X Lite Piston Life ?

How long are you guys running Pistons in the TE 250/310 X Lite Engine ?

I have seen that the service schedule shows replacement every 32 hours (Powered Up ,Race use ).

This seems a little over the top ? I was hoping for double that (60 + hours ) ?

Anyone have any experience ?

That sounds like a racing regimine to keep peak performance.

Its what Husky recommend in their Manual and therefore I guess whats needed for warranty ?????

Any one changed a Piston in a X Lite Motor ? How Many Hours ? What was it like ?

OR

How many hours have you done on a X Lite without changing Piston ?

my '10 te-250 has over 3000 miles (all trails except the short road connecting sections). don't know how to tell the hours. also don't know how to tell that i need to do a top end either

Anyone Else ????? Thanks !

3500+ miles. Enduros and enduro practice. Probably a 15-20 mph avg so 175 - 220 hours. Still runs fine. Don't know what the cylinder looks like. I have never had to adjust the valves since new.

I get mine on Friday. So I'm going to find out soon. Will be racing MX.

Cant give any insight on the X-LITE engine, my 07 TC250 was rebuilt 2 years ago, and i dont know its previous life, but the piston looked fine.
My TC450 engine (full race only) has about 7 hrs so far, im hoping to not have to rebuild till season end (approx another 15-20 hrs).

Mine isnt MX, but road racing - lives it life well above 8000rpm everytime its out.

Those recommendations are per a racing schedule, as mentioned, for peak performance, you would change the piston out per the recommendation. Piston life is gonna vary depending on how hard you ride the bike, how hard you rev it and if you keep up on the maint and keep a clean air filter on there. Little things like proper warm up before loading the motor add up over time and all of it adds to the wear of the rings/piston.


Buy an hour meter and install it so you can track hours. Best way to do maint is based on hours, not miles. Especially valves. Most all recreational (non racers) will get many years out of the top ends if they keep the maint up. Also do a compression test on the motor to see if you are still in spec. As long as the compression is good, no need for new rings.

Thanks for replies . Looking for people who have changed Pistons or have long hours trouble free .

I race Enduro (& practice) only , some events can be 5 hours plus a day (some 2 days ) .

My point is I dont want / cant change Pistons after 6 events !

Bike is 2011 TE310 done 38 hours , trouble free (has hour meter standard !). Full Power Up , Leo Can and race ECU ,
Valves not moved , New Air Filter every event . Oil (Motorex synthetic) and Filter every 5 hours . All running great ,

BUT do I need to change Piston ????? , or is this Husky being "over the top" ?????

If I dont , what about warranty ?????

It takes 40-50 (half that for the winners) hours to run the Baja 1000. Just a reference point. I'd think double that at minimum for safe life of your piston but you need to talk to an engine guy to get some insight. Zip-Ty, Hall's, George @ Uptite, Bill's MC+

If these are anything like the previous engines, you'll get 100-200hrs easy, possibly as much as 4-600 hrs, depending on how hard you ride it in those events.

normally if you want the high performance, youre probably going to have to live with high maintance.

So your saying up to 200 hrs no problem before a piston change , I ride my dirt bike round my local forest with a friend couldnt be doin more than 15 - 20 mile an hour on average bike gets no real abuse oil changed every 6-8 hours oil filter every other air filter cleaned and changed so would you reckon i could be in the 4-600 hr bracket

also does the 2013 310r have the X-Lite engine , How reliable are they

When I first responded to this thread I had a 2010 TE250, I now have a 2013 TE310R. I have just under 200 hrs on it, all enduro trails. I ride a minimum of 40 miles of trail every weekend at a fast B, slow A pace. I have not adjusted the valves or had to open the engine for anything. Starts right up and runs great. Only mod is a power commander for fuel mapping.

They last a long time with regular trail use.

If you race or are the kind of guy that has to keep going hard when bike is stuck in a mud hole or the motor is overheating or pinging like a rock in a Coke can.......that is a different story.

the weak link in an X-lite is the E-Start system.

I'm about to take the E-start off my 2010 TE-250.

you mite have to keep an eye on this - my starter cog behind the flywheel sheered off my 310r luckily most of the bits stuck to the magnets on the ignition and found the missing one near the drain plug that saved a engine strip down thank god, so has the 2013 310r got the x-lite engine?
thanks for answering!

Yes the 2013 310 is an X-lite.

Your starter story does not surprise me one bit.
I bet your sprag stuck to the flywheel while you were riding it.

No starter issues on my 2012 310 yet.

I note the 250 kick starts easier than the 310 for sure.

Dont believe all the manual specs(in reference of component duration) remember this bikes are ready to race, so they have a very very tight schedule designed for racers, not us, recreational pilots. In my case I have a 11 te250, and I am not really sure, but I have between 200-250 hrs on my engine, or even more. Not more than 300 I think. My engine has oil change every two rides(if its hard, every ride) the same for the oil filter. Other than that I dont like to rev it more than 7k or 8k max max in a muddy hole only, but in my regular trail use, I try to run the engine on the 5k to 6.5k range.. Never had to do anything on the piston or something and Im not planning to do anything until it begins to sound different or behaves strange.