New to Husqvarnas, have many questions!

Hey all, just picked my second husky (first one is a 97 272xp chainsaw ) It's a 1988 XC 250. It's in decent shape but does need some work.
I need a piston and piston ring for it but all the listings I've found only state they are for WR bikes. Are these the same parts?
Anyone know of a good online source for parts? I'll need things like fork seals and cables and assorted rubber bits I'm sure.
A manual would be awesome as well, I'll do a search here in a second and see what I come up with on the forum.
Thanks gang!

Hall's Husqvarna (IL), Hva-factory (uk), Husqvarna-parts.com (Arizona)search vintage husqvarna motorcycle parts ,Husqvarna outlet (Wa), there's more too but your 88 is just a little bit of a odd ball year it was the new year for cagiva built bikes as husqvarna's. A lot of 87 parts will fit your bike tho, Welcome and good luck.
Are search button will provide many hours of brain frying info too...

Thank you very much! Got the bike home last night and unloaded. Old gas drained and it fired right up and ran alright. Carb needs to come off and be cleaned and noticed the intake rubbers are cracked so looks like I have a few orders to place before its "turn key." Sure do love the smell of a two smoke in the morning!
Anyone happen to know the factory recommended oil/fuel ratio? I run my saw at 50:1 and it hasn't seized yet but was wondering about the proper ratio for the much larger XC.
Thanks gang!

Be careful, that's a touchy subject on any forum. I think personally it all depends on how you have it jetted and what oil your using. I believe Justin on here has a 88 model also. I'm sure he will chime in soon. (and many more) lol
Glad to here you got it running.

In that year, 1988 a wr vs an xc is suspention, wheels, rear subframe, lighting coil/ignition, maybe a couple of gears in the transmission. As for the piston and cylinder they should be the same but it is a longer stroke/smaller bore than 1986 and prior. The parts sheets will show the differences.

I get motion pro terminator clutch cables. They do need to be kept away from the exhaust more than the kind with a metal coil in the outer portion. Not sure it would matter much as to the brand on the throttle cable.

It is a global forum here so if asking where to get stuff it would be advisable to put a location in the info section.

welcome to the forum
please post a pic of your new toy just to verify it is what you think it is..you would be surprised what we can tell you from some pictures.

a compression test would be wise, right off the bat...if it is indeed a sweedish 250 87-88 style, it should have no less than 190 psi on those years..they have 220 on a fresh engine.

oil ratio is mostly tied to what rpms you run and how often you spend time there. personally i think a good all around ratio is 40:1. 32:1 for an engine that gets mostly raced or 50:1 for an engine thats almost always trailed. i run 40 personally.

you need to take notice of the oil you use. the above comment is pretty right. I have used motorex full synthetic at 75 to 1 and leaner in all my bikes with no probs. its a deep base oil and can be leaned out. others are light base and 50:1 is max you would mix. I would go 40:1 and see how it runs. ive just changed to the semi castor oil at 40 :1 to get that wiff of old school. with the motorex I have leaned the jetting off and its as smooth as down low. im old and always end up struggling in 1st on steep hills so I like it to be electric motor smooth so I can get out of trouble in the tight spots.

have a look at the HVA factory web site. they have free download manuals there.
I recently fitted a set of Honda fork seals from a big roady..39 by 11 by 51? (check that outer diameter) so far so good. phil at Husqvarna parts .com has good seals as well. they don't leak.

there is a recent thread here on the later model forks.

replace the small needle rollerbearings in the kicker gear and the idler behind the clutch as insurance. buy a couple of clutch cover gaskets as spares.

Don't pull the kick lever and gear lever off if you pull the clutch cover. they stay in the cover and connect with tongue and groove. or the water pump. just disconnect hoses and take out the screws.

check the lower headstem bearing as its prone to rusting

check the inlet manifold, prone to splitting and letting air in when its not supposed to.

flog the crap out of it they are a great bike!

Thanks for all the amazing info guys! heres a couple of "beauty shots" after i washed the dust off it collected from sitting. Coolest part about it is I have the original sales slip from the dealership. Pretty neat stuff.

Oh and this may sound silly but I'm a rookie two smoker; isn't there some sort of oil in the engine that needs to be changed regularly? some more info on this would be much appreciated!

You can download a copy of the parts manual here:
https://1drv.ms/b/s!Akhbhd3iqlMpgj_zPT5S9Jd53EkZ

Don't have a copy of the service manual

Just did a compression test and its at 160psi. I knew it was low when i bought it from PO's info.
The story goes he was riding it around one day and it just died all of a sudden. He pulled it apart to discover a part of the piston skirt broke off and jammed the piston at the bottom of its stroke. Now the PO is a former welding instructor and I work with him and theres nothing he can't weld flawlessly, so he simply welded the skirt back on and had the piston turned down to flush out the weld. He said he honed the cylinder to take out the minor blemish it left in the lower portion of the liner and put it back together but could tell it was now down on power.
Just thought I'd share the tale cause most people will never ever hear of someone just welding their piston back together, successfully.

