ABUSED XR: MR. KNOW-IT-ALL

HERKY-JERKY MAN
Dear Mr. Know-It-All,
I have been a fan of yours for ages, and I finally have a problem I can’t resolve, so I am humbly reaching out to you for help. I have a 2000 XR650R Honda that was stolen and was gone for two years. I got it back with the stator missing and replaced with it with an aftermarket piece. I also replaced the CDI box and coil. I then cleaned the carb about 15 times. The bike starts great but will only run for short periods of time, then starts to die. It will start right back up and run for three or four minutes, then starts the dying cycle again. It doesn’t always die right off, but it will run really bad and may or may not die. I’ve checked the float level, and it doesn’t exhibit a lean pop as it would if it were running out of gas. It has developed a herky-jerky throttle! Now, before you say I should have known, I say no. I’m 72 years old and still learning! Besides, this isn’t covered in the manual. You’re the teacher, and I am the student!
Darel Williamson
via [email protected]

Darel, I had to put some effort into this answer, my friend. First, I contacted my good friend Bob Rutten, a man with a long history with the entire Honda XR line. Here’s his response: “I talked to Johnny Campbell about this XR650R problem. I thought it might be the little pulser coil that is mounted near the stator on the left side, but Johnny does not agree, because if that coil fails, it is done. He said to first disconnect (unplug) the kill button and test again. He feels that the new stator is probably the problem. It may have an internal connection that breaks when the stator heats up, but then reconnects when it cools down a little. He suggested replacing that stator with an OEM stator to see if that cures the problem. Good luck, and we’re all counting on you!”