87 WR 250 WON'T START

Hi,
New to the vintage left kicker world and love it. Well loved it until my 87 WR stalled and wouldn't start again. Just picked it up this year and with a carb rebuild and few other wear parts replaced was running and riding great. During my last ride was doing a long technical single track through woods and stalled it in a mud hole. Bike didn't start again and noticed kick start not catching correctly. Brought it home and repaired kick start (pawl spring collapsed) and adjusted clutch, cleaned carb and new plug just for added measure. Still won't start unless towed behind my truck. Once running will only stay running half to open throttle. No idle or bottom end.

I would appreciate any ideas for I am at a loss. Good compression and spark but seems to be flooding out and bogging down up to half open throttle. Baffled because it was running great and starting 1st 2nd kick every time until that darn single track jumped out and attacked me.

Thanks, WoodsGuy

that was an early Mikuni flat slide and had a bad design needle and seat, try checking your fuel level

Interesting because it actually has a 38MM round slide carb. I have tried float level at recommended 17-19MM and have tried lowering and raising with no change.
Needle and seat seem fine and were replaced during rebuild.

low end on motoplat ignition is probably taking a Cr@p. you cant kick it fast enough to fire it, but towing it spins the motor fast enough to fire it. my 86 400WR did the same thing last summer to me. i replaced the stator and it fixed it. ps: 38mm round slide is standard on that bike. flat slide is on XC & CR models

I stand corrected I have had an XC and have a CR still, interesting because the carb length is different

did they use a Motoplat, odd as both my CR and XC used SEM, interesting

the boot from the air box to the carb is also shorter on the WR. XC &CR have long boot to make up for carb body being shorter .all my white huskys have motoplat from the factory. my 82 wr430 (DB replica)had a SEM system. but i changed it over to motoplat. CR has MP internal rotor XC has MP external heavyweight flywheel rotor.

20 plus years working for husky/penton/ktm dealer.

I will check the ignition tomorrow (any tips) however would this also cause the lack of idle and no low end? when I remove the plug and kick it over seems to have great spark. It seems like its just flooding 0-1/2 throttle so maybe lack of spark would stand to reason.

my 87 CR250 has an SEM with power valve circuit, an oddity at best would not mind finding a spare for that

open the stator cover give it a clean and blow out, carb same, check all electrical grounds and connections, clean coil wires and high tension leads and cap, clean engine vent tube and carb vent tubes, check air filter.double check pilot jet is clear.if the mud hole caused the problem then it may have water in the areas above, my moneys on stator needing a clean you should have a nice blue spark showing at regular intervals.

my 88 xc 250 came with an sem...eventually went to a mini6 as mine was doing the infamous fire up and run backwards trick

thanks all for the advice. This is my first Husky and have been enjoying the project. I know all the fuel and air controls have been cleaned. Going to dig into the stator area and see what happens. Really miss riding this bike there is just something about it that gets you. My KTM EXC 300 is great for hare scrambles but the Husky just has such a unique thrill.

That symptom is weirding me out. It says air leak. How are your two crank seals?

Check the key on the flywheel....

yep you gotta spark issue try adding a ground wire from the stator out to a motor mount theres a link to a moto plate repairman in the links on DC plastics website

Do a leakdown test. You need a rubber plug that can seal your exhaust and a plastic plug with a small hole through it for the intake carb mount. You can then use a Mity Vac pump to create a vacuum and it should hold steady vacuum (6psi) for at least 6 minutes. Vacuum is safer than pressurizing

Okay just came out of the garage. I have a motoplat mimi6 installed in the bike. Cleaned stator and all contacts, checked key on fly wheel, cleaned and checked all grounds and wire connections ect. Strong steady spark. Going to rule out electrical at this point and move on. Crank seals are in great shape and no gas or coolant in oil. Replaced gaskets on carb boots because I had them from the gasket kit I purchased. I do not have a mity vac pump so cannot check that currently. compression is at 145PSI which could be acceptable even though I read it should be around 160PSI. kicked it about a hundred times until my knees gave out with no luck. Needless to say I am baffled at this point and had enough wrenching for the day. Going to take the old reliable XR out for a spin to recover. Thanks again

is the plug wet when you kick it?

sounds like a non mud hole related problem, try taking the spark plug out kicking it over a few times to try and clean out any excess fuel in the engine leave fuel off and try and start with a new plug.140 psi is on the low side i try to run my two strokes 180 to 200 psi with a 1mm squish.