CRF's Only Forums

Hey Everyone,

A couple of weeks ago I purchased my first dirtbike. It's a 2012 CRF250x with 60 hours. It mostly sat in a fella's garage as a spare bike. I was hoping for a bit of advice. It is in good condition other than the motor won't start using the electric start. The starter turns over the motor, but it won't fire (even once warmed up). It will kick start with some difficulty (this might be due to me being a greenhorn dirtbike enthusiast), and it idles rough when it's running. However, it seems to run great when I give it some throttle.

The previous owner told me that it has a new piston and rings (3 or 4 hours on these parts), and I assume the valve clearances were checked and adjusted when this was done. My thought is that the carbs need a good scrub and adjusting since it sat in a garage for most of its life. What do you all think? Any advice or direction would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

The first thing that comes to mind with a bike that ran when parked but won't start after sitting is a plugged pilot jet and circuit.

Super cheap and quick to fix by replacing the pilot and blowing air up into the hole that the pilot jet came out of. That's a good place to start before chasing anything else.

The first thing that comes to mind with a bike that ran when parked but won't start after sitting is a plugged pilot jet and circuit.

Super cheap and quick to fix by replacing the pilot and blowing air up into the hole that the pilot jet came out of. That's a good place to start before chasing anything else.

Thanks for the tip! The pilot jet was filthy. The bike fires up with a few kicks, and, once it's warm, one usually does it.

The bike still won't fire with the electric start. It will turn over, but won't fire. Do you have any tips on where to start chasing down the issue? I know the starter reduction gear on these bikes is infamous. I guess they start to slip, and the starter won't turn the motor, but I'm not sure that's my problem as my motor is turning over. Let me know what you think. Thanks in advance!

Welcome to the site !!

If the starter is not starting the bike but the kickstart is , then the issue would most likely lie with the electric start system , if it is the one way bearing , it can drag the starter or it won't engage at all , those are usually the signs of that bearing going bad ..... it could also be a weak battery not allowing the engine to turn over fast enough to start it , and that is why it starts with a kick , because with your foot you are turning the engine over faster than the starter will ... It could also be the brushes in the starter itself , they do go bad and if the engine had prior jet issues and was constantly cranked over , it would get the starter hot and cause the brushes to glaze over or burn thru

The last possibility would be something you mentioned .... you said you "thought" the prior owner had checked the valves when doing a piston .... the thing is , you can remove a piston without adjusting the valves as long as everything was put back together the same .... also if the decompressor , which is part of that valve system was not working correctly , it would not allow the engine to turn over fast enough with the electric start because the compression would be too high for the starter to be able to turn it over fast enough to start .... the engine needs momentum to start , you can't just lay your foot on the kickstarter and push down and the engine will fire , it needs some force behind it .... same goes for the electric start , it needs to turn the engine over fast enough to gain the momentum to actually start ..... so those are the places I would look

Check the valve lash , do not take for granted the prior owner did adjust them or adjust them correctly or checked for broken decompressor pin or anything else with the system

if those check out , then go to the battery and its components

Then move on to the one way bearing , .... basically , you already know the engine will start without the button , so the issue has to lie within that system , you just have to eliminate each part of it as the issue ....