[Ratan Prabhu]

Originally Posted by Travelling_Monk

I have faced the exact same problem of leaking radiator. I have motocool coolant which is yellow but leak was green. With doubt, went back to the service center where I had serviced recently and found out service guy had topped up radiator coolant (Honda service uses green coolant) without asking or informing me causing the coolant to overflow. Got the excess coolant removed and problem was sorted.

Leak from the radiator or reservoir area ? Mine was from the reservoir area just behind the side stand. I've read that two coolants should never be mixed as they will react and form a jelly type substance. But since you aren't facing any issue, all should be well. My coolant leak issue got resolved on its own as I'm facing not a single drop of leak since last 5 days (on similar bike usage like during the leakage days). I guess the excess has leaked away and it has come to normal level and hence not leaking anymore. Won't worry about it as long as radiator fan works normally and temp doesnt cross 3 bars. Fingers crossed.

[maheshm619]

Originally Posted by SnS_12

If you plan to continue using the OE tank, it would be better if you can get a epoxy coating.

Also, what is the reason for so must rust

The bike was unattended for a long period of time, I guess without any care and tank was never cleaned/inspected in between.The fuel filter somehow prevented more failures.I did read about epoxy coating ,ditched it for two reasons.Primarily because my current place of residence is a remote rural area where no such facility exists and secondly since I saw some posts online where epoxy tended to peel off bit by bit after some years and leading to similar issues.

Originally Posted by Black_Star

This sort of thing should have been noticed by the service mechanic who worked on the bike.

My whole experience with service center was pathetic.The mechanic changed the oil filter by removing only one screw of the bottom fairing portion and yanking the rest of it.Damaged some Allen head screws and clips in the process.Never going back again.

[Shonith]

Originally Posted by maheshm619

CBR250 with a shaving mirror

Hi everyone,

This is my first long post in this forum. Fast-forward some months from my query in this forum regarding picking up a used CBR250 and after clearing my doubts with bhp-ian @aargee , I brought the CBR250 home. It’s a 2011 model but has less mileage on the odo, ~15000 kms only. The bike wasn’t pampered or even maintained to say the least. I anyway took the plunge as I needed a bike and wasn’t feeling good to plonk nearly ~1.9 lakhs and get a new one (almost paid for an RTR200), considering my less usage.
Signing off.

After a long time I am reading a good post like this. Good job done on the bike. Kindly keep sharing DIY maintenance, you do in the future. I find such info always very useful rather than talking about just taking the bike to the showroom, getting it fixed there.

[5252rpm]

Hello Riders,

My 250R is coming close to 40k kms and its been a trusted companion. However, just recently I have this weird issue of bike shutting off in lower rpms at times. If I ride prolonged in traffic or lower gears, when I try to slow down and downshift, mostly bike shuts down when rpm goes below say 1.5k rpm. There is no hesitation in starting back though. It is not a recurring issue or a headache but happens at times. Its very difficult to reproduce and hence my mechanic is not convinced.I recently changed fuel filter & air filter on his recommendation to sort out this but I encountered the same in my recent Kochi - Wayand - Ooty - Kochi trip.

Generally it seems to go away if I keep bike off (cool down) for sometime. It lead me to doubt the cooling system but engine temp never cross 3 bars or no excessive heat is felt around.

Is there any other pointers to check?

PIC : From my recent Wayand trip. She's been great as usual.

[camitesh]

Originally Posted by 5252rpm

Hello Riders,

Generally it seems to go away if I keep bike off (cool down) for sometime. It lead me to doubt the cooling system but engine temp never cross 3 bars or no excessive heat is felt around.

Is there any other pointers to check?

PIC : From my recent Wayand trip. She's been great as usual.

Get your spark plug + cap checked and replaced, if needed. Also worth draining out the coolant thoroughly and replacing it with Honda OEM coolant. ECU reset is another option that i can think off but have never tried it myself per se.

May not be related to your case but in my 2012 CBR250, i faced a loose connection issue once which led the bike to shut off when handle was at a certain angles during a tight u-turn. Restarting the bike again was always a non-issue and it wasn’t very bothersome too since it mostly happened at very slow speeds. But got it fixed by thoroughly inspecting and cleaning the electrical connections at a FNG.

[5252rpm]

Originally Posted by camitesh

Get your spark plug + cap checked and replaced, if needed. Also worth draining out the coolant thoroughly and replacing it with Honda OEM coolant. ECU reset is another option that i can think off but have never tried it myself per se.

