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Hello I'm having a starting issue with my 1995 Ninja 250. I rode it earlier this morning to do some errands. I was going to ride it a second time today to pick up groceries but the starter button did not work. When I pushed on it, nothing happened. My side kick stand was up and I was in neutral. All of the other electricals worked including the horn, blinkers, speedometer light, oil light, and neutral light. I was thinking the something was wrong with the starter solenoid. The 30v main fuse was not blown when I checked. I'm at my college location so I don't have access to my parent's tools. I was going to buy a voltmeter tomorrow to check on things. Any suggestions on what I should troubleshoot? I plan to test the voltage on the battery and solenoid tomorrow.
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Jun 16, 2013 03:38
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| # ? Jun 3, 2024 15:44 |
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When you press the starter button is there a clicking noise or anything? At a guess I'd say your battery is done*, a clicking noise will pretty much guarantee that. To get it home you could bump start it (put it in second, hold the clutch in, get someone to push you/roll downhill or something and then dump the clutch). *It'll hold enough charge to get lights, etc working but not enough to start the bike.
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Jun 16, 2013 04:04
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Shimrod posted:When you press the starter button is there a clicking noise or anything? At a guess I'd say your battery is done*, a clicking noise will pretty much guarantee that. To get it home you could bump start it (put it in second, hold the clutch in, get someone to push you/roll downhill or something and then dump the clutch). It's at my apartment right now so thankfully I don't have to worry about paying to get it towed home. There's no clicking sound but I'll be sure to check the voltage of the battery when I buy the voltmeter tomorrow. It did this once a couple weeks ago but I played around with multiple things (putting kickstand up and down, flipping on/off switch constantly, smacking side of the gas tank...) and it started back up fine. This time I'm not so fortunate. I'm guessing somethings not grounding correctly.
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Jun 16, 2013 04:13
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Hmm, I had a similar problem with my 600 I just picked up and it turned out to be one of the wires coming from the starter button had crapped itself. It would start sometimes and not others, was fine once it ran. Try fiddling around with the wires going to the starter and see if you can get it to want to go by having them in different positions? Some contact cleaner might help out as well. e: From my understanding unless the battery is making that clicking sound it should be fine.
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Jun 16, 2013 04:17
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Shimrod posted:Hmm, I had a similar problem with my 600 I just picked up and it turned out to be one of the wires coming from the starter button had crapped itself. It would start sometimes and not others, was fine once it ran. Try fiddling around with the wires going to the starter and see if you can get it to want to go by having them in different positions? Some contact cleaner might help out as well. It's worth checking the battery at least, who knowsf? I'm not sure if it's worth ordering a replacement starter solenoid if it's a grounding problem so I'll be sure to check the wires.
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Jun 16, 2013 04:22
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Is the kill switch on... No clicking or lights dimming is suspect.
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Jun 16, 2013 05:43
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SaNChEzZ posted:Never mind your awesome MPG, what is that fantastic app? Road Trip.
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Jun 16, 2013 06:43
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Awesome, no android variant though 
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Jun 16, 2013 07:00
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For Android you have Mileage. It doesn't make fancy graphs like that, but you can export the data to CSV and make the graphs yourself in Excel/Google Spreadsheets/whatever. Biggest drawback is that it saves your data locally, so if you lose or brick your phone you lose your history unless you've backed it up.
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Jun 16, 2013 08:40
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SaNChEzZ posted:Awesome, no android variant though Get a real phone you jackass. (Seriously though iphones own)
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Jun 16, 2013 09:03
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Pokey Araya posted:Get a real phone you jackass.
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Jun 16, 2013 16:15
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fuelly.com user checkin' in. It gets the job done and you can see how dongish your MPG is compared to other riders on the same bike. Example: http://www.fuelly.com/driver/stugazi/street-triple
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Jun 16, 2013 17:05
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Reading through bits of this thread makes me miss my 250 :/ Anyone here do 250 racing? There's a track nearby that does a ninja 250 season, and I don't really know the ins and outs of getting started in that world. It seems like a good way to get some thrills out of my system without tearing through the mountains at thank-you-sir-may-I-have-another-speeding-ticket velocity.
