WRR Rescue

After drueling over these machines since they came out, I finally bought one. I had been looking on ebay and craigslist for a while and to my suprise found a WRR only an hour away. The add on craigslist was hardly legible; it said, "08 wr250r 750 mil small ripp in seat tanks needs be clean other thn that beutiful will do 90mph in 6th." I emailed the seller trying to make sense of the posting. He replied (in the same manner as above) that the tank had some rust in it due to his brother storing the bike wrong in Florida. After emailing a few times with further questions I could finally put together the misspellings, missing words, and lack of punctuation. Originally the seller wanted 4500, I said no way because some dealers were listing brand new 08's at 4599. He went down to 4200, I still said no.

When he went to 3800, I looked at the bike. The "small rip in seat" turned out to be a long slice across 80% of the seat. I asked what happened and he told me that his wife got mad at him and cut it with a knife....(woah). The rest of the bike was in very nice condition. I did a thorough inspection, rode it and everything seemed to be in order, despite some stalling that I blamed on a clogged fuel filter. Now, to the rust in the tank. I could see some rust, but I couldn't tell the severity because it had a full tank, but still it worried me...not for 3800 I said. He went to 3500, I thought about it and told him I would sleep on it. When I called the next day my mind was made up; not for 3500. He said he had another buyer anyways and I was fine with that. I'll find a better one. But, then I get a call about 2 weeks later saying that the previous buyer's check fell through and if I was still interested the bike was still available. I asked what the price was and he stuck to 3500, I said no more than 3200, he said 3350, I said no, and he said ok 3200. So I looked at the bike again and decided that I could take care of the rust in the tank.....sooo I bought it! YAY, but when I ran the tank empty....the rust was far worse than I could have imagined.





My camera could only capture a small glimpse of the real rust, but the whole bottom of the tank was worse than what we can see above. When I took the tank off, I shook enough rust particals out to make a small pile on the concrete. Check out the fuel pump....

Look at this corrosion! It's amazing that the bike ran fine....
















So I took the fuel pump apart and went to work with my steel brush. I used muriatic acid and rust remover on the tank. It helped, but not the results I was looking for. I decided maybe sandblasting would do it, and it did. I had my friend sandblast the tank and all the loose rust was removed. I kept at the fuel pump and cleaned the filter with a bottle of carb and choke cleaner. Unfortunately, I did not snap any photos of the end result because I was too eager to close everything up and ride, but I can tell you it was a VAST improvement. When I got the bike home (before I took care of things) it would stall a lot at low RPMs and if I bliped the throttle while it was idling. No more of that; however, it still stalls if I initiate the throttle too abruptly at idle. Something I still can't figure out, as I've done all of the maintenance in the owners manual and still can't find a problem. It runs great, but I can make it stall if I want to by not slowly applying throttle. Anyways, I debated whether or not to seal the tank, with some sort of epoxy or kreem. I opted not to because I heard that they only last for a year or 2 and then flake off and I was planning on replacing the tank anyways.

Here she is, ready to ride...



I've put about 300 miles on her since and really enjoyed it. This is the bike I was looking for! I can't wait to get a lil more power out of her, then it will be perfect! I own a Banshee, a very fast snomobile, have had a few sport bikes, and this thing is just plain FUN. It seems as though this bike was deliberately sabotaged; I don't think that this could have happened by a mere storage mistake, but I got her and it shows how good Yamahas really are. She runs and runs good! If anyone has any ideas about the stalling please let me know, otherwise, thanks for reading!

Holy cow.. That's BAD!

I thought to have a dirty filter was bad... yours is... BAD BAD BAD!

How can that thing rust to that state? The header is gone too.....

Looks like the tank was full of salt water...yikes! In my mind there is no way that would happen without some help. Not sure what exactly would cause that much corrosion other than being sunk in the ocean I can't imagine you wouldn't have some of the fine stuff getting past the fuel screen and into the injector. Might be the cause of the stalling issue. Possibly it will clear up with time or maybe try some fuel system cleaner for a few tank fulls.

Try to always store the bike with a full tank of fuel and you should be OK.

You saw that too Gary? That header is pretty brown looking for such a young bike...

I know, It's sad how shitty some people can be. To lie about something like that, "Stored wrong" .....I don't think so. I have a 1970 RT-1 with hardly any rust in the tank. I felt bad for the machine! My WRR is more personal to me because of it though. If anyone gets the larger tank maybe you could sell me your old one.

As for the header....I was planning on eventually getting the FMF Powerbomb and Q4 (BTW Thanks Shewolf for that excellent comparison on youtube!!)

Yea, It must be the injector, my idle is not as smooth as some bikes i've seen on youtube. Can I somehow clean or replace the injector? I've been running some fuel injector cleaner, I normally don't use the stuff, not sure it does anything.

BTW: The head pipe was not rusty, It was merely sand or clay or something, came right off. Looking good now! AND I put another 100 miles or so on her today and stalling issues are virtually gone!! Maybe all the cleaning and Lucas fuel additive did work....I think she is completely rescued! Time to....

Wow, you have put in a lot of effort to make her look this way

keep up the good work and RIDE ON!

you might wanna open her up and look at the cylinder. the FI system for sure.

Bike's lookin real good Mar!

