brraaapperdoodle

Nice, thanks for the info. I forget that forums are dead/dying 😔 I am really enjoying this bike and looking forward to putting some miles on it.

Hello, I am a long time rider and have been using this forum since the earlier days. I built myself a very nice Honda XR650L and have been riding it for over 10 years. While that bike is still very nice and useable, I have been considering getting a smaller cc bike. I am 6'4" and 230lbs so I don't have any problems aggressively riding my XR off-road. But im starting to realize that I just don't feel the need to go all out anymore. I have been very curious about the WR for years and never had the chance to ride one. Recently I was at a friends birthday party and chatting with a dude about riding and he told me that he has a 2014 Yamaha WR250R. Told me I was welcome to come ride it and check it out, he was even considering selling it. I brought up that I had a 2013 Yamaha TW200, that I was selling and he was pretty excited about that. Anyways, I went to his house a few days later and checked out the bike. I ended up liking it, and he wanted the TW for his wife. We ended up trading bikes and he gave me $200 on top of the trade. The WR I got needs fork seals badly and a chain and sprockets. I got a full service manual and an almost new set of Dunlop D606's too. This bike has 17,400 miles and looks like it was in decent shape. I think whoever originally had the bike put a lot of commuter miles on it and took good care, then whoever purchased it after that didn't take care of it. Either way, I liked the bike and decided that it was a pretty fair trade. I have only ridden the bike 25 miles or so, but I really like it so far. Im impressed with the power and the fact it weighs 50 pounds less than my other bike haha. So, I am having a kinda weird issue that I will diagnose when I have the time but I wanted some opinions on here. When the bike is COLD, it will try to start with the kickstand DOWN, but will not stay running. With the kickstand UP, the bike runs perfectly. When the bike is WARMED, it will run with the kickstand DOWN. When the bike is in 1st gear, the neutral light will come on. It is also on in neutral, but also on when the bike is in 1st. Sometimes the neutral light comes on when pulling in the clutch... weird. Also, can anyone confirm that the WR250X plastic is the same as the WR250R? I found a decal set I really like, but its listed fitment is for the WR250X and makes no mention of the WR250R. Are they not the same plastic? Sorry for the long post! Just wanted to say hello and i'm pretty excited about my first Yamaha. I can post pictures later, Thanks!

Awesome info. I scored a 1986 XR250R 1.85" wheel for a reasonable price on eBay. Ive been wanting to do the swap for quite some time now and figured I would pull the trigger on a wheel. Im actually planning on getting a tag for this bike so it can be ridden for short trips on-road while going on a trip out west. Im still riding my XR650L but recently my lady has been riding the XR200R and she is really enjoying the bike. I bought her a TW200 to ride on the road but after riding them both a bit, she absolutely prefers the XR200R over the TW200. Im just gonna sell the TW and we are gonna get the XR tagged for our trip. Im really looking forward to doing some riding out west and being able to get on the road when we need to. I have a feeling the 18" rear wheel will only help with the on-road jaunts and will certainly give a better tire selection!

Weird, I didn't see that up there! I guess the alert only showed me Chuck's quote reply haha.

Awesome. The 1986 XR200R swingarm for a 17" wheel, WILL clear the XR250R 18" rim?

I know this has been covered in detail but I keep pulling up confusing info. I want to be clear, I understand 86' through 90' rear wheels are cross compatible for the XR200R and XR250R and are supposedly a direct swap. But my question is, will the 17" wheel XR200R swingarm have clearance for the 18" XR250R wheel or do you need to swap the swingarm also?? @Chuck. @chadzu I know you both have done this and have the details! The only reason I am swapping is because I believe it will look a bit more proper and have a better tire selection... Should I leave it alone or is the "upgrade" not a bad idea? Thanks everyone!

Its worth a shot! That, or blob up some RTV haha

Absolutely. We are coming up on 40 years for some of these electronics and its possible some of them may begin to fail. Its also possible that another component caused the failure of my original CDI and possibly the replacement CDI. No way of telling now! Also the NOS unit might have been a dud to start with... Plus, there is no telling how long or hard this bike was ridden for the 25 years I didn't own it haha

Well, problem solved. After the last post I decided to try just 1 more CDI unit. I ordered an "OEM replacement" which appears to be another Chinese knockoff. Lone behold the bike runs perfectly. If you plug in any of the other CDI units, (my original OEM, my NOS OEM) the bike has no spark. So I have read Chuck's posts in MANY threads saying that rarely a CDI unit on these bikes will fail. Somehow, I have 2 OEM units that have failed. I let the bike run for 2 hours yesterday and rode it un and down the road multiple times. Bike now starts easily wether it is cold or hot. What a waste of time

