave you enough room to get the carburator out . Don't know bikes but was curious. I really like your show by the way, keep them coming!

Fricken love this channel.... good on you for how far you've come over the years. It's always a pleasure watching your videos!

Vinnie is a comedy show all on his own . those opening moments made me laugh .

30:20 Breaks my heart when people rev cold engines like that..

These two strokes dont have a choke.....they have an enrichment circuit. If you twist the throttle at all it eliminates the effects of the enrichment circuit. This is why it wouldn't start with the throttle valve up too high on the cable adjustment. Please dont twist throttle on a two stroke until it fires up.

Great find , you should put the heaviest flywheel weight you can get on the yz , it will still be just as fast on the top but really picks up bottom end power and lugability

Gotta love those 2 strokes. Sounds great

Sounds super clean nice find for a good deal looks like it wasn’t abused to much as well

i knew from my crf that ran for the longest time like shit but still started it was still not going to start after cleaning it, and i did not even think of the slide, i may have been stumped! but after you fixed the slide i was like Pow! hes got it! and it fired right up. troubleshooting properly is one of my favorite things and what i strive for. its amazing how you can actually start replacing things unnecessarily and even break things that were never broke if you are an amateur or even if you are experienced and just have "one of those days".

You have renewed my interest in dirtbikes again. Just picked up a 2000 YZ 250 and it is fast!! Keep up the good work man. Time to do some dirtbike wheelies!!!

This bike sounds pretty tight & crisp, gets with the program for sure! Thanks Joe for a cool video!

With that high of compression someone has probably cut the cylinder deck or milled the head, maybe a thin head gasket. I would be careful running pump gas in that. Detonation will smoke that piston in a heart beat.

Way to go joe you got a hell of a deal on that bike it rips keep up the good work God bless you and your family peace out happy holidays to you and your family. Love the way your shop turned out hope to have one as nice some day. Well peace out bro.

Nice....man I'm jealous at how many good finds there are in Wisconsin!

The beautiful sound of a Yamaha 2 stroke 250 or 490 just makes me smile. Lots of good memories on those bikes. love that sound!

I really like Your videos Can you do something for me/us. Don't use pliers on spark plugs and please stop using the fit all adjustable wrench on the carb teardowns. You have correct size combination wrenches, use them. Just saying. Carry on. Love your channel.

You don't get almost 200 lbs of compression with just a fresh rebuild , and would expect a cut cylinder head , and would be afraid of detonation with pump gas , it probably needs at least 100 octane to combat that.

Crazy how some people don't even look at things as simple as jets or the slide before deciding to sell their NICE bike for 1/3rd of its value. Some google searching and ingenuity is all this one would've taken.

Tthat bike is awesome wow the sound is strong

That thing rips I like the way the back tire gets lose when you get on it,Good to see little Vinny too👍🏼👍🏼

How did you get into fixing/restoring dirt bikes?

Man I miss that 2 stroke sound!! I recently sold my 2 '78 DT 400's due to a incompetent nurse severing my sciatic nerve with a demerol injection for back pain. Drop foot instantly killed my shiftin' foot! Life sucks sometimes ! Enjoy every minute

That bike sounds hella wicked 😁😁 long live 2 strokes .

Had a 97 yamaha for ten years. Great bike. Lots of low end and mid grunt. Not alot up top. The power valve assembly is tricky keep that part clean.

Damn dude, you lucked out BIG TIME !!! That's one HELLUVA steal, of a deal, on that bad ass bike, Congrats !!! We all only wish to come across a deal like that.

A good tip to pour oil is turn the bottle sideways. Doing that will eliminate the constant change in flow outage to just a steady stream

Great videos and I've never seen anybody kick a motorcycle as me times as you do. When I watch you go to start bikes it seems like you're always twisting it's throttle on to varying degrees. I always thought that you'd start a cold bike with a joke on and no throttle because you'll defeat the choke circuit. The only time you pump the throttle is if you haven't accelerator pump.

we had a 97 for years my brother rode it then i grew into it was a fast bke but years of teenagers ripping into it and cant afford the maintenance finally sold it because problem after problem stacked up. ended up finding a drz400 for $500 less then i sold the bike for and not been any problems so im happy lol

Probably wouldn’t hurt next time to not flood the carb like you did on the first start up lol.

