elpash

Thanks for all your help guys!! The last piece to the puzzle was a new air filter, I'd dried it out but when I re checked it there was still some oil in the paper blocking it up. Back on the road again

Ordering a new air filter for it as it isn't foam. I want a strip down of the carb to be the final step because, it sounds healthy and without any load it revs and sounds great. When I drained the carb both times there was no water in it. I will have a look in the oil when I next take it out to check for any metal flakes to see if there is any rubbing anywhere

Update.... After charging the battery I got the bike started, after a bit of a warm up it was revving just like before. I took it onto the road, put it in first and it just wouldn't pull without stalling, pinned the throttle back and set off and it was going at walking pace, the first bit of incline it cut off. any ideas? I do have a feeling it could be something to do with the hole in the exhaust but think there's too much power lost for it to be that

Yeah I understand diagnosing is hard through this, it's just a big help with being able to drop the update and getting hints here and there. It seemed to be a mixture of petrol and oil as there was no separation (but again I have no sense of smell today, just my gf complained I stunk of petrol), I've dropped the liquid into bottles and will check on separation, and get someone to smell it for me. I undid the drain screw and just petrol came out of it, it was a little dirty so I gave it a few taps with a small hammer incase the float was stuck. If it doesn't start tonight on the full battery charge I will dump the oil again and check the amount as that will then be petrol not water, making it seem like possibly a red herring and was a stuck float all along.

New oil in, bike started up, was running rough but let it warm up, when I pulled the throttle it kept dropping power. Noticed a leak in my front down pipe, could of been possible entry point but seems unlikely for the volume of liquid dropped out, which measured an extra two litres than what should of dropped out. Turned the bike off, went and put riding gear on, put the air filter back on, bike wouldn't start, after a few attempts battery started giving out. I've now come back in side, put the battery on charge and just made an offer on a used down pipe on eBay, and about to order new air and oil filters. A stuck float is still not out the equation but will see when I put the battery back on tomorrow .

Contents of the oil drop... The bike is only meant to hold 1.6 litres of oil, and that looks about 3-4 litres full Looks like fuel is going into the oil, which is hopefully just from flooding the engine trying to get it started

I'm sure I had more of a confused face when I took it off the third time and got covered in water! And yeah it's definitely a bucket and a sponge next time.

I'll be honest I'm pretty green with all this stuff so the twice was a recommendation from two separate people so yeah the cheapest stuff they've got, a blast around for an hour or two and then put the good stuff in. One of them did mention two oil filter changes too but think that's maybe a step too far. And yeah I'll take a photo, appreceate the input so far too. I tried putting the video up and you'd of seen it pouring out but the forum wouldn't let me.

Yeah looks like it's definitely the cause, not seen a drain off the air box, so going to drain the oil twice and hopefully that's me back on the road. Until the next issue.

A great gesture by the riders and very good footage

Very nice! And congrats on the first bike

I wasn't able to work on my bike all week so left work early today and took the plugs out, dried them, turned over the bike to spit out petrol left in there. Then put the battery on charge. Took the air filter off so I could give the carb a few light taps thinking it could be a stuck float...... air filter was full of liquid (I only rarely have a sense of smell due to bad polyps so couldn't sniff to see if it was petrol). I put the battery back in and sprayed connection cleaner on all the points. I decided to turn the bike over with the air filter off and see what happened........ it started! I turned the choke on, it started warming up then I heared a gushing sound, looked down to where my air filter once was.....

Battery charged, spark plugs dried off, bike started up again, had to play with the throttle to keep it alive, put the choke on...... it died and wouldn't start again. I decided to take the air filter off to check see if it started with more air going in, as I undid this jubilee clip.... And it was wet and stunk of petrol

Today I had on of the spark plugs out and it was black and wet, a quick wipe with a cloth and it cleaned up, both sides leads were sparking fine, just charging the battery up and need to break off the clip on the clutch wire as it gets in the way of the spark plug with my stupidly long socket I got from Halfords as they had no other 16mm. Then I will dry off that plug and try again. Then if it starts and bogs down I know I have air, I have a spark, I've drained the carb so only thing left is a fuel problem.

Haha don't worry yourself the jetwash is far enough away from the pumps

I had just been to buy a spark plug socket to test if the spark is coming through it's my first bike and if a car has broke down then I've felt annoyed about it, but this weirdly I almost feel sorry for the bike, and I'm itching to get back on it.

Cheers Grumpy I'll give that a go in the morning.

After jet washing my bike I thought I'd got water into the air filter, I took it off and there's no water in it, my bike was running badly after the jet wash and kept dying at low revs, or when I put too much choke on. I tried running it tonight and after five mins of warming up the bike stalled and now won't start again, and I've now nearly killed off the battery. I'm going to drain my carb float which I'm guessing is the screw next to this pipe? And try it again in the morning. When I was trying to jump it it was turning over but wouldn't jump into life. What else could I of messed up? Currently on my way to Halfords to buy a spark plug remover It's a 2004 Yamaha XVS125 2500 miles, no mods

Bike has been left a few days, again started up fine, added some choke with revs and it stayed with choke on, took choke off and it died (could easily of been due to the cold), I've took the air filter off (but need to pick girlfriend up from work now so not opened it up) to double check for any water in the filter, but hoping it may of sorted its self with a ride out tonight..... fingers crossed

I'm just having a guess here but could that mean it's an import, or do bikes have the three year mot break like new cars do and just had been sat there since it ran out?

Google mot check gov.uk and you can put in its registration and all history will be shown.

after my stupid decision to use a jetwash as described in another thread today, I think I may invest in that hand pump spray, cheers for the recommendation

Tuesday night I was riding around, and nipped to the shop, while there I decided to top my petrol up. On my way out from paying I saw the bottom of my bike was covered in salt from the gritters, I looked across at the jet wash, I knew deep down it was wrong but I was going to be careful and just blast around the bottom of the frame.... While carefully jetting away I got a phone call, answered it and was just casually aiming the jet at my bike as I was talking, then I heard the beep go that I was running out of time (the jetwash..... I wasn't on a payphone) then without thinking, or looking where the jet was now aimed I hit the trigger...... straight at the air filter side of the engine. I then rode the bike half a mile down the road to my house, with the bike giving me barely any power apart from intermittently jumping to life and lurching forward then back to little throttle response. I left the bike over night and then last night decided to take it out for a test run see if it had dried out, it started up on the button with half choke, about a minute later I dropped the choke off and rode away. Bike seemed to be running fine, turned on to a dual carriageway, opened it up to 40(ish) then went round a roundabout and at the traffic lights the bike died. I had to do the good old waddle run and jump start it. Then whenever I let the revs get down to Idle it would die, I then pulled over and let it cool down for a while, started it again and it kept dying straight away when I took my hand off the throttle, after a few attempts it would run at idle (rough), so I decided a good idea was to leave the choke on so revs wouldn't drop, as soon as I touched the choke the bike died. Now, after that novel I am thinking I have either got water in my float, or the paper air filter is still soaked/fooked, anyone had something similar and could either re-assure me I am on the right track.... or it could be something worse? To simplify... Yamaha XVS 125 2500 miles. Probable cause.. - blasted the engine with a jetwash. Symptoms. -bike dies at idle. -full throttle it seems to run fine (maybe a little sluggish but barely noticeable) -any amount of choke the engine won't even entertain running.

how far North on the East side?

All the best on the recovery pal!