Dual-sporting a 2010 TE 450, with cheap tricks

Is it caused by the Texas water that your bike has had to endure?
Alkaline etc?

Is what caused by the Texas water?

After I found 4-5 chafed wires and still no success, I remembered LandofMotards post and I've had the injector off before and it's never been responsible for any problems, but what the hell, I'm sick of wiring work and the gas tank is off, so I popped the injector off, looked at the exit holes, they looked OK, then I looked at the entry side, didn't really see anything, it was just too small and dark. I shot some carb cleaner into it and it started looking different, got it all cleaned out and bolted it back on and this was the result:

Yes !!

Nice to see it purring again.

After reading about your intake boot issues I looked at the manual again an it suggests replacement every 32h-MX/64h-EN. Scheduled obsolescence I guess.

Since you have gone through the wiring so many times and found frayed wires, have you identified a list of "hotspots" these are likely to happen at? Is there anything you can wrap sensitive areas with that is more resistant to abrasion?

I tend to do as little work on the bike as possible, I should be more proactive on the wiring, but it just hasn't been a big interest item to me.

Got in a 3 hour urban DS ride this morning, started at 8am at 50F and ended at 11am at about 65F, the TE450 ran better than it has in many months: no overheating, no dying, rock-solid idle, more power than its had in months! A real pleasure to ride again!



This is one of my buddies on his CRF250X, made street legal, the ravine is steeper than it looks,
but the TE450 hooked up for a shift to 2nd gear half way up it....

I got home from a ride last weekend and needed to fix up my horrible muffler riveting job, I really butchered my muffler, got to looking at it and it was falling apart. I took it off and it was rattling something terrible, so I opened it up and it was trashed inside. I had used metal zip ties and as the packing had left the muffler, the ties were left to rattle around inside. I called Bryon at BMP and he is sending me a used Arrow, I am just tired of messing with this one, it has 20,000 miles on it, plus it got butchered by me. Anyway, I can't stand to see parts laying around, plus I had some fiberglas pipe insulation and chicken wire laying around, so I thought, what the hell, one more time, just for shits and grins. Worked out OK, the chicken wire was actually really easy to work with, using my fingers to draw the loops of wire together, and I had cut the wire to have some wires to fold over each loop, had it done in about 5 minutes. It wont last long but it doesn't have to, I'll put the new one on as soon as it gets here.

Thanks to everyone for 40,000 views, train wrecks are hard to avoid......

Went out to ride with a guy who hadn't been riding in awhile, met up for fill-ups and then took off for a place he hadnt been to. Got within a mile of the dirt and bam, TE450 just lost all voltage. It kept trying to reconnect, we cleaned the ignition switch, checked all my bum wiring behind the headlight, all the fuses OK, nothing doing. Got a tow home and after an hour of poking around, found the ring terminal on 4 blue ground wires snapped off. All fixed now. I have ceased being amazed at how many places this wiring harness can malfunction.

With temps in the 70sF today, I just had to get out and flog the TE450, damn thing ran like a champ. Needs new front wheel bearings again, needs rear wheel bearings finally, needs the linkage rebuilt, except I think the linkage is gonna have some play in it even with new bearings, the frame and bolts are all worn now. I doubt that I will do any of the work, 500 miles from 20,000 miles and then I probably get rid of it....

Bryon at BMP sent me the muffler off the wrecked 2010 TE450 that they have. It's a great replacement, I'm happy to have it on my bike. It came with a shorty insert, I put my Euro dBkiller in the new pipe, sounds great. My old pipe was kinda screwed up and leaked a little at the header, that's solved now. With just 1 pop rivet, I put on my homemade heat guard and it's all done, except it might need repacking, I'll wait and see if any of my riding buddies complain about the level of noise. The last pic (credit to HUSKYnXJnWI for the base pic) is how I will repack it, by cutting an opening in the stainless wall, reaching in and sliding the remaining pack towards the end-cap, and then stuffing some fiberglas into the void, then putting the alum cover back on. That way, the structural rigidity is saved, I'll cover the opening with alum tape before closing it up.

I had a couple of times lately when the bike would just suddenly die when fully hot, like coasting down a hill or stopped, idling. I hadn't checked the valves in a very long time, sure enough, the right side intake and exhaust valves were so tight, the minimum thickness feeler gauge wouldn't even fit in, cold. So I got them reset and I think that might have been my issue, the bike leaking off the compression stroke and dying, it even seems to run a little better now, like I am getting full compression at all times.

I knew the rear wheel bearings were getting bad, and they seem to have really gone off a cliff, I could swear I was feeling a weird wandering in the back that I always put off on the MX tire I'm running. So, I pulled the wheel and the inside sprocket-side bearing was almost completely seized and the outside bearing was so loose, it was about to start throwing metal. The sponge ring in the hub was soaked in nasty water, I rinsed it out with some WD40. Got the new ones in and handling feels much better and I may have picked up a pony in the process!

For the 4 year anniversary of the bike with me, got a few dual-sport miles in on Sunday, TE450 ran great, had the temps up to 235F, the bike never died, chalk one up for correctly adjusted valves. The rear wheel felt so much better on the pavement, no problems and the bike ran like a top! Only 500 miles 'til the 20,000 mile report.

Hallo, ohr. I Was curious about wat type of oil do You use, thee manueel say 10w-50?

For much of the bike's first few 1000 miles, I used Castrol synth 10w60, it proved too expensive, so I switched to Mobil115w50, then a few 1000 miles ago, I started mixing Mobil1 0w40 and Mobil1 15w50, about half and half, works real good for the high mileage the bike has on it.

Oké, thans for the info.

Hey OHR..have put some ice screws in the old gal and having a blast ripping around a frozen lake on a road course some of the local guys set up. Just wanted to share my oil of choice as well...have switched from the expensive Motul (when first bought) to a the Mobil euro blend 0w40. As I am running a rekluse...looking into the Rotella T6 full synthetic..advertised as the go to on Rekluse website and a bit better bang for the buck as well will stick with the 0W40 as well.

In the high 60sF today, got out with my 2 CRF buddies, the first pic is after one guy tried to jump over the mud puddle and landed in it instead, slammed against the handlebars and he saw stars!
Second pic is the same guy trying to wash off some mud by trolling thru the sandy shore, didnt work too well.
The TE450 ran like a champ, absolutely no problems and no falls either! 19,800 miles, gettin' closer.

Thanks for all the Likes, guys, really appreciate it.

just wanted to make a final post on my water problem, like washing the bike or going thru big-splash water crossings. In previous posts, I had soaked everything I could think of, like the spark plug, the gear sensor, even the TPS, nothing would kill the bike. Then, at some point, I started thinking is was water on the air filter getting sucked in and killing the spark. I am now 100% sold on this cause. Today, I wrapped an absorbent wash cloth around the filter and then put the seat back on and proceeded to wash the heck out the bike, including the tank, the side covers, everything near the filter. After I was thru, the bike started right up and I rode it for 2-3 miles, no problem with the wash cloth on the filter, maybe a little down on power but running strong. When I got home and took the cloth off, it was almost soaking wet with water. So anyway, that long and drawn out problem is done with. I'll keep the wash cloth under the seat, and use it when I wash the bike on the way home from my rides.

Damn! It was that simple? That's crazy.

A CRF250X friend and I did a last minute Saturday ride, it was damn nice weather, got quite a bit of sweat flowing, especially at the end of the ride when we started clearing a new trail (last pic). The first 3 pics are at the same place, a little dam that creates a small pond, a real picturesque spot.
Next ride might be the one that turns over 20,000 miles, fingers crossed, the bike is running as strong as ever.