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Jun 16, 2013 19:20
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Stugazi posted:fuelly.com user checkin' in. It gets the job done and you can see how dongish your MPG is compared to other riders on the same bike. fuelly seems pretty neat. I just created a profile. https://www.fuelly.com/driver/collateraldamage/ninja-650r
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Jun 17, 2013 00:12
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Rabid Snake posted:It's worth checking the battery at least, who knowsf? I'm not sure if it's worth ordering a replacement starter solenoid if it's a grounding problem so I'll be sure to check the wires. Update: The motorcycle cranked when I bypassed the start button through the starter solenoid. With the knowledge that it was the starter relay, I ended up fiddling with the clutch sensor/kickstand sensor wire. This caused the engine to fire right up after pushing the starting button!
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Jun 17, 2013 01:55
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Hello, thread. Long time no post. If you've been around awhile, I bought this heavily modified 250 from BlueBayou back in 2010:  Had it 1 summer, and then it never started again (speaking of, would anyone be interested in the seat on that bike? I still have it. The black bike's frame was cut down a bit, I think, so I don't know if it would actually fit on an otherwise unmodified 250. But if someone's curious, once it's not Slender Man dark outside, I can go take pictures of it and figure that out. And how much I want to ask for it.) I posted a bit about it, before giving up and sinking into motorcycle-depression until I bought a 2007 stock bike. With stock parts. And a stock engine. And the number of miles on it that the odometer said. This is my second summer with the new bike. So I decided to take it on a trip to meet a friend who's hiking the Appalachian Trail and do some backpacking with him. Trip was from Wisconsin to Virginia, and back. Here's my loaded up bike (with my gear all over it, too):  I was riding back, and thinking all these loving, devoted thoughts about my bike. About how comfortable I am with it, and how much I love it, even though it's underpowered, and the lower half of my body may never be the same after riding that thing that long AND climbing baby-mountains. And then I hit Chicago. I was NOT expecting traffic that bad for a Sunday afternoon. I've driven through Chicago a lot, and was pretty surprised. It took an hour to get from "Oh, traffic jam" to the next exit (I'm not comfortable lane-splitting, but especially not with saddlebags and crap on the bike). And in that time, my bike died. All nice thoughts went out the window. SO. I assumed it overheated at first. But the temperature was high, but not in the red zone. And after it had time to cool down, it wouldn't start. The engine catches, but won't turn over (I may have those terms backwards. You know what? gently caress it. I still describe box end wrenches as "robot claws." As in "Give me the 10mm robot claw." I had to google "box wrench." Deal). Roadside assistance kickstarted it (and tried to teach me how, but I was hot and tired and didn't care) and I rode it off the freeway, several blocks, and parked in a parking lot (maybe half a mile total). During this time, I noticed the temperature was at a much more reasonable level. I turned it off because I was ALSO overheating (and starving), and that was the end of that. I ended up having a friend with a trailer come get me (...and then his truck wouldn't start, and we sat in the parking lot for 3 hours waiting for a tow truck when it randomly started. I'm the worst luck). I'm not sure where to start; does it sound like it overheated? The guy who came and rescued me off the freeway said it smelled like a fried clutch, but I honestly don't really know what that means, or if that makes sense. I go on the worst vacations. I have a poison ivy rash on my leg, spent 6 hours in a parking lot today, and my bike won't start. Blah. (...I had a great vacation until today.)
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Jun 17, 2013 08:06
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Turns over, but won't catch? If it's turning over (ie, the engine moves when you hit the starter, but never "catches" and starts running) you could have vaporlocked the tank due to heat and that caused it to not feed fuel at all. Will it start now? How's the battery? Also, take some time to learn the terminology for bikes - it's going to make life a lot easier for everyone involved to help you out.