Thanks, camitesh! I don't remember when the plugs were changed but will get it done. Coolant, I was planning to get Engine Ice instead to see how it performs. But since the bike doesn't show any signs of overheating (heat felt near fairing or engine temp gauge), I am confused if this is a heating issue or things related to something else. I'll get checked the electrical part anyway. Looks like my FNG has less expertise to troubleshoot this. Will hunt for someone else in Kochi.

[Ratan Prabhu]

Originally Posted by 5252rpm

Thanks, camitesh! I don't remember when the plugs were changed but will get it done. Coolant, I was planning to get Engine Ice instead to see how it performs. But since the bike doesn't show any signs of overheating.

I am using motocool coolant and I haven't felt any noticable difference when compared to stock Honda coolant. So my suggestion will be to stick to Honda coolant since you have had no trouble with it. Good to replace the coolant every 2 years as it isn't expensive. Our CBR's cooling system is amazing anyway.

Also, the manual says to replace spark plug in 48k kms. Since you are not too far from that, suggest getting it checked and replaced if needed. Shouldn't cost more than 1.5k including labour (if replaced)

[Ratan Prabhu]

Update on my issue related to engine oil leakage from weep hole and occasional coolant leakage from the reservoir tank.

Engine oil leakage from the weep hole was a result of hardened oil seal which had created an extremely small gap between itself and the mechanical seal which was causing the engine oil to leak as the oil temperature went up. Hence, everytime i rode for more than 20 mins or if i rode at 5k+ RPMs, the oil would leak which would spill a little on my right shoe and also some on the right side of the rear tyre.

There were only 2 solutions possible for this.
1. Replace the mechanical and oil seal.
Or
2. Replace the entire right side crank case cover also known as clutch cover.

Sad part is that neither of the above were available when i decided to go for the fix as my return to office resumes now in March and my bike usage would increase ten fold.
After a month worth of follow up and writing to HMSI customer care, I was able to get the clutch cover and gasket. I am thankful to Mr. Sameer from Venetian Honda for getting it arranged although it took almost a month.

Went and got the cover replaced. I insisted that i be present while the work took place in the service center. Engine oil was drained in a clean container (since we had to put the same engine oil again once the part was fitted) and also drained the coolant present in the radiator in a clean container for the same reason Then, removed the existing clutch cover. Was glad to see the internals in very shiny condition with literally zero scratches or rust. Thanks to Shell advance ultra probably.

The mechanic noticed the coolant level in the reservoir was slightly on the higher side and said the occasional leak is definitely due to that. the hoses and everything were sufficiently tight. He also ruled out any issue with the thermostat. After the clutch cover was fitted along with new gasket, we refilled the engine oil (it was exactly 1.2 litres meaning around 300ml had leaked away due to the faulty oil/mechanical seal). I had bought my shell bottle which had approx 400ml of oil in it. Topped it up and now the bike has 1.5 litres as it should. Bottle still has around 100ml oil in it. Will keep it in case the oil level drops after 2-3k kms.

Coolant was also re-filled (the same which was drained) but some 50-100 ml of excess coolant was not filled as the levels were already slightly higher than it should be.

Got the work completed. took 2 hours. took a 15 min test drive where i purposely rode at 6k+ RPMs just to be sure of no leakage. Came back to the service center. Saw no leakage from the weep hole. No coolant leak from the reservoir area. All good.

Total came to approx Rs. 4100. Paid the bill. Thanked the manager and the mechanic and left.

Rounded up costs including taxes :
Clutch cover - Rs. 2800
Gasket - Rs. 200
Consumables - Rs. 200
Labour - Rs. 900

Luckily all issues sorted on Saturday. My return to office resumes from Monday. So the timing was perfect.
Touch wood now i do not have any issues with the bike now. Other than ofcourse the buzz/mild vibrations on handlebar which the mechanic said is normal. So I guess i am wrong to expect Unicorn/R15/FZ level of refinement from my 10 years old CBR250R. I will live with that.

[maheshm619]

Hi,

I am looking to replace the allen screws used in and around fairing since some of the screw heads are not in the best condition.

I guess aftermarket screws would work fine (cheap & readily available), but according to some forums the head size is non standard (requires an allen key of one size lesser).Can anyone shed some light on dimensions of scews to be procured ?

[aravind.anand]

My CBR just refused to start one fine day. Due to my travel commitments, I couldn't attend to it and after a gap of around 2 weeks, I finally gave the battery for charging and got it back. To my surprise, no response from the bike even after getting the battery charged fully at a trusted store. So I took help from a FNG to tow it and it is getting inspected over there currently. Seems that the ignition unit has conked off, and replacement is being quoted at 6-8k. Anybody else has been in a situation like this with the CBR earlier?