If you fixed it in 20 minutes why is the video 40 minutes? haha! Great job!

Congrats bud thankfully you got a good one you deserve it you work hard on these bikes brapp brapp 👊👍

I always forget about changing or checking my gearbox oil, because if it's not leaking, why would you lose any, and they don't have to be changed very often, being a 2stroke having no carbon buildup like a 4stroke, but after 5 years I think my Suzuki RM did deserve a change as it smells like fish 😄.

You can hear it rattling from the other side of the field. Sounds like the Kickstarter rattling against the exhaust. Runs well for 1200buks

You "weird problem" is literally something I see almost daily

Oh yeah, that reminded me of when I was younger. Now my back is all messed from riding with my friends and having a good old time to racing. I used to love the way the 250 Elsinore used to run those were fast for their time and still are😅

Great video. Problem solving skills on point. Always makes sense to go through everything.

I just got a 1998 Yamaha YZ 250 I've been rebuilding it too. I got it for 1200 running. I'm near the end of it. I just ordered new parts, old ones had some wear and tear. Of course my shop isn't like yours but we get it done. I have some videos too of the rebuild. I'll post them as soon as it's done. But I went through mine just like you did. I'd rather do it now than later while taking the bike apart, work smarter not harder. Honestly I'm used to ATV's this is my first bike. So I'm anxious to get out there.

Great video man! But how can you be so sure that the reason it didnt’ start at first was because of to much oil in the cylinder for the gass to ignite?

Awesome video sir. It’s always something weird going on with the carb I just started fixing my own bike and jetting so this was very informative on what to check thank you

A "gas wet" plug will not fire either, and it can look clean. But you can see it is wet, and it smelled like raw gas. At that point, the best thing to do is to leave the plug out, open the throttle all the way hand hand crank the kick starter to air out the engine evaporating the gas in the bottom end. You won't be able to hand crank the start lever fast enough to pick up more fuel with the throttle wide open, (but don't try), so it will get clean air. I would crank it at least 50 times, but the more you crank it, the more sure you are the gas in the bottom end is evaporated. Now,--put in a new plug,--not the wet one, to insure it fires,----and I think that bike would have started. That plug also looks like the carb has been jetted, (stock is richer than that), and maybe it has some engine work done if they had the skill to jet the carb.

When starting a 2 stroke, you don't need to use the throttle, they flood so easy. Try putting your hand in the middle of the handle bar. I was making the same mistake on my bike

Good analytics and a nice, spacy garage. Time to build-up your tool set. The plier used to remove the spark plug, that you might do if in a real emergency, but never with bikes you care for. There is little more frustrating than additional trouble/damage from sub-standard tools used for the wrong job. If you are not yet there, you will find out.

Hey joe price a mx track builder in your area to come in and make your track. Then buy a small machine to maintain it. That's what we eventually ended up doing. The track now is way nicer and much more fun to riding on. Also, start going to trailer truck or tire places and start stocking up on freebee tires for the track.

Nothing like warming it up. This video is perfect for why I do not buy used motorcycles 😳

sounds and looks like its jetted rich probably worth sorting that out if you plan on keeping it. that motor has more power to make when jetted correctly.

I would recommend taking the air box out and sliding the carb back👍

Love this guy watch him all day really good at fixing bikes 👍

"Spark or fuel i would think" well i mean it is a 2 stroke so great job narrowing down those possibilities like a Boss!.... lolol

Dream life you have bro 😍

carbs work a certain way. as shade tree its always tough to know whats happening but lucky fix for you and good to see another yamaha back to life

Good job diagnosing the problem looks like you have a good engine

Vinny’s frickin adorable

that seriously looks brand new like, fresh out of the box new and it runs amazing. I wish i had made one deal such great as this one

1200 for a non running bike, the seller got the deal.

