I recently purchased a 2010 KLX250SF with 700 miles on it.

Runs great, and started right up in the show room, but I have kept it in the girage covered, and it took me 45 min and 3 people pushing me to get it started.

Choke in, choke out, recharging the battery, and then finally getting it started by push starting it in 1st.

Anyone have any tricks/suggestions to starting it when it's been cold?

I'm about to put a space heater under the cover an hour before i try to start it.

Is this model known for being hard to start in the cold?

 

squirt a little starting fluid in the airfilter!!

 

NO STARTING FLUID!!!!!!!

Do this and it will start every time. For reals....LOL

Shut down procedure.

1. After riding as you are pulling into your driveway, or to speed things up you can do this a block from your house, turn off the gas.
2. Let the bike run until it actually dies from gas starvation, (this may take 2-5 minutes) But that's ok it will give you time to put away your gear.
3. Park it and now you're ready for the next time you ride whether that be in a day, or a month.

Start up procedure.

1. Turn on the gas
2. Wait for 10 seconds
3. Start the bike as you always do

 

P.S. Temperature is not a factor here. I forgot to do the procedure and let the bike sit for 3 weeks, and it wouldn't start, and it was 75 degrees out!!! If you can, lay the bike over first and it will puke out the garbage that they call gas and let in some fresh from the tank. Then it will start. But this only has to be done if you forgot to run the gas out. Now there are going to be some other guys on here that will tell you that you have to drill this and re-adjust that, and buy this and screw around doing whatever else, and they are right. But if you don't want to do all that and don't want to mess with the carb at all, then the above procedure will fix it and it works every time.

 

thanks,

i also tried pumping the throttle before starting and that worked,

i will try your method today, thanks a bunch

 

I have a 2009 KLX250SF and have also been having some trouble getting it started. It has about 2500 miles on it.

I recently rode it in the rain and then left it in the rain overnight, two days later (I put it in a garage on the second day) I tried to start it, for over an hour including trying to compression start pushing it up a hill (repeatedly) and riding down in 2nd.

The battery has now died from trying to start it for so long and I'll need to recharge it, unfortunately I cannot do this until next week.

I'm curious to hear how the process outlined above went, namely the laying the bike on it's side.

I'm also curious to hear if anyone has any ideas if the rain may have been a factor in this, as this has never happened before.

cheers.

 

I bought a new 2009 KLX250SF three weeks ago.
If the engine is cold and the air temperature is <45°F it refuses to start.

I discovered there is a problem with the compression release system on these bikes. My dealer knew nothing about it until I asked them to call Kawasaki. The Kawasaki guy knew all about it and said they've been having problems with these bikes in cold climates.

Mine's in the shop right now getting repaired under warranty.

This is the thread that pointed me in the right direction:
http://www.klr650.net/forums/showthread.php?t=87517

 

Thank you for your input guys. I have tried all of the above starting procedures down to a T, and still, the only way to get my 2010 KLX250sf statred to to run it down the block and release the clutch while in 1st (which i shouldn't have to do with a 2010 model still under warranty)

but, I will contact the dealership today and forward the links to this forum and the one posted above.

I appreciate your help guys

 

In cold, you must have to start your bike 3-4 times in a day & switch it on for 1-2 minutes.
That will help you in your problem. Otherwise you can give chock for half minutes & start kicking fastly.

 

So, I talked to the dealership about the recommended fix, and they said they didn't want to do it because ti might result in premaure wear of that part. They are going to check with Kawasaki.

But, it is definately the cold weather that makes the bike hard to start.

It was warm the past 2 weekends (50+ F) and i had no trouble starting it while in the warm weather.


If i had a kick start, i probably wouldn't have anything to complain about, but i have the 250sf which is electric start only.

I appreciate all of your advise.

The dealership has also failed to provide me with a manual, and i have a PDF copy of the 2009 manual. Could I refer to the 2009 Manual for my 2010 bike?