Got my bike

Hi all. I bought an old Honda XLX 250s Trail (1984). She's pretty rough,
blows a bit of smoke, little noisy at top end but goes like a hairy goat.
Just wondering if anyone can supply links etc to these bikes for any info on
them. can't seem to find anything on them, i did get a dozen or so pics on
www.bikepics.com but that's about it. none for my year. Also, there is a
small metal type bowl thing that the crankcase breather is connected to, it
has 2 other pipes coming out of it and one goes near the swing arm, the
other goes out near the right side of the swingarm and is plugged at the
end. the one that goes above the swingarm is expelling some oil after i ride
it. what causes this? or more to the point, can i test this bowl thingo
somehow or some other tests be done to find out why this is happening?

I'm heading out now to remove this bowl thing and have a look, maybe take it
apart if i can....

Thanks

Gary

 

In aus.motorcycles on Sat, 19 Mar 2005 06:22:52 GMT

Sounds like some sort of breather tower to me.

Oil out of the breather and noisy top end sounds like it will need at
least new rings, maybe valve grind or even guides. (XL is usually 4
stroke, is it a 4?)

If you have a compression tester, you can use that, else just pop the
top and eyeball it.

Zebee

 

From memory, the XLX was basically the XR (RFVC) motor in an XL (more
road-oriented) package (the stock XL had only a 2-valve motor, not the
4-valve RFVC donk of the XR/XLX).

I had an '84 XR 250 and it was largely bulletproof, except for a cracked
head (coz I did too many highway miles with short gearing - revved it's
proverbial tits off).

If you can't find much info on the XLX (they weren't terribly popular), look
for XR stuff. The '84 model designation was "RE". (ie. XR250RE).

If you're getting a lot of oil from your crankcase breather, you may have
too much oil in the bike. Also, remove the plug from the drain hose, and let
it empty. This hose will connect to your airbox (air intake). If you leave
the plug out, you will suck dirty air (dust, etc.) directly into the motor,
so make sure you replace the plug after you've drained it.

Good luck with it. Ride it until it stops, then bury it in a big hole....

 

There was an intermediate 4-valve but non-RFVC motor used in the
'82ish XL250S and CB250RS. No idea about the XLX, but it'll be obvious
enough: if it's got "RFVC" cast into the head, it's an RFVC,
if it's got two exhaust headers its a 4-valve, just the one and
it's a 2-valve.

CBX250 also used the RFVC motor, it probably is that one.

It's a crankcase breather system. Either a) you're blowing lots of
oil out the breather, in which case the rings are probably clapped out
(not exactly unusual in a bike of that vintage, but not that expensive
to fix) or else it's just full. Pull that plug out over a drain tray
and see what horrible muck comes out. Put it back and see if it
still blows oil.

-----sharks

 

Well, i got this bike yesterday and rode on and off for about 3 hrs in
approx 3-4 sessions. didn't notice the oil coming out till later on. It
wasn't there from word go. ran it today a couple times and still oil coming
oout. just went for a fang for bout 1/2 hr and NOTHING coming out. hmmm,
checked dipstick, oil there, drained the other hose (quite a bit of black
shit came outta there with other crap). The oil that was being pumped out
looked too light to be from the motor, looked like newish oil. Got me
stuffed. My son was riding beside me and i asked ifoil was coming out and no
was the reply, however he did say that the carbie overflows were dripping.
Soooo, what the hell would THAT be. Only does it when the motor is running.

Thanks for previou replies too. Much appreciated.

Gary

 

Carby overflows will be either sticking floats (try tapping the carb(s) with
something), worn needle/seat or gunk stuck in the needle. You could try
dumping a bottle of fuel system cleaner in the tank, and see if that helps.
If not, then a quick pull-down, clean and re-assemble of carb may help.

 

Thanks Rod, i'm not sure how much oil SHOULD be in there, the dipstick has a
small mark just up from the bottom and one not far down from the top. i'm
presuming these are the lower and upper limits????? if so, maybe thats what
has happened because i checked the stick when i got off just before and it's
close to the top mark. It was over it before. That's how it was when i got
it, i havn't changed the oil yet cause i wasn't sure how full to fill it. I
presume you have to screw the stick right in for an oil check as well?

Thanks.

Gary

 

All bike manufacturers and models are different as far as oil checking
procedures. In most cases you DON'T screw the dipstick in. The idea is to
get the bike level (e.g. NOT on the sidestand), remove the dipstick, wipe it
and just sit it back in the hole. Remove it, and check the level. As you
suggest, the idea is generally to keep it somewhere between the 2 lines.

 

For that era Honda: hold the bike upright, on flat ground. Don't
screw the dipstick in, but do align it with the holes. The
max and min marks could be anything, but I'd expect them to be
less than an inch apart.

The crap in the breather pipe isn't engine oil as such, it's evaporated
engine oil. The lighter stuff gets out there, often mixed with water,
etc.

The dripping carbs will be the float needles, as someone said tap the
float bowl, see if that fixes it. Otherwise, remove carb, spread
some newspaper on the bench, remove float bowl, slide the float
retaining pin out, remove float and needle valve, clean all parts
with carb cleaner, blow jets out with compressed air just for good
measure, put back together.

If that's all greek to you, pick up the Haynes manual for your bike
(well, your engine, anyway) or their book on general motorcycle
mechanics, it's rather good.

-----sharks