Strange Bike stopped running
 

I will try to give all the details. I need serious help please. I bought this 01 Ninja 250 about a month ago. It had 6k miles. I changed the oil 3 times since them and it has 7500 miles on it now. The bike seemed to vibrate (engine) ever so slightly (hardly noticable) when i was riding for the last 2 rides. I went to get new spark plugs. None of the locals had the NGK plugs for the bike. AutoZone goave me a "cross referenced plug" Champion brand. I put them in the bike and cranked it up. It ran nice and smooth. When i put it in gear and started to let out the clutch it seemed as the bike was going to die. I let it run a few minutes and warm up and still had a little trouble taking off with out stalling out. Had to use higher than norm RPM to get moving. I tried to ring out the bike but it didnt want to go over about 85 ( I know that bike will usually hit 95-100 pretty quick with me on it). I turned around and headed back to my house to check everything and opened it up again. This time it only went to about 80. When i hit 80 the bike made a single popping noise, followed by a lot of sparks comming out of the front of it (it was night time and i could see the sparks lighting up the front of the faring) and a sound likea baseball card in a fan. The engine died imediatly. The temp was not high at all. I pushed the bike back to the house and pulled the spark plugs to find that they had both exploded!

The part that sparks is gone! just gone! not trace. One of the plugs is broken in half. but the other was in place with just a missing part that is supposed to spark. I took the plugs to the dealer and they told me they had never seen such a thing and had no idea what the problem was untill i brought it in for them to look at it. I put new plugs, his time the NGK plugs, and the bike now turns over, but will not run. All i have gotten out of a lot of cranking is one back fire. It doesnt sound like it is even trying to run. I have checked and i am getting gas and fire. I dont have a compression tool but i have placed my hand over the engine and it feels pretty strong when cranking it over.

What do i check next? I ordered a manual that is on its way. Anyone know how to set the timing on this bike? (someone told me that if it jumped time this could happen) Also a friend told me to take off the valve cover plate and make sure that the othere peices of the spark plug werent in there holding a valve open. Any tell me what that would look like? where to look? any help or suggestions are apreaciated.

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RE: Strange Bike stopped running
 

damn that sucks bro. I wouldnt have the slightest clue but im sure someone here will be able to help. Welcome to the stie and good luck

RE: Strange Bike stopped running
 

The reason this happened is because you used Champion plugs. They are well known for their ceramic insulators cracking. When I was doing the auto parts sales job a few years back, this was a very common occurrence with Champion's. We constantly were warranting out Champion plugs. Luckily for most customers, just the ends would snap off.

When the guys at the parts store told you they had never seen that before, I GUARANTEE they were lying to cover their asses. As I said before this is COMMON among Champion plugs.

Even the Ninja 250 riders club has a warning about Champion plugs:
http://faq.ninja250.org/wiki/Changin...rands_to_avoid

RE: Strange Bike stopped running
 

have you double checked the wires ?

RE: Strange Bike stopped running
 

it's possible the wires were damaged when they exploded .

RE: Strange Bike stopped running
 

Champion plugs and Fram filters. 2 quick ways to ruin your bike. [:@]

RE: Strange Bike stopped running
 

cheack your compression with a gage b/c what feels good to your palm may not be enuff the orther problem is where did all of the peices of the plug go posably bemt valves broken pistons was there any alunium on the pluges or oil?

RE: Strange Bike stopped running
 

1+ on staying away from Fram. Cut open and compare a fram car oil filter to even the cheapest house brand, and you will be amazed how much better the generic filter is made compared to fram.

RE: Strange Bike stopped running
 

purolators are pretty good though

RE: Strange Bike stopped running
 

yeah sounds like it did some serious damage, more than likey that piece fell nto the chamber and the piston did a number on it and the head, pull the head and look at the piston