New to me 09 KLX250s
 

Hello all, I have a 2009 KLX250s that's been sitting in a barn for about 5 years. Got it for a good price, and it's only got 940 miles on it. I drained and put in new gas, put a battery in it, and gave it a shot. No luck. It'll start on starting fluid. I'm going to pull the carb and clean the jets all out, the gas was left 'on' so I'm assuming the jets are clogged solid. In the meantime, I have been reading a bunch of posts about opening this little thumper up, and I haven't found one yet that covers the setup I can afford this summer. I'm thinking that since I have the carb off I might as well get the 2152 jet kit from DJ, and add a KDX200 snorkel. BUT, I don't have the $$ for an exhaust, and honestly don't want loud anyways. I've read a bunch and am actively looking for a KLX300 exhaust, but until then, I think I'll end up just doing the 1/2" drill through the first plate on the stock exhaust. I live in a hilly area, my riding will generally be between 700-1500 feet above sea level. I grew up on dirt bikes, switched to the street at 16, and am now back into the dirt at 47, my boys just moved up from crf50's to 110's, so it's time for me to have some fun too!

SO my question to you gurus is with a DJ jet kit, a KDX200 snorkel probably a Uni air filter, and a modded stock exhaust, should I go with the stage 1 or stage 2 setup of the jet kit?
Thanks for any and all input!

IMO, if your not rac'in, why change the muffler?

The only change I'm planning to make to the muffler is to drill one hole. I am assuming letting more fuel and air in also needs to be let out. I guess that's another part to my question. Does drilling the muffler make a difference?

I bought a 2009 KLX250S last year with only 900 miles on it. It was properly stored and starts and runs like a brand new bike. Sorry to hear that yours wasn't stored properly, but all hope is not lost. As you mentioned the carb will need attention.
The only mod that I have on my bike is the K&N air filter that was installed by the previous owner. I suspect that the carb may have had a jet kit installed but I'm not sure because the Welch plug that gives access to the mixture screw has not been removed. I live and ride at the 4500' level so what is lean jetting at sea level may work very well where I live. Bike starts well even in cooler temperatures.
Still have the stock exhaust, but like you am looking for a deal on a klx300 exhaust. As far as drilling the stock exhaust: I live in the west in an area where forest fires are common. If a Ranger was to test the exhaust by inserting a check rod I want to make sure that I'm legal. Drilling the exhaust might get me into trouble with the law so I'm cool with the stock setup.

BTW- I'm a lot older than you and sold my last Dualsport, a Suzuki DR350S in 1994, so it's great to be doing off-road again. It hurts a little more to fall nowadays so I try to keep falling off to a minimum!

Put a new plug in it,
. Gap at your own risk

the dj kit gives you a good needle. the stock needle is too lean. pilot, needle and the stock 118 main is too lean even for your elevation. I have not done the dj kit ...... yet. I put a 40 pilot 2 turns out on the fuel screw, and I just put in a 135 main. I have the N1TC needle in there too. 135 might be too rich for you though. I just didnt want to drill my slide yet, which I think is part of doing the dj kit installation. if it pops over on starting fluid its probably your carb.

you could just do a 128ish main, a 38 pilot and a N1TC needle with the circlip on the top groove. the fs should be 1.75 turns out from the factory under that alum plug. I pulled the plug to get to the screw.

I was thinking about going the route with the N1TC needle and right around that jet setup, but I read about a million posts on here, and I think the DJ kit comes with a different spring that eliminates the need t0 drill the slide. The only drilling done according to the DJ 2152 instructions is to remove the EPA plug. I'm going to check with a local dealer & find out how much the jets & needle will run me, I can get the DJ kit for $50, it's probably worth it for the good needle, improved spring and extra jets to mess with. Did you do the 1/2" drill the stock exhaust system mod, did it make a difference?

I have a FMF Power Core 4. But its too loud for my "sleepy" little town of 400 people. I have a stock slip on coming in about a week. I need to read up on where to drill that 1/2" hole. sounds like a good idea due to stock muff being really restrictive.