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Jun 17, 2013 19:23
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Juno posted:Reading through bits of this thread makes me miss my 250 :/ I think Veritas used to race 250s. Rabid Snake posted:250 won't start There's a 10 amp ignition fuse in the main fusebox as well, I'd check that.
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Jun 17, 2013 19:48
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Thanks for the tips; once I have an extra pair of hands to help me get the bike out of the trailer it's in, I'll start poking around.Z3n posted:take some time to learn the terminology for bikes I'm definitely trying, and was mostly frustrated and tired last night. Should've waited until this morning to post, when I was thinking clearer. Sorry I posted grumpy.
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Jun 17, 2013 21:49
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modify_evolution posted:Thanks for the tips; once I have an extra pair of hands to help me get the bike out of the trailer it's in, I'll start poking around. No need to apologize - just one of those things where learning the lingo will help you understand both what people are asking you to do to troubleshoot and to make sure you don't waste your time trying one thing when someone's asking you to do something else 
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Jun 17, 2013 22:33
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First highway ride; how do you people deal with the wind at 60 mph? That poo poo is crazy buffeting. Also, ran out of gas while on the highway and couldn't find the petcock while riding along at 55 or so. Next time.
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Jun 20, 2013 18:54
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Lean into it and rest your upper body on the wind. Just wait for the difference in wind from 60-80 and then from 80-100 and beyond.
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Jun 20, 2013 18:56
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Yeah what nsaP said. You'll get used to it in no time.
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Jun 20, 2013 19:11
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captainOrbital posted:First highway ride; how do you people deal with the wind at 60 mph? That poo poo is crazy buffeting. Also, ran out of gas while on the highway and couldn't find the petcock while riding along at 55 or so. Next time. Went on my first highway ride not too long ago and kept thinking "what the gently caress am I doing". I got used to it after only a couple more rides.
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Jun 21, 2013 21:15
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I remember my first highway ride and finding it nearly impossible to look over my shoulder due to the wind slamming into my helmet. Now it is no big deal.
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Jun 21, 2013 21:39
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I've read some people refer to building up "motorcycle" muscle. Its either that or psychologically getting used to the wind and noise (wear hearing protection if you're making any sort of long trips) One of my big complaints about the MSF course is that its all parking lot drills. Those are really important, but it makes your first jaunt at 70 a big unnerving. blue squares posted:I remember my first highway ride and finding it nearly impossible to look over my shoulder due to the wind slamming into my helmet. Now it is no big deal. idk what kind of helmet captainOrbital has, but that was still a pain until I got a half way decent helmet (got a scorpion ex500 instead of some lovely fulmer), holy crap is aerodynamics on your helmet important, my head feels super stable in that thing. ADINSX fucked around with this message at 04:36 on Jun 22, 2013 |
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Jun 22, 2013 04:34
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Didn't bother me. The only time you're going 70 is in a straight line
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Jun 22, 2013 17:21
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You guys. The battery was dead. That was it. I was in stop-and-stop traffic for over an hour, and the battery died. That's how I got stuck in a parking lot for 6 hours.  (I got a new battery. Started right up. I'm assuming it was the battery; any reason I should be worried about the electrics on the bike or something?)
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Jun 23, 2013 06:04
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captainOrbital posted:First highway ride; how do you people deal with the wind at 60 mph? That poo poo is crazy buffeting. Also, ran out of gas while on the highway and couldn't find the petcock while riding along at 55 or so. Next time. Doesn't it have a gas gauge?
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Jun 24, 2013 14:55
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Just bought a 2007 Ninja 250R! Will be my first (working) bike, I'm a little nervous but it should be tons of fun, a Miata wasn't enough I guess, I needed total exposure. Right now I'm still getting it insured/registered so I will have it on the road this week. Anyone in Upstate NY/capital district want to ride?