I was able to fix the mechanical timing that was half a tooth off. After getting everything re-assembled I was getting spark again with the Chinese CDI but I still had the same strange misfire. Just for kicks I plugged in the OEM CDI and lone behold the bike started. It ran perfectly with no misfire and revved very cleanly. I let it run for about 10 minutes and rode it up and down the driveway. I continued to let the bike idle while I cleaned up my tools, then all of the sudden the bike just died. Back to no spark. After running perfectly for almost 30 minutes, the bike just cut off and would not restart. I let the bike cool down and still would not start. I switched the CDI back to the Chinese unit, the bike fires right up and again has a misfire. I swap back to the OEM, no spark. For some reason the bike will not run with the original OEM or new OEM CDI. But when it did run with the new OEM CDI, the misfire was gone and the bike ran perfectly. WTF 🙄

Hey bud, I have tried to use one of those but the spark plug boot is designed to plug in without the bulb on top of the plug. So those don’t plug into the OEM plug boot. I ALWAYS use OEM parts when I can, but almost all of the XR200R electrical components are discontinued. Testing the original components revealed some of them were out of spec according to the factory service manual. This prompted me to purchase new components in order to diagnose this no/spark issue. The only reason I purchased non OEM parts is because it is simply the only thing available. I am 100% sure my bike is a 1986, I have owned it for 10 years and ridden it many times in the past. This is another reason I know the bike ran normally for a number of years without any issues. There is no funky wiring or crossed up wires. As far as the 1987 not having a 3rd stator wire, that is incorrect. The service manual and Honda parts fiche show that 1986-1988 used the same stator. Thanks Chuck! I’m using an OEM CDI unit on a harness that has not been modified. I stated previously in the post that I tried a Chinese replacement and was getting spark, however I do not plan on using the Chinese unit. I have also lost spark completely, wether I am using the Chinese unit or OEM. I kicked the bike over yesterday and it fired up and ran for about 10 seconds and then died. Has not tried to start again since. When it ran, the OEM CDI was installed. Take a look at my CDI and wiring below.

This is really becoming a nightmare. I still cannot get any spark on this bike! I have checked continuity on all wires and each have tested 0.2 ohms. I have opened up the harness 5 times and confirmed there are no split or cracks in any of the wires. I have checked continuity on all ground wires to frame ground and all check out at 0.2 ohms. I am 100% sure there is no grounding issue. I am getting lights when the bike is kicked over so I know that the stator circuit for the lights is putting out voltage. I replaced the regulator rectifier as a last resort and it had no effect. That being said, I have replaced every electrical component on this bike! New pulse generator (china), New CDI unit (OEM), New stator (RM-Stator), New regulator rectifier (china), New Ignition coil/wire and boot (OEM), New spark plug 10x (NGK), New kill switch (OEM), Pinned out the harness 5x and have re-wrapped it each time after taking it apart to insure there are no broken or frayed wires, no split wires no ill connections. I am a very experienced technician and have a very nice multimeter, this is driving me bonkers. Following the test procedures in the OEM service manual, almost none of the components test "in spec". The brand new OEM ignition coil test slightly out of spec. The Chinese replacement parts all test out of spec. I truly don't know what to do at this point except buy more electrical parts until something changes. I wish I had a running bike to test my components on and that would likely expose a culprit. Does anyone have an idea that could help me straighten this bike out? Im ready to roll it off a cliff.

Thanks Chuck! The cam chain and guides are brand new OEM. The cam gears are also new OEM along with many other parts I used to rebuild this engine. RM Stator is a company that makes electrical components for various machines. I posted a link earlier in this thread to their website and the part I ordered. As far as the CDI unit goes, it takes the OEM plugs and there are no modifications between plugging them in. The wiring harness has not been re-wired in any way so I don't think the plug is wrong.

I was able to get a stator from RM Stator and it does fit just fine in my 86' model. I ended up grounding the Yellow wire, and plugging the Pink wire into the Blue on my harness. Lights work just fine! But now the really weird part, The bike will start up and run with the chinese CDI unit but still has the misfire. HOWEVER, when you plug in the OEM CDI unit, the bike has no spark and will not run. Plug the chinese CDI back in, it starts right up. Im really confused why that is happening. Maybe the NOS CDI unit I bought is no good? Either way, I cant think of anything else that would be causing the issue. I did notice my mechanical timing is a "half" tooth off on the cam gear. The crank timing gear is not keyed, and the only way to get the timing dead on would be to remove the gear and turn it slightly. Is it possible that this could cause the misfire im getting?

A dab of dielectric grease on an electrical contact won't hurt a thing. It insulates the contact from moisture intrusion and helps prevent any corrosion.