Hi guys,

I am a pretty experienced motorcycle mechanic in that I fix and flip motorcycles for a hobby and I've owned literally hundreds of them. I love the XT225 and I have a 2001 that the wife and I ride. The stator just went bad on that one (again) but that is another story.

This post involves another XT225 that I just bought. It is a 2003 and the engine was seized. I got no story on how it happened. Turns out the cam bearing (sprocket side) was trashed. The cylinder bore looks good and with the head off the engine turns over smooth. I did the 6005 ball bearing cam bearing mod (thanks XT225 forum!) to repair the trashed cam bearing. Carefully set cam timing.

It's all put back together now. I'm trying to check to see if oil is reaching the head. The check bolt is removed on the head but oil doesn't flow out when I crank the engine. How long does it take? I tried filling the passage with oil to prime it but still no flow. I checked the oil filter and it seems OK. Oil fills the oil filter cavity when I crank the engine but doesn't reach the head.

Also the spark looks weak and it won't fire, even on starting fluid. I checked compression and see only 60 psi but I suspect my compression tester is garbage as it's Harbor Freight.

So besides compression, spark, and oil flow it's good to go!

Any ideas why oil wouldn't be flowing?

Just checked the good XT225 with the same compression tester and it shows 70 psi. The compression tester is probably no good.

Figured it out, wrong oil filter was installed. It blocked the flow to the head.

I made these to warn others. I saw a similar photo on this forum but mine shows why it's important.

Thanks for posting these photos. It will save someone else a lot of aggravation. You should see about 140 PSI on your compression test. Such was the case with our XT225s at about 10k miles.

Glad the site is enlightening and thanks for putting some content back into it. Ride safely.

The bike with the seized cam bearing is confirmed to have a bad stator too, only 3700 miles on the bike. Replaced it with OEM stator from Partzilla and now it starts easily. These Yamaha stators are garbage. Has anyone tried the Moose or Ricky brand XT225 stators on ebay for $200? The Caltric $90 stators are crap, it lasted 6 months.

We got about 10k miles out of our OEM stators. Lots of slow speed riding and hot engine. Not familiar with Moose or Ricky brands. Some after market products are of excellent quality.