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Jun 24, 2013 15:02
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BusinessWallet posted:Doesn't it have a gas gauge? Newgens might, not sure. The '88-'07 models certainly don't. Ran out of fuel entirely while on reserve, heading out to get gas. The 35-50 miles on reserve that I read turned out to be optimistic, particularly when fighting a headwind on the freeway. Was more like 28 miles. Had to do the lean-the-bike-all-the-way-over trick to get fuel to the petcock to limp from the offramp to the gas station. Pretty sure I read that trick in this thread, so thanks. Irritating, because I could hear gas slosh if I jerked the bike around. In fairness to the bike, I think it was about a mile and a half from "gently caress I think it's going" to "completely dead." Voltage posted:Just bought a 2007 Ninja 250R! Will be my first (working) bike, I'm a little nervous but it should be tons of fun, a Miata wasn't enough I guess, I needed total exposure. Right now I'm still getting it insured/registered so I will have it on the road this week. Anyone in Upstate NY/capital district want to ride? Get comfortable with the bike first. A group ride adds another thing you have to pay attention to. I'm a little jealous, though. I used to have to travel out that way for work; you've got some nice roads to play with. modify_evolution posted:You guys. Hah. Talking out my rear end here, but I think you're good. The bike won't charge the battery below ~3500 rpm, so yeah, that much idling would kill it. Probably could have jumped it, but a new battery is probably a wise investment.
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Jun 24, 2013 17:47
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TheNothingNew posted:Newgens might, not sure. The '88-'07 models certainly don't. In case anyone was wondering the newgens do have a gas gauge that seems to be accurate. I still just go by trip mileage though.
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Jun 24, 2013 17:58
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Im turning my 2007 EX250F into a street fighting and took off the fairings but I've lost the helmet lock, where can I get a new one other than ebay? Or can I get one from ebay and get it rekeyed to use my bike key?
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Jun 24, 2013 20:02
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hot sauce posted:In case anyone was wondering the newgens do have a gas gauge that seems to be accurate. I still just go by trip mileage though. My 2009 has possible the worst gauge of anything I've driven.
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Jun 24, 2013 20:31
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rugbert posted:Im turning my 2007 EX250F into a street fighting and took off the fairings but I've lost the helmet lock, where can I get a new one other than ebay? Or can I get one from ebay and get it rekeyed to use my bike key? You could get a lock rekeyed, but it would be cheaper to just go on the ninjette forums, eBay, craigslist, etc. and find a full lockset for ~$90.
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Jun 24, 2013 20:46
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nsaP posted:My 2009 has possible the worst gauge of anything I've driven. Mine will never show exactly full or empty but whatever marking it's close to usually coincides with what should be left. I'd still always use the trip meter even if I fully trusted this gauge.
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Jun 24, 2013 21:02
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The gauge on the Ninja 650 is similarily useless. In the first 50km it will drop from full to 1/4, then it will stay at 1/4 for the remaining 200km.
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Jun 24, 2013 22:46
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AncientTV posted:You could get a lock rekeyed, but it would be cheaper to just go on the ninjette forums, eBay, craigslist, etc. and find a full lockset for ~$90. I paid $30 to have the ignition re-keyed on the CX500, the only caveat was that I had to remove it, which was no big deal.
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Jun 24, 2013 23:00
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The gauge on my 09 isn't too bad, when it shows about 2 bars from empty it's consistently got about a gallon left, I prefer pessimism in these things.
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Jun 24, 2013 23:06
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SaNChEzZ posted:I paid $30 to have the ignition re-keyed on the CX500, the only caveat was that I had to remove it, which was no big deal. So if I picked up a cheap, $15 replacement on ebay where could I get it rekeyed? I would much rather have a single key for my seat, ignition, and helmet lock if I have the option.
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Jun 25, 2013 16:28
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