I'm 19 and I used to buy these for like $700-1200 each, running with title, and green sticker since I live in Los Angeles. I bought at least 20 of them in 3 years... I'm the one that raised the prices and the market LOL, who do you think started selling steel frames for $3K? I stopped in 2020 tho, and the market still hasn't crashed... I used to run a YT channel by the name of @Goon Rides

Love this channel. 🤙 just always such a casual watch love the vibes. Vins a wild one😅😅

Thanks Joe, learning a lot here. Great video!

Hi joe I love your videos I miss you riding at your parents house though also how’s Chuck ?

I was watching sur Ron vids and clicked on this. I love gas bikes but man something about the e bikes is just so much appealing

I always wonder how you have managed to deal with so many different bikes and seam to have learned so little about them. Lets just rip the throttle and kick it repeatedly and see just how much fuel we can put into the cylinder with no detonation

Omg this is what I call a back yard mechanic. Finally starts it and revs the crap out of it 😅

Good tip for you , if your removing the carb it's best to just take the sub frame off as you shouldn't have to fight ut out , bit the rubber has hardend as it foes over time

Holy shit you wanna warm her up before jamming throttle wind open! Must say impressed by your straight line riding skills 😂

Sounds like you need some acoustic panels in that garage if your going to be filming in there a lot. Quite a bit of echo there bud. And I’m sure your aware a two stroke NEEDS heat in the motor and pipe to work properly. It’s obvious you know what your doing or have you just been getting lucky all this time?

First

I had the last of the steel frame yz 250s back in the day when I was about 14/15 think it was a 1999 it used to absolutely rip I loved it some of the most fun times I've ever had was on that thing am 32 now an the bikes are just to expensive in the UK especially the old 2 strokes an the police clamped down on you going basically anywhere on them. Makes me jealous seeing people overseas just ride around woods and fields beaches without a bother.

Got an odd ball in yesterday, a 1989 ATK 406 2 stroke. Seen them them before but have not touched one yet. Bad ass bike, huge powerhouse, made In Merica, Utah I think?

Brings back a lot of frustrating memories, until l got the knowledge from the experiences. Got tired of bending down or bending over. Remembering all the tools l bought and even made.😮 Good times until they weren't. Oh to be young again and still have the dirty finger nail Knowledge l have today. Really nifty vid.

Hello, just watched the video, the carb. doesn't have a choke, it is a starter circuit, so if the throttle slide is adjusted too far open, or the throttle is opened too far when starting from cold, air takes the path of least resistance and does not enrich the mixture enough to start, I would not make the idle adjustment with the throttle cable as the idle speed will change when turning the bars, use the idle set screw for idle speed, then adjust a little slack in the throttle.

The power band is right on point! Sounds awesome. Great find!! Great vid!!!

That throttling is just what she needed. Defo loved it can tell how she’s. Putting after first gear.

If you weren’t giving it full throttle on every kick it would’ve started easily with no throttle you don’t need throttle when starting especially if choke is on

Cool, I spotted the slide up a little when you flipped the sub frame but contributed that to pulling the carb and cable. Like you videos. I use to race a Champion framed MX250B and a HD XR750 flat tracker along with a host of other bikes. Cool watch you working.

I bought an 02 RM250 to get back into riding for 2k a couple years ago and it was super rich when I bought it. I ended up putting a top end and new reeds in it and it was running a bit better. After sorta giving up on it and it was just way too much bike for what I was looking to do, I went to the dark side and bought a brand new CRF250R. The RM sat in the garage for about a year before I decided to sell it as I wasnt sure what I wanted to do with it. I pulled it out and started it up and it was running super shitty. I pulled the carb off and cleaned out the bowl and put new jets in it and it was running hella crispy just ripping it around in my neighborhood. I parked it over the winter and pulled it out in the spring and it would start but wouldnt rev out. It would sit on idle just fine but as soon as you crack the throttle, it just bogs and dies. I cleaned out the jets and put a new plug in it and still have the same issue. Could it be something as simple as just flushing out the fuel and deep cleaning the carb again? I dont ride it as I have a new honda but need to get it running better to get rid of it so I am not selling it as a "project bike". I cant seem to find the solution via the internet and I am not the most mechanically inclined bike guy so just looking for a little insight.