[krishnaprasadgg]

Originally Posted by aravind.anand

My CBR just refused to start one fine day. Due to my travel commitments, I couldn't attend to it and after a gap of around 2 weeks, I finally gave the battery for charging and got it back. To my surprise, no response from the bike even after getting the battery charged fully at a trusted store. So I took help from a FNG to tow it and it is getting inspected over there currently. Seems that the ignition unit has conked off, and replacement is being quoted at 6-8k. Anybody else has been in a situation like this with the CBR earlier?

This used to be a common issue in the 2012-14 model CBRs, Mine is a 2013 and I was lucky enough to avoid this issue for a good 8 years. I started having this issue intermittently from mid-late 2021. The bike refused to come to life even after toggling the key multiple times, the battery had full charge. But in my case the ignition unit did not fully die, I found that it turns on when I hold the key in a backward position b/w on and off and the console jumps to life. Had the bike shut off (everything went blank) once while riding too, but luckily came back to life using the same trick. Then the issue magically disappeared again.

Anyways, the point I was trying to make is, yes the older gen CBR250R did have this issue and once the contacts in the unit breaks off a new ignition set is the only way out.

Cheers
Krishna

[VijayAnand1]

Originally Posted by aravind.anand

My CBR just refused to start one fine day. Due to my travel commitments, I couldn't attend to it and after a gap of around 2 weeks, I finally gave the battery for charging and got it back. To my surprise, no response from the bike even after getting the battery charged fully at a trusted store. So I took help from a FNG to tow it and it is getting inspected over there currently. Seems that the ignition unit has conked off, and replacement is being quoted at 6-8k. Anybody else has been in a situation like this with the CBR earlier?

The older units were notorious for going bad given the soldering inside the lockset giving away which provides intermittent connection and hence this wouldn't supply power to the vehicle. If the locket isn't damaged, a good electrician can re-solder and get it to work to solve this loose connection. The older locksets were pricey if my memory serves me right, i.e. the first lot CBRs approx 9 to 10k, the newer ones cost 3 to 4k IIRC.

Start off by inspecting, if it can be re-soldered, a good vehicle electrician can have a look at let you know whether a recovery is worth it or not, but it's 100% worth the try.

Good luck.

Cheers!
VJ

[aravind.anand]

Originally Posted by krishnaprasadgg

Anyways, the point I was trying to make is, yes the older gen CBR250R did have this issue and once the contacts in the unit breaks off a new ignition set is the only way out.

Cheers
Krishna

Originally Posted by VijayAnand1

Start off by inspecting, if it can be re-soldered, a good vehicle electrician can have a look at let you know whether a recovery is worth it or not, but it's 100% worth the try.

Good luck.

Cheers!
VJ

Thanks for the insights guys, after struggling to repair it, my mechanic gave up and told me replacement is the only way out. Fortunately, the newer set was 3,250 and since I was mentally getting myself ready for a 10K bill, I jumped and got this new set and the bike is being fixed with this at the moment. Hopefully would be back home in 2 days after complete servicing and brake MC replacement.

[SiLxNcE]

Hi.
Am in the lookout for a CBR 250R ABS model. I have an offer of a 2011 ABS model that has covered around 35000km for around Rs.60k and negotiable. The bike looks a little shabby from pictures but am yet to see it in flesh. Is it a good deal and worth pursuing?
Also what price ranges should I look at and for which year models?

[Ratan Prabhu]

Originally Posted by SiLxNcE

Hi.
Am in the lookout for a CBR 250R ABS model. I have an offer of a 2011 ABS model that has covered around 35000km for around Rs.60k and negotiable. The bike looks a little shabby from pictures but am yet to see it in flesh. Is it a good deal and worth pursuing?
Also what price ranges should I look at and for which year models?

35k kms in 11 years is fairly low.
Make sure it is the first owner.
Take a test ride, ride at varying RPMs from 4k to 7k and see how the engine feels. There should be minimal vibrations below 7k.
If you feel it is ok, next step is to take it to an authorised service center and get it checked by the mechanic there. Get any issue sorted out at the current owner's expense.
Then 60k is a fair deal.

Ideally, I wouldn't recommend buying a second hand CBR older than 6-7 yrs.
So it would be much better if you can spend more time to search for a 2015-17 CBR with ABS for around 90k-1L if you can stretch the budget.

I have an October 2011 CBR myself and it gave me absolutely zero issues until 2020. But in 2021, I've faced quite some issues.
So what I'm saying is, the bike starts giving problems after 10 yrs regardless of the running being low or high. (From my experience)

But it is still a great bike none the less. Performs better than almost every bike which costs up to 2.50L at present and also gives similar fuel efficiency.