Hey guys!
A few weeks ago I bought myself a Honda Foreman 400 4x4 quad (TRX400FWT) with the 395CC engine to take trail riding while at the lake with the other guys. I have been saving up for a number of years now, and finally found this machine for $4000, thinking I had found my dream rig, within my ability to afford, I bought it.
However, I just got back from my first trip to the lake with it, and managed to wreck the engine already
Just to be clear, I was not bagging on my machine. I didn't drive it through every waist deep mud hole I could find, infact, I avoided any deep looking hole, and I make sure not to over-rev it while going through muddy terrain that I couldn't avoid. I was being careful simply to avoid what happened anyways -- Carnage.
I am not entirely sure what happened to it, but as I was riding home I noticed that the engine was making an increasingly loud valvetrain noise, and that my quad was burning a bit of oil on acceleration. By the time I got all the way home, my quad was hammering something feirce, and I was already getting quite concerned. I took it to the lake and cleaned it up. Once I fired her back up, it started knocking way worse than before, and was burning oil worse than an old dodge
I tried doing a feild valve adjustment to see if I could address the knocking, but it isn't the valves causing all the noise. I then checked the oil and noticed that half of it was gone, and that it was pitch black. It was all there, and was a beautiful golden color when I started that morning. I then figured that maybe I had somehow gotten the oil contaminated, which was causing the rotating assembly bearings to knock, and caused the oil rings to seize up.
I just changed the oil out with some Diesel 10w40 for the extra scrubbing additives, to see if I could loosen it up, but it just smoked all the worse (which I am sure can be mostly attributed to putting the diesel oil in). The bottom end is not as loud as it was, but is still making excessive noise
I feel that my only option is rebuilding it. However, having the engine bottom end, transmission, and transfer case all intergrated into one peice, I am quite concerned that it may be far too complicated for me to work on by myself.
Does anyone here have any experience with overhauling these engines? Or am I going to be forced to lay down the cash to get the thing professionally overhauled?
If that is the case, I am not so sure it is worth it I may just have to chalk this quad up to yet another foolish dream that starts off appearing to be great, then winding up being yet another dissapointment
I guess, I'll start saving again, and maybe in another 5 or 6 years I will be able to afford a newer bike that might not blow up on the first trip
A few weeks ago I bought myself a Honda Foreman 400 4x4 quad (TRX400FWT) with the 395CC engine to take trail riding while at the lake with the other guys. I have been saving up for a number of years now, and finally found this machine for $4000, thinking I had found my dream rig, within my ability to afford, I bought it.
However, I just got back from my first trip to the lake with it, and managed to wreck the engine already
Just to be clear, I was not bagging on my machine. I didn't drive it through every waist deep mud hole I could find, infact, I avoided any deep looking hole, and I make sure not to over-rev it while going through muddy terrain that I couldn't avoid. I was being careful simply to avoid what happened anyways -- Carnage.
I am not entirely sure what happened to it, but as I was riding home I noticed that the engine was making an increasingly loud valvetrain noise, and that my quad was burning a bit of oil on acceleration. By the time I got all the way home, my quad was hammering something feirce, and I was already getting quite concerned. I took it to the lake and cleaned it up. Once I fired her back up, it started knocking way worse than before, and was burning oil worse than an old dodge
I tried doing a feild valve adjustment to see if I could address the knocking, but it isn't the valves causing all the noise. I then checked the oil and noticed that half of it was gone, and that it was pitch black. It was all there, and was a beautiful golden color when I started that morning. I then figured that maybe I had somehow gotten the oil contaminated, which was causing the rotating assembly bearings to knock, and caused the oil rings to seize up.
I just changed the oil out with some Diesel 10w40 for the extra scrubbing additives, to see if I could loosen it up, but it just smoked all the worse (which I am sure can be mostly attributed to putting the diesel oil in). The bottom end is not as loud as it was, but is still making excessive noise
I feel that my only option is rebuilding it. However, having the engine bottom end, transmission, and transfer case all intergrated into one peice, I am quite concerned that it may be far too complicated for me to work on by myself.
Does anyone here have any experience with overhauling these engines? Or am I going to be forced to lay down the cash to get the thing professionally overhauled?
If that is the case, I am not so sure it is worth it
I may just have to chalk this quad up to yet another foolish dream that starts off appearing to be great, then winding up being yet another dissapointment I guess, I'll start saving again, and maybe in another 5 or 6 years I will be able to afford a newer bike that might not blow up on the first trip