If I was going to do it again I might think about the DJ kit. The needle is what I really want off that kit. But I don't like the idea of drilling the carb slide. I always like to be able to reverse anything I can do. And the only way you can reverse that is I read to epoxy the whole up and re-drill it to the stock size. If you do the N1TC Needle dont forget to order the clip and the collar. part numbers are on this site somewhere.

the EPA plug is a must do mod. just drill the alum plug with a small bit, but go slow, dont want to hit the brass fuel screw under the plug. If your at 1000 ft you might want to go 38 on that pilot jet and 2.25 turns out. you can go to 3 turns out max before you jump to the next richer jet (40)

According to the instructions that come with the DJ 2152 kit, you don't drill the carb slide, the only drilling is for the EPA plug. I think that's where the DJ spring comes into play, they use a new spring. Check it out... http://www.dynojet.com/pdf/2152.pdf

I'll be drilling out the EPA plug next week, busy weekend coming up. Zero bike time.

On the down side, the DJ kit doesn't come with a pilot jet at all. I guess they leave it stock. I'll grab one and up it.

5 years ago I picked up an '09 with 550 miles on it. Installed the DJ-2 kit, took off the snorkle, but left the lid on, drilled out the EPA plug and set the screw at about 2.5 turns out. Bike starts easy and runs like a top. I'm at 4200', and do most of my riding between 3000-6000'. However, my buddy who has a '10 has left his completely stock except for a Thermobob, and his gas mileage is much better than mine (which is about 59mpg). I'm in AZ, so cold weather starting is not much of an issue.

stock is probably ok for those elevations. Mine was at selevel and a 118 was making the plug white as snow. Didnt hurt the motor thanks to liquid cooling I guess

So you didn't change the pilot jet at all, and have no exhaust modifications? That's pretty much the exactly the setup I was wondering about. I'll probably change the pilot to make it start easier, but wasn't sure if the exhaust needed to be modified or not. I might hold off and see how it feels before I do it. Thanks for the info!

You don't 'need' to do anything to the exhaust, I'm running a 350 with the stock exhaust, just say'in.

Yup. If you take off that snorkel and do the jet kit it will be better if you didnt for sure. Thats basically how mine is going to be set up. I am taking off the FMF because its too loud for my riding area and I can live with stock power. The bike is set up way too lean from the factory for my elevation so that was my main motivation. I can always put the FMF pipe back on. But I doubt I will.

I did the MCM cam mod too because it was EZ, and reversible if I didnt like it. Its nice because I short shift around 4k to 7k and it gave it more grunt.

Good to know. Thanks for the info!

Not really, I did the math, the stock snorkel is really long about half the cross sectional of the air boot between the air box and the carb... can you say "restrictive"? I thought you could... The KDX200/220 snorkel is much shorter and virtually the same size as the air boot, much less restrictive.

The pipe will add a bit, but not a lot. I'd say take off the head pipe and grind the weld inside at the head end to get rid of the lumpy factory weld at that point, if I remember right I noticed that in the head pipe I have laying around. That will open up some of the restriction. The pipe is a bit small, calculations say 1.375" ID is what should be there, but still the problem for real flow is at the intake snorkel and that the pipe at the head is small. I have an aftermarket 300 pipe I need to install.

Doing the intake side of things helps starting and performance all through the range. The pipe really won't do as much as the intake modifications.

I read this snorkel works too.

14073-1703

https://www.partzilla.com/catalog/ka...-cleaner-cn-us

Dominic,

Please think twice about taking the 1/2" drill bit to your muffler.
This was a common practice when these first came out and you'll find threads where 2006/07 owners did it with apparent regularity.
Then, later, you'll find the threads where those that did it said it made little to any difference in flow/performance, may have made it a little louder, and definitely destroyed the spark arrester, yielding the muffler illegal for off road use on most all public lands. The spark arrester on these bikes swirls the exhaust gasses and the drill bit destroys the swirling fins.

Look for that KLX300 system you mentioned, or a fairly priced FMF Q4, if you want to keep it quieter.

I've read more posts and saw that mentioned a few times, so I have already decided against it. On the hunt for a 300 exhaust!!!

Good to know! thanks for the input!!!