2008 R with possible engine problem (blowby?)

Hi guys,
I am a total newbie to these bikes but I always like to tinker with my stuff...Maybe I should have phrased that differently?
Anyway, I just bought an 08 WR250R with 7000 miles on it.  I noticed a few things with it and I am not sure they are related or not?
It is completely stock.

1- The exhaust smells as it is running rich
2- The idle is a little rough
3- The oil smells like gas even after an oil and filter change.  I also flushed and idled for 1 minute with 1 more liter of fresh oil
4- It almost seems like it has a V-Tech engine.  It seems like its starving below say 5000 rpm then it wakes up
5- The oil has a nice color (not dark) but when I 1st changed it, it seemed a milky color
6- No smoke comes out of the exhaust


Could I be getting some blowby from scratches on the cylinder or something like that?

Thanks in advance.

Unless somebody neglected the air filter, I doubt you have a blow bye issue, 7k on these is just good & broken in.

I'd start with a fresh air filter & sparkplug & if that doesn't make it better, you may have a sensor out of whack.
These do not have much low end power, you do have to rev it.


The ONLY way to know for certain is to perform a leak down check.

After reading a few posts on different forums, I found that mikly oil could be caused by a motor that took in water.
I checked and cleaned my air filter but I noticed that the airbox drain container had what seemed like a mix of oil and water.
I would say 70% water and the rest gunk/oil.
Could this happen under normal use or does a bike need to be dropped in water for this to happen?

I'm trying to add a picture of it and it wont let me?? does anyone know why?

Thanks

RC_guy wrote:

I'm trying to add a picture of it and it wont let me?? does anyone know why?

Thanks

https://wr250rforum.forumotion.com/t2567-how-to-post-pictures-you-took?highlight=pictures <-- clicky

What mods does your bike have?
Does it have a fuel programmer? If not I doubt you're running rich.

Milky looking oil is a sign of some foreign liquid. Water, antifreeze.....

Don't want you to panic just yet...so try to tell us everything you know.

Who did you buy the bike from? Can they give you a history?

Water could get into airbox area if there is no airbox door and bike was ridden in rain.

Everything is stock.
From what I know, it never ran in the rain with no door on airbox.
Could it be from high pressure washing?
I don't have history and bought it from a guy on craiglist.  He says its running fine!
And the main thing for me is that the oil smells like gas

Buy some "cheaper" oil.
Change it a few times pretty quickly.
In between changes run bike through a tank of gas.
Record how many miles you get per tank of gas.
Monitor the level of oil in the site glass.

See if the issue goes away after a change or two.
Change oil filter at least once in that process.

Remember, the oil lubricates the clutch, so it's color will change from clear amber to a darker color rather quickly.

Pressure washing is not recommended for many reasons.

Where do you live? What state/city? Maybe somebody here lives close by and can help you compare your bike to theirs.

I would pull the seat and inspect everything to see if its been monkeyed with. Look it over for missing bolts etc. Kinda get a feel for what if any work has been done. People like to remove the flap on the air intake, the egr, the valve in the exhaust.  You can pull the fuel tank and spark plug and check the color.  Stock bikes run leanish so it will be quite clean if everything is stock and working.
The power delivery is pretty smooth with a wide power band. It starts pulling just off idle with most of the hp in the mid rpms and then the power starts dropping off just before redline, not like vtec.

The outside of the spark plug was rusted but in the motor, it seems pretty good.  I guess it was dropped in water???
As I said before, everything is stock.

The dealer sold me a replacement plug but it a CR9E, just a standard plug. It does not have the 2 legs like the OEM one. Will this affect anything?

Nope, it's a good plug too.

I tried a friend of mine's 2014 model and it really has more pep than mine. I would say 5 more horses at least.
When both bikes are at idle, and you put your hand say 3 inches away from the exhaust, his has much more of a kick (you feel the air coming out a lot more)

So could a very dirty injector cause this or is it for sure a compression issue? Oh yes and my exhaust really smells like the bike is running very rich!

You can probably get a loaner compression tester from autozone.  I know there might be issues with auto decompression.  There was just a thread where a guy did a compression test.  Could be a sensor issue is messing up your ignition timing.  I believe there are ways to pull up intake air temp and barometric pressure on the display, make sure the readings make sense.

I guess the valve timing could be off as well which would give you low compression.

Fuel in the exhaust and fuel in the oil, could be just from over fueling you could have perfectly good piston rings etc, not a mechanical issue.

beee wrote:

You can probably get a loaner compression tester from autozone.  I know there might be issues with auto decompression.  There was just a thread where a guy did a compression test.  Could be a sensor issue is messing up your ignition timing.  I believe there are ways to pull up intake air temp and barometric pressure on the display, make sure the readings make sense.

I guess the valve timing could be off as well which would give you low compression.

Fuel in the exhaust and fuel in the oil, could be just from over fueling you could have perfectly good piston rings etc, not a mechanical issue.

Thanks but how does the auto decompression work on these bikes?
Valve timing? isn't that from a chain?  How can it be off if its from a chain?
How could fuel get in the exhaust from putting a little too much fuel in the tank?  Even when the tank is 1/4 full, it still does it.  It does it all the time?

I got into the diagnostic display and pressure showed D1:03 100 which is supposed to be atmospheric pressure - (minus) intake pressure. Does this make sense?
The temp sensor was spot on...

Thanks

No idea how the decompression works. I just remember seeing a thread talking about it recently. The guy followed the repair manual to get compression numbers, but he was getting slightly low numbers, and people were questioning how accurate a compression test is on these bikes. I will try to find the post.

Yeah valve timing is by chain, someone on here mentioned he had his skip teeth when his tensioner failed. That would be a real long shot, but it would be something I would check before you tear the whole engine down.

What I meant by over fueling is that if a sensor is telling the bike to inject to much fuel, or if the injector is leaking it can wash the cylinder walls and get in the oil, it doesn't have to necessarily be from a scored cylinder or bad rings.

I have never used the display to check readings, though no, that doesn't sound right. With key on engine off It should read either zero or about 29 depending on how its calibrated.