I bought this 03 400 manual back in June/July of this year. After about 2 tanks of gas, I had to put a new starter clutch in it. Then I drove it for about 3 days and parked it while I went out to Sturgis. The day I got back from Sturgis I drove it less than a mile and it started knocking like there's no tomorrow. I checked the oil and it was ALL GONE. It had leaked out of the oil drain plug. It was stripped and I guess I just didn't notice when I put it back together.

I went to AC the other day to get a repair manual and they didn't have any around. I want to get this thing tore down right away so I can get it fixed and get back on the trails, so I was wondering about a few things:

- To get to the rod bearing, does the motor need to come out? If not, what side should I wrip apart to get in to it?

I'll order a manual, but I didn't want to wait for one to get here before I at least get it tore down.

 

Oh man that sucks... Don't know about that, but you can get a manual on ebay for $1.00 [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img] Good luck.

 

Yeah, I found on there for $1.99. I contacted the guy to see if he could just upload the .pdf of it for me so I could get it right away. I sent him $10 and he was happy :-)

 

Eshocked look under the posting for oil cooler, I also ran out of oil and had loud knock turned out to be piston and some scoring on the cylinder. Hope your damage is as minimal as mine.
03classic700

 

I couldn't find that post. Last night when I was listening to it run, I thought it sounded like the noise was actually coming from the piston, and not the lower end. I think I'm gonna tear apart the top end, since I can do that in frame, and see if that's what the problem is. I hope it is. I'm not in the mood to deal with this POS right now. I've bought a lot of toys this year: Jeep, Speed Boat, Motorhome, Four wheeler... That damn fourwheeler is the biggest regret I've got, and was the biggest waste of money. Can't wait to get it fixed so I can get it sold. I just want to make sure that it's decent for somebody before I sell it.

 

Eshocked here you go, Hope your issue is just the top end like mine was.
Good luck 03cassic700

"I have an 03 400I auto and at 275 miles I had a branch about 1 to 1 1/2 inch thick kick up off the right front tire at an angle that caught the oil cooler from behind and bent the bottom right bracket. Tearing one of the two aluminum(nubs) nipples( these are off the bottom of the of the aluminum tube at the bottom of the oil cooler that go into the rubber mounts.) I was up in the mountains in Maine on a trail, not bush wacking. I had heard and watched the branch kick up and out from the tire, I thought that I would have a flat tire stopped and checked the tire was fine and made it about a mile more down the trail when the Quad started getting louder and died. I then saw the oil cooler was leaking and got towed out.
I checked the price on the oil cooler and luckily have a friend who welds aluminum who repaired the cooler for me. After refilling with oil and new filter started it back up and motor had a knock. I tore down the motor and checked all bearings gears etc. Replaced Piston and rings had to go to the oversize due to scoring from piston on cylinder which after honing out the score was too close to the tolerance of the stock piston skirt. There was some minor discoloration on the camshaft seat( was able to sand out with 500grit paper) luckily no other damage to the cam or chain and gears. The crankshaft and bearings were also fine. I have heard of this issue only on one other quad ( now two) where they