Honda 1987 TRX 250 Starter Gearing Problems

[Gwbarm]

I have a 1987 TRX 250,  it has been  very reliable except for this starting issue. I have replaced the starter and gears numerous times and still having problems. I think the last time was maybe 2 years ago and this Quad is used very little. Starter works fine, when you go to start it it goes clunk, clunk, clunk, blah and usually starts. If it doesnt start after blah, it not going too. Like i said earlier, last time i replaced the starter and gears and virtually no change except it would start everytime, but it always sounds like something broke right before it starts. Just wondering if anyone else has this problem with the 250. One other note, the kickstarter does not work, and never has as long as i have owned it, could that have anything to do with it.

[Mech]

Lots of bikes go clunk clunk..  I think it's possibly the spag clutch.. just an impression though. They can be like it for years without causing problems, but a slightly flat battery makes the noise louder.

I've seen in the manual that it warns you that cdi won't produce a spark below 430 revs.. I think it was 430, but they do warn you it needs some minimum revs or it won't go.. so that might explain why it won't go if it doesn't on the first attempt.. It either floods or gets a bit slow cranking. I'd try jumping it and see if it stops the clunk and makes it start better.. just for a test.

That's an old system too and it's likely that if the pickup coil is too close to the flywheel it may give too much ignition advance. That would make the clunk worse.

[Gwbarm]

Thanks Mech! I knew you would know, i have not worked on this one much. This was actually my fathers, he bought it in 1988 to ride my kids around through the woods when they were litlle. He died a few years back, we still maintain his place and acerage and the quad is still there. My brother just called and said he couldnt get it going, he actually lives in California, we double team taking care of the place. i havent really been around it enough lately to keep it maintained, and my brother, he expects to turn the key and it crank, if it doent hes done with it, no mechanical skills whatsoever. So im going down to help him with it. I suspect as you said the battery is weak and thats why it wont start, but it has always made that clunking noise on starting it sounds like something is breaking in there and then it starts and runs flawlessly, in all these years the carb has never been replaced or even cleaned to my knowledge.   

[Mech]

Oh nice mate that you can keep the family place. Nice for your lot to visit huh ?  Good memories. Nice you kept the bike too..

I don't know that I know exactly, but I've seen the symptoms before. And yeah, I've seen plenty that make that horrible noise, including my own(suzukis) when they have had a bad or slightly flat battery. And yeah, you think they aren't going to go they're so slow, then woomf and they start.. And after a run they just start up quick as often. It's always annoying though when we think the battery's getting old, but it still works sortta.

[Mech]

Years ago when I was approaching retirement age and was getting too old for hard work and maintaining the place like it should be kept I used to complain to my sons that I was getting too old. They were around one night having a few beers and I was complaining about my sore back or something and one of them reckoned that I should sell it and I could buy a nice little place down the coast and have a boat and go fishing and stuff. I said, yeah but if I was living down there in this new house, and you guys came to visit, it wouldn't feel like you were coming home to visit, now would it ? You should have seen the look on both their faces at the idea that their home, where they had been bought up and roamed the hills and got up to mischief and ridden bikes and all the rest, wouldn't be here for them anymore.. They both looked at one other and looked so damn sad it made me laugh.. So I said, and so that's why I won't be selling it. They both got big grins because they knew exactly what I'd seen, and what I was talking about. And not many years later they both came home to start building and have families of their own.  It's nice to have that continuity.. It gives people roots. Roots give them history and reputation to live up to..

As it had happened, when I had moved two-hundred miles to this area as a young man, I'd found out completely by chance, or perhaps it was destiny, that I was within about five miles of my family roots going back generations. I like that, and the sons like it too. The grand kids are sixth generation living around here now and I know all the old properties and old houses and house sites going back about a hundred and sixty years.  There are old families around here that knew my family going right back to those days. There were until just a few years ago old people that knew and remembered my grand-mother and father. It's sort of one of the reasons probably that I'd always felt I had a reputation to keep up. The sons feel the same way. The grand-kids probably will too.

Enjoy your Dad's place. Keep it if you can.

Edited December 13, 2023 by Mech

[beast6228]

3 hours ago, Gwbarm said:

I have a 1987 TRX 250,  it has been  very reliable except for this starting issue. I have replaced the starter and gears numerous times and still having problems. I think the last time was maybe 2 years ago and this Quad is used very little. Starter works fine, when you go to start it it goes clunk, clunk, clunk, blah and usually starts. If it doesnt start after blah, it not going too. Like i said earlier, last time i replaced the starter and gears and virtually no change except it would start everytime, but it always sounds like something broke right before it starts. Just wondering if anyone else has this problem with the 250. One other note, the kickstarter does not work, and never has as long as i have owned it, could that have anything to do with it.

If you start it and it goes clunk, clunk, clunk.. Sounds like It might be the one way starter clutch. When you drain the oil, have you seen any metal bits in there?

[Gwbarm]

Thats a great story Mech, thanks for sharing. Roots are important thats for sure, coincidence, destiny, or just a sense of being in the right place, who knows, but you made it home and as a young man, your children will always remember this as their home. The beach sounds nice and it would be for a while, but you can only fish so much, anything gets repetitive after a while, then you will be ready to go home and work on some quads.

 I have lived where i am now for 30 years, longer than i have ever lived anywhere, but my fathers place will always be home, we have been there since the 60s, very fond memories of working on all our old cars and the rice burners we rode in those days with him, you never knew what he would bring home next for us to work on.  I will keep it as long as i live, too many memories, some things are worth more than money. I am from an old family also there is me, i have a brother, and one cousin, my brother and cousin have no children, mine are all girls, kind of sad, but the family name dies with us.

[Mech]

Thanks Gw. It's good to discuss things other than quads sometimes..  haha.  And yeah, I can imagine the attachment. I never had that, but I can imagine, and I see it with the lads.

I would love to live near the sea again. I used to live at the coast, right by the beach, and on a boat for three years solid and many many weeks at a time on them before that. I love the smell and the sound and the horizon.. I actually avoid the beach these days because it tugs so on my heart when I have to leave.

And family names, my sister married and took another, my brother had no kids, my two sons only have one son between them so far, so our name only hangs on in this line by the thinnest of threads. But, It was Gran's maiden name that has the links to the place, and blood is blood, and total strangers have approached me to introduce themselves and tell me how they knew or were friends with Gran or Dad. The connection remains whatever the name.

[Gwbarm]

Thanks for that beast, the bike is a few hrs away and i havent found time to diagnose but i will get to it.