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I have an oooooold yamaha XT250 that will start, but it dies shortly after. To keep it running I have to keep the enigne reved, and even that doesn't last long.
Could this be a carb problem? I was thinking of giving it a good cleaning. I will also check all the fuel lines. I took out the air filter just to see if that was doing anything.

It sounds like the idle screw is not set right., but if your going to clean the carbs anywyas. Clean them, sync them and see how she runs, if still doing the same thing the idle screw needs to be adjusted. The RPMs should be between 800 to 1200 while idling. If your bike is an older on it will most likely sit around the 1200 rpm at idle.

I don't think its that it idles low. It dies before it really gets to idle. I can leave the choke on and it will run for a minute, then it will cut out. I can only start it a few times and then it won't really start up at all.

Clean your carb and see what developes.... no need to syncronize, it's a "dog" to sync one carb anyway.....

heh.. good thing.. i wouldn't know how to sync them anyway. Guess a single paid off this time.

BuzZz wrote:Clean your carb and see what developes.... no need to syncronize, it's a "dog" to sync one carb anyway.....

Ya your right Buzz I guess I should get a bit more sleep before responding

Chels wrote:

BuzZz wrote:Clean your carb and see what developes.... no need to syncronize, it's a "dog" to sync one carb anyway.....

Ya your right Buzz I guess I should get a bit more sleep before responding

No worrires, I've been there myself, far more often than I'd like......

It sounds to me like you need to check the fuel flow to the carb. Likely your filter (screen) inside the tank is plugged and not allowing fuel to flow free enough to meet the demand.