i have a '99 arctic cat 500 . i seems to be taking about a quart every 2 hours i know you think this may be a bit much but its the truth. my freinds says its the pistons going. help!

 

Piston rings are a possible source so are worn valve guides, worn valve stems or defective stem seals. Also is does it have too much oil? Does it blow blue smoke outthe exhaust idling? or only at wide open throttle?

Check your compression.
1 Attach a screw in type compression gauge.
2 Open the the thumb throttle all the way.
3 Crank engine over with starter 5-10 times and read the gauge
4 500 should be between63-77psi
5 I usually Reset the gauge and repeat 2-3 times and average the readings.

If compression is low then remove the compression gauge and pour about 1 ounce of fresh oil into the cylinder through the spark plug hole. Reattach the compression gauge and repeat the steps above. If the reading is now much higher (possibly in the correct range) then its usually your piston rings that are bad not the valves.

However, is you have the $ and you do put new rings in you may want to service the valves while it is taken apart.

Hope this helps.

Swampy

 

no there is no smoke out the back it looks fine. it still runs fine and everything. am i able to wait until it doesn't even run to replace or will it do even more damage if is wait. thank you your information helps greatly .

 

I am still curious as to where that amount of oil is going? If you can not see it out the back and it does not leak oil? What color is the spark plug?

Swampy

 

so yeah i will have to check the spark plug what should i look for exactly?

 

If it was burning that much oil, there would be no need to look at the plug, as there would be a readily visible cloud of smoke pouring out of the exhaust.

The Swampster is right and is giving you excellent advice...checking compression is a good idea, but I think you would have seen the condition mentioned above if it there was that much oil leaking into the combustion chamber.

Does your airbox have a coating of oil on the bottom?

You might also try this...Take a white towel (one you don't mind getting dirty) or some newspaper and place on the ground under the quad. Start her up and let her run for a few minutes, revving it up now and again, and then check to see if you have oil on the towel/newspaper. From there you can backtrack and find whatever/wherever it is leaking

 

If it is burning oil in the quantity you are talking about then it should be BLACK very black and carboned up.

It is not really really dirty then your oil could be leaking or getting sucked into the air box from plugged vent tubes.

Swampy

 

well i never ever see any oil on the garage floor nor any in the air box i will have to check the spark plug like you said maybe i could be reading the oil wrong... how embarrassing......lol

 

Don't be too embarassed. I just spoke to my neighbor who asked if I could do anything to fix his wife's car. I guess it overheated (water pump went out) and when she opened the hood she removed the first cap she found seeing not water or antifreeze she filled it with water. Feeling proud she decided to clean the gunk off the cap she removed....it was then that she noticed the oil can on the cap!

luckily it is an fairly easy fix and the engine was not running. So it does happen and it could be worse.

SJ

 

lol yeah, btw do you know i can stiffen up the rear shocks so they can take my weight better i weigh 275