Congrats on the bike. Once you get that rust problem sorted out, I'm sure your going to love this bike!!

I'm thinking after the wife stabbed the seat she most likely poured "something" into that tank??!! Anyways, I had mine out for a good long ride Friday. First half . . absolutely NO stalls . . .BUT, soon after I was at a traffic light, came to a complete stop (downshifting) and from a dead stop when I pulled on the throttle in 1st gear, BAM . . she stalls. Happed about 3-4 more times on the ride . . .always from either a dead stop or after downshifting into 2nd gear at low speed and attempting to give her throttle. It never happens while I'm riding it, but I must admit, pulling into heavy traffic from a dead stop has me a bit nervous she'll die/stall in the middle of a lane. Let me know if you're able to diagnose your issue. The only thing that I can think of is mine has the FMF fuel tuner. The guy before me seemed to know what he was doing and said he had it dialed in perfect. Well, considering it did the stalling thing when I test drove it, I douby it has anything to do with the difference in altitude from WV to CT. Well, I'm hoping it's just a "touch issue" so I'll keep playing with her to find the appropriate "touch" when downshifting and/or accelerating from a complete stop.

Our stalling issues sound very similar. Initially I turned the idle (or air screw) out a bit....I heard no increase in idle speed....so I turned it back. Mine would always, and still (though not as bad) stalls if I give throttle too quickly. For example, if the bike is sitting idling I have to carefully twist the throttle....if I just rev it like im loosening a screw or something it will stall. Thats how I would test it to see improvement; just give the throttle a split second of open twist. At first it would stall indefinitly. Now, if i really crank on it for a split second it will do a wierd hicup hesitation....it's really kind of hard to explain. Maybe I should post a vid of my bike idling and stalling....?? Anyways...

Hmmm, shouldn't be a "touch" issue on a relatively new bike, somethings up. I can blame mine on the....obvious circumstances...hahaha. The stalling is getting better for me because the fuel tank and fuel filter is no longer clogged with rust deposits. Gas is a solvent and the fuel filter/pump/injector are cleaning the left over rust dust out with ever ride. Maybe try a little lucas fuel injector cleaner, I never believed in these sorts of products, but in combination with cleaning everything thoroughly; my bike runs real good now . I'd say, take a look at your fuel pump filter, go through the manual and do all the maintenance even if it's been done recently. The guy I bought mine from had supposedly changed the oil @ 700, I changed it when I got the bike and it looked older than 100 miles. I hope you get it right dude, stalling in traffic is DANGEROUS! I think i'm going to invest in a headlight strobe as people still refuse to see me in bright orange and i'm not going to get hit by another beeeee otch talking on a cell phone who, "didn't see me."

Cheers!

wildmotha wrote:

The "small rip in seat" turned out to be a long slice across 80% of the seat. I asked what happened and he told me that his wife got mad at him and cut it with a knife....(woah).

And people wonder why I'm still not married...

For your stalling issue The first thing I would check is fuel pressure, the relief is in the tank as part of the pump and whatever was in the tank has been circulating through the valve over and over again
Any yamaha dealer should be able to test fuel pressure

Thanks 0007, that is EXACTLY what I need! I'm Going to do that as soon as I find it cheap. The dealer here wanted 88 bucks for such a test .

Had a huge mishap the other day. Another "rescue", so to speak. I was confident enough in the bike to make a longer ride to and through the Croatan National Forest, NC. Everything was going good, but I miscalculated the distance and didn't really need gas, but played it safe and filled up at this hole-in-the-wall station. They had premium, but as I drove away something was up and then it just got worse; crackling exhaust notes and stalling while down shifting, eventually, I couldn't keep her running. Hmmm, premium at this 1960's station was something like 75 octane I guess. So I pulled into another hole in the wall station about 15 miles down the road (she would run if I kept going) to see if they had some lucas fuel additive...negative. The bike refuses to burn this fuel. I'm stranded 50 miles from the hacienda................................F**K!!

To make a VERY long story short, some extremely nice country folk helped me out. I was able to get a ride to my truck (50 miles away) and took her home. ASAP, the operation started. Pulled off the tank, drained that sh*t fuel, recleaned tank, fuel pump, fuel filter, injector, etc. But then, A corroded wire connection on the fuel pump broke, so i had to solder that back on (I hope it holds). Check it out, pic quality is not that great, but you get my drift:



After the carb and choke cleaner that a rinsed the fuel filter in burned off, she runs good. Still stalls if you open the throttle too abruptly, but I'll try and get that fixed soon. If I need a new fuel pump, i'll have to get a new gas tank aswell. So If anyone has upgraded to the high cap tank, let me know and i'll buy your tank.

Thanks, BTW I DO love this bike regardless. I didn't think the rust issue would be this bad, but, oh well. I've had a good time wrenchin' on her, I feel good about rescueing a neglected Yamaha, just ask my 70 RT-1!





Ride on!

Wow
That tells you that some kind of toxic waste was poured in the tank cuz gas would Never eat a brass connector

Nice restore on the old iron, gotta find some period correct front winker's though

"Toxic waste," I know, right!! Unbelievable.

Good eye! Those winkers, handle bars and road tires were put on by the previous owner. I have the original blinkers, bars, and tires, just haven't put them on.