I would definitely tear it down and replace the piston and ring and get the cyl. checked and professionally honed to the new piston. Then you know its going to last another 20 years. If you take a chance and keep running it and if it breaks again you will be hunting a lot more parts than just a piston. Not trying to steal your thunder here but my opinion is you have a temporary fix. A standard top end is very very easy to do and we all can walk you through it .

Nice looking bike you have there, lights work?

To answer your question , yes you need to change the gear oil (transmission) . Lot of guys here use ATF type F transmission fluid.

dont start the bike anymore if you care about it. the top end is sorely in need of a rebuild just going by the compression alone...yes, the piston broke because the piston/bore tolerance is loose, and its just waiting to happen again..
the bike looks pretty decent really, just a good teardown and reassembly, a few fresh parts along with that top end.
you have the finest bike swedish husqvarna had to offer..after that they were italian. a rewarding bike to set up correctly as they will perform and have got to be one of the most comfortable bikes ever made. the bike was pretty much handmade and the stock ohlins on the back is the icing on the cake.

Now , I want a 430 ... Thanks Justin.

most of that bike is my 88 250...just has a 430 residing in it, lol..does that make you feel better? the stroker 250 and 430 run pretty similar too, just a difference in power output.

you can use 30wt oil in the gearbox as well. fill it up to the two cast lines just under the filler cap near the water pump.

I would strip the top end as described as the motor is past its serviceable limit and a cracked skirt is what these bikes do to let you know they are worn out. if it breaks again while riding, you will kick yourself forever!

take the seat and tank off, pull the back wheel out, drain the radiators and the gearbox oil. pull the pipe off and the airbox to carb boot then pull the motor out. undo the shocker and pull the swing arm out for servicing. Photo everything and put the bolts and nuts from each part either back in their threads or in a freezer bag with a note written on them.

with the motor out, pull the carb and reed block off then undo the head nuts and lift the cyl head off. then carefully lift the cylinder off. note that a lot of crap will fall out of the stud holes as you lift it off. try to avoid this.

to get the piston off, remove the circlip out of the pin hole (and bin them...do not reuse!) and then holding the piston carefully so you don't put side load on the connecting rod, use a small bolt etc to tap the pin out from the other side. a heap of rag stuffed btw the piston and the studs can help support it.

once the piston is removed. get the rod to the top of its stroke and carefully lift it up and down to check for play in the big end bearing. there is a small allowable amount of play in these engines.

clean everything up, clean the gaskets off and start looking for parts. stuff some clean rag in the crankcase to stop crap falling in, a rubber band through the small end and around the studs stops it flopping around. pull the ign cover off and check the flywheel for up and down play while you've got spanners happening.

on top of the piston will be a number such as std or 0.25 which tells you what size the bore is. order the next size up.

someone else will assist with reassembly...go to it! don't forget to take picky all the way so you can figure out how to get it back together.

wash out the swing arm bearings carefully (no grit) then get some waterproof grease and pack it back in ready for assembly.

Holy cow guys thanks for the responses!

I knew I was taking a huge risk running the bike and on a trip back from the mail box down the road it suddenly died. Tore it down and found a nice little section of piston skirt missing! kicking myself for that one. Its not a huge deal as I do plan to go through the bottom end and do seals and bearings if need be. Parts are relatively cheap thankfully! heres a picture I snapped of the piston damage, any good ways to clean all the aluminum out of the bottom end? There are no large visible chunks so I'm thinking it got turned to dust, which is evident by looking at the oil on the crank after spinning the engine over.

The bike has the factory Mahle piston and bore at 66.44mm. I've sourced an OS piston, 67.44mm if I recall correctly. I have a local snowmobile speed shop doing the machine work and after I get creative and build a crank case puller it should be nothing but smooth sailing thanks to you guys! Having the service manual is a huge plus, too.

It will take awhile till its all said and done but I believe I can register it here in Vermont and also live on a mountain full of dirt roads and few houses. That being said however neither the head light or tail light is wired to anything. Anyone know of a wiring diagram for this bike? I believe I only need "what it came with from the factory," am I correct in thinking it only had a head light and tail light with no brake light?

I'm dying to ride it but almost equally as excited to restore it to its original glory. My dad raced a Husky, though not that model, back in '93 and the right side chain and blue and white Husqvarna seat stuck with me and I don't know if this one will ever leave my stable.