A forum for owners of Yamaha TTR250 trail and enduro bikes!

My name is Greg, I live in West Texas (San Angelo).

Bought my 2004 TTR250sc a while back, so I could follow my grandson around on his KTM65 I had just purchased for him a few weeks earlier.

Have a horror story to tell about that day. Drove 100 miles north to Midland to look at it. PO listed it as a 05 model, and said it was pretty much brand new. When I got there he told me, whooops, it was a 2004 (not a big deal) and still wanted $2500. When I first saw it I could tell that it was very clean overall. He told me his son bought it and rode it for a bit, then sold it to his dad. He rode it a couple times, it sat for a bit until he decided to sell it (mid-life crisis?). It had been in the advertised for sale for a while and he seemed pretty upset nobody had bought it yet. He tried to start it when I got there and it was a NO-GO. He was getting mad that it didn't start for me and was asking me to help him get it started. I was not really wanting to do much to it as I told him sounded/smelled like it was flooding and the best thing we could do was to wait a bit and maybe charge battery while it aired out a bit. He suggested the plug fouled and (despite my words) pulled it. My grandson was with me (he was 8 at the time) and I explained to him (while PO listened) that you never pull a plug on a motor without first cleaning off the dirt and crud surrounding it, so it won't fall into the head. This guy told me he "used to be a mechanic" and seemed not too happy that I said that and proceeded to pull the plug anyway. Plug looked fine to me, just had gas on it and he cleaned/dryed it off and tried to put it back in, WITHOUT pulling the tank! (I'm not saying it is impossible to do, just with my giant hands, it is much easier). He was in too big a hurry and didn't heed my warnings. After several attempts to thread back on motor, he gave up. I reluctantly took over the job and was not aware he had re-threaded/striped threads in head, because it seemed to go in OK, just not very far (stay tuned). While all this was going on, he thought it might need a little gas in it so he tried to put some in, but because the bike is pretty tall and he was pretty short (probably the reason he sold it), he was unable to do it. I offered to help using a plastic gas can with a kind of button/on switch on it. I was just about to hit the button to start gas flow, and he reached over me and pushed it himself. When he hit button, it splashed gas in my face and eyes because nozzle was not in tank yet. I was now not a happy camper! He actually said it was no big deal !!! My grandson was pretty upset seeing me on my knees screaming for some water.   ...Back to the plug. Apparently, he had stripped the thread where plug screws in (UNKNOWN to me until next day) and forced it in. Well it finally started and I rode it for a minute or so. Ended up paying him $2000 after all of that and thought that was pretty fair price considering the bike really looked brand new. He was pretty mad he didn't get more for it and actually said "you knew I wanted more $, and never said you were going to offer less". ...I guess he forgot he advertised as a 2005, splashed my face with gas, questioned my skills/knowledge, etc...

The next day I decided to start it and noticed oil coming out of plug/head. I felt SICK as I realized what happened. I pulled the plug and saw some of the head material in the threads of the plug. I ended up putting a new head on it, and costing mucho $$$$

I got all that fixed and we have been enjoying riding together as much as possible. I love this bike. It has just enough power to have a good time, yet not enough to get out of control, like a 2 stroke.

Lately, it only runs with choke on so I decided to clean carb. Tore it apart couple days ago and noticed "brass thingy" Brian talks about not blowing off, gone. Had a guy clear out my pilot jet a while back and he must have had a bad day and now it's up to me to fix, with ya'lls help and this site I think I can get this back together. I have read threads here that give me that confidence.

Great things going on here and I am thankful to have found this place. Seems like a great bunch of folks are involved in helping a fellow biker. I have been riding since the mid 70's (I am 50 something). Besides my TTR, I also own a 2003 Harley-Davidson FLHRI, 1980 Kawasaki KZ650F1 (bought new in 1981), and my grandson's KTM65. I have enjoyed reading tips here and will chime in when I think I can add something!