Please check your air boot!!
So I finally had time to tear into our 2011 TXC 250. What I found was truly sad. To give you a little back ground…my son rode the bike at a MX track for practice to get ready for the weekend. Mind you, this is his HS race bike and it really doesn’t see much time. Anyway, the bike ran great for about 15 to 20 minutes, when it suddenly sounded like what I can only describe as “weird” and then it stopped completely. I had initially suspected a clogged fuel filter or a broken fuel pump as it displayed symptoms of not getting any fuel…I should be so lucky. As it turns out, the rubber boot between the throttle body and the engine popped off and left a gap small enough for the engine to run for a little while, but big enough to suck in loads of dust/dirt. The result is in the pictures. The head is beyond repair – can’t re-cut that, the piston…well…you can see it.
After some research and speaking to local Husky riders over the weekend, as well as speaking to Jeff at Hall’s this is not an uncommon problem, however, apparently it is more common in the 310’s.
We did come up with an easy fix for the local Husky riders to prevent this…inspect the hose clamps (they are crap), and replace & safety wire them, as well as run safety wire to the engine so the boot cannot slip off! Also do this with the hose clamp facing the throttle body.
I am hugely disappointed, a simple heads up from Husqvarna might have been nice. Considering the amount of back pressure these small bore 4T’s produce, I can’t believe the engineers at Husky haven’t been aware of this, more so since this is apparently NOT an isolated incident. My son is out for the season – we don’t have a couple grand laying around to fix this…so we will most likely have to part this otherwise awesome TXC out. I will post in the FS forum. If any of you happen to have a good head that fits this, let me know, I might consider rebuilding with reasonable used parts. If you have any other suggestions, lets have them...oh, and before you ask, the air box was spotless (with the exception of a little oil from the crank case vent), the filter looked good.
So I finally had time to tear into our 2011 TXC 250. What I found was truly sad. To give you a little back ground…my son rode the bike at a MX track for practice to get ready for the weekend. Mind you, this is his HS race bike and it really doesn’t see much time. Anyway, the bike ran great for about 15 to 20 minutes, when it suddenly sounded like what I can only describe as “weird” and then it stopped completely. I had initially suspected a clogged fuel filter or a broken fuel pump as it displayed symptoms of not getting any fuel…I should be so lucky. As it turns out, the rubber boot between the throttle body and the engine popped off and left a gap small enough for the engine to run for a little while, but big enough to suck in loads of dust/dirt. The result is in the pictures. The head is beyond repair – can’t re-cut that, the piston…well…you can see it.
After some research and speaking to local Husky riders over the weekend, as well as speaking to Jeff at Hall’s this is not an uncommon problem, however, apparently it is more common in the 310’s.
We did come up with an easy fix for the local Husky riders to prevent this…inspect the hose clamps (they are crap), and replace & safety wire them, as well as run safety wire to the engine so the boot cannot slip off! Also do this with the hose clamp facing the throttle body.
I am hugely disappointed, a simple heads up from Husqvarna might have been nice. Considering the amount of back pressure these small bore 4T’s produce, I can’t believe the engineers at Husky haven’t been aware of this, more so since this is apparently NOT an isolated incident. My son is out for the season – we don’t have a couple grand laying around to fix this…so we will most likely have to part this otherwise awesome TXC out. I will post in the FS forum. If any of you happen to have a good head that fits this, let me know, I might consider rebuilding with reasonable used parts. If you have any other suggestions, lets have them...oh, and before you ask, the air box was spotless (with the exception of a little oil from the crank case vent), the filter looked good.
