Hi guys, new to this forum. I have a newly purchased garage queen, 1995 KLR-250 with about 2800 miles on it. All original.
It is a bear to start and Ive updated several things on it:

1. New plug, gapped correctly
2. Adjusted valves properly
3. Cleaned all electrical (ignition) terminals and installed new battery
4. Soaked the carb in cleaner for 24 hours and installed a Kawasaki rebuild kit

It doesnt have an electric starter, so foot power is what I use. It will not start with the kickstarter, but i can push it off down the driveway and it cranks right away. After it has run for a while, it cranks with the kick starter the first time. If I leave it overnight, got to push it off again next day, unless i use starting fluid, then it starts up quickly, but I dont want to do that.

I have not tried the tip over method, but have run it out of gas and then tried it after that and it makes no difference. Still hard to start.

Couple Questions:

• Is there an electric starter from another 250 engine that i can retrofit?
• What other things can i do to get this bike to start better?
• Can I drill any of the starting jets in the carb?

thanks Ron

 

Welcome to KF, cajunklr.

Doesn't your KLR have the same Mikuni carb as my '06 KLX? If so, drilling the enricher jet out may indeed help. You could also try upping the size of the pilot jet by replacing the one that's in there with a larger one. Cleaning the tiny orifice on the pilot jet is not easy and it's possible there's some gunk in it even after a good, long soak. And how about the pilot jet fuel screw? You could try opening that one up a bit also.

 

Over the holidays, im going to pull the carb back off and drill the enricher jet out. It's orifice is so small that I dont see how any gas can ever go through it.
thanks