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My used Honda CBR 250R: Post purchase problems & solutions

11th February 2022, 14:06 by Deepankar Sadekar

The left mirror was looking funny and the edges were blackening out. On close inspection, I found that the previous owner had replaced the mirror part with a shaving mirror cut in the exact shape.

BHPian maheshm619 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

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 BHPian @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.

About the bike, it still had original tyres. Yes,you read that right. The owner had tall claims regarding him maintaining the bike prior to my visit. During my inspection, I found the tyres worn out (later on found a tube inside rear tire), handlebar bolts rusted, coolant reservoir cap broken, rear tail lamp top piece broken, worn out rear brakes, pillion seat torn, key not working with pillion seat lock and many more. But then the engine note was fine and no ticking noises or abnormal smoke/heat indicating things which mattered were OK. Seeing the negatives, any sane person would drop the idea of a purchase. But then considering my budget and expenses I would incur, I made the asking price low and took the plunge.

Two weeks later, I went again and then took the bike (along with the owner) to a Honda service center and asked the mechanic (who claimed he was trained to work on the CBR) to check the bike. He validated my observations and both of us had a doubt that the clutch plates were slightly worn out as the bike revved non-uniformly after 6k rpm up to 7.5k rpm. I had also asked then to replace the rear brake pads, but it was not in stock. I knew this was something I was going to hear multiple times in future.

Anyway took the bike from there to a local mechanic and swapped the rear pads to new OEM Pulsar 220 brake pads, they are a direct fit. Got the rear seat fabric stitched, completed the RTO formalities, paid the guy and started riding 60 kms toward home. I didn’t push the bike as I wasn’t confident about the condition and the back tyre was wagging whenever brakes were applied at high speeds. On reaching, parked the bike safely and started making a list of parts to order. Got new tires & oil from Amazon, got OEM spark plug, oil filter, chain sprocket set from my hometown and had a friend bring it over to my location.

Now, I live in a rural area and had no clue where to carry out tyre change as none of the nearby garages would have never seen a paddock stand (the Honda service station was 60 kms away). But then there were a lot of R15s, KTMs in my area which made me think that the mechanics would have some sort of a jugaad solution. Finally got those changed from a nearby mechanic. In the meantime, got the alloy wheels and muffler cover repainted.

After getting the required spares in hand and getting tyres changed, I went to the Honda svc. The earlier CBR mechanic was not working there anymore and a young chap was assigned to work on this bike. The workmanship was terrible and I had to stick around the working bay to make sure he wasn’t breaking anything. The sprocket looked fine upon inspection and was left as it is.After a basic service and few broken clips later, I went back home. The bike rode OK, better than before.

That night, I observed a few drops of coolant on the ground after parking the bike. Suspected that it was maybe due to over filling from service center and went to sleep. Next morning, I found the whole coolant out on the ground and the reservoir empty. Now whoever designed the CBR was almost playing a joke when they decided to place the reservoir in such a location that half of the bike needs to be taken out for inspecting it. With great discomfort, I got under the bike and tried to pinpoint the source of leak. The next discovery brought horror to my face. The previous owner had almost applied half a kilo of Mseal to arrest leakages before. Even after applying another kilo of Mseal here and there, I couldn’t stop the leakage fully. This continued for a few days and in the meantime I was using the bike for short commutes while keeping a constant eye on the temp. bar (winter here also helped).

A friend was traveling from Delhi through whom I got new coolant reservoir tank (costs Rs. 110 only). Now the main problem was to replace it. The workshop manual (with pictures) shows one to remove the shock linkage assembly and rear tyre while suspending the bike from rear. The previous Honda service experience was a horror and hence I approached my local mechanic who is confident to work on anything from an auto-rickshaw to Rafale jet. I went to him with printout of the workshop manual pages and explained what to do. He then took a good look and assured me that he’d do the whole thing but in his technique. He then removed the entire silencer (which gave more working space), shock linkage assembly and then comfortably replaced the reservoir tank. I was hugely satisfied by his work and paid handsomely and vowed never to go back to Honda for minor service.

The left mirror was looking funny and the edges were blackening out. On close inspection, I found that the previous owner had replaced the mirror part with a shaving mirror cut in the exact shape. My respect for the previous owner increased ten folds. Immediately ordered the mirror along with replacement bolts for handle and fairing clips from an online seller.

A few weeks later (after start of winter here), one fine day the bike was refusing to start. The fuel pump was failing to prime although all lights were working. I was terrified thinking whether fuel pump went kaput. But then after checking the battery, I felt it was nearing death. Changed it straightway and the bike came back to life once again.

The only remaining gripe was the nonlinear rpm rise beyond 6k. I thought I’d do a clutch overhaul but after a few months of usage to see if something more is to be addressed. Once during re-fueling found that the tank internals had great amount of rust and even when sliding my fingers inside the tank mouth, rust was sticking to my fingers. Subsequently asked my brother back in my hometown to get a fresh fuel filter and the part reached me in a couple of weeks. I planned to replace this after getting the tank cleaned.

A month later while I got discharged from my duty as diaper-in –charge, as family was away, I took the bike inside parking shed and started dismantling. The fuel tank was drained after removing the fuel pump assembly and part of remaining fuel appeared dirty due to all the rust at bottom. Gave the tank for pressure washing and cleaning.

Meanwhile I removed the air cleaner box along with the throttle body assembly. Cleaned all the sensors; the plate and body had little bit of deposits which were cleaned to my satisfaction. The air cleaner box was rattling from the inside. On checking I found a broken rubber part moving freely inside the box (thanks to Honda service).

The fuel pump assembly had a lot of rust deposited inside. Cleaned everything using a brush and generous amount of WD40 and then replaced the fuel filter set.

Got the tank a day after but I wasn’t satisfied with the amount of rust still left inside. Since I had one more day off, I thought why not to try rust removal by electrolysis. Went ahead and did it for the next 8-9hours.The results were better than pressure wash cleaning, but an Exo dish wash bar commercial like output is not to be expected. Cleaned the tank a couple more times using compressed air and left it to dry overnight.

The next day morning, I started assembling everything back. After fixing the throttle body and connecting all sensors and fuel lines , I tried to start the bike after priming the pump 3-4 times. The bike started on 2nd attempt and was idling just fine. Then to my horror, the engine check light started flashing (8 pulses in a cycle). While opening the throttle, the bike kept on dying and I was thinking that I had damaged some sensor or clogged the injector while cleaning and cursed myself for ruining the bike. The ECL pulse (8 flashes) meant incorrect throttle position and I was almost sure that I had damaged the sensor assembly.

Shortly, I started checking tightness of all connectors and only then I noticed that that the throttle body sensor assembly connector was not connected (it wasn’t visible from top side). After connecting the cable, the malfunction light disappeared and the bike responded well to throttle input. During this, I cleaned the under tank area and all parts up to my satisfaction. Fitted everything back in a couple of hours and went to top up fuel.

The bike now responds better than ever and is eager to accelerate. The whole DIY job gave immense satisfaction than wasting money at Honda SVC. The issue with non-linear rpm is almost gone and the bike is a pleasure to ride.

The whole episode has increased my confidence with this bike. Even though it’s a decade old, the engine still sings beautifully and for me is terrific value considering what I paid. Hope the bike serves me for some more years until I can welcome a RE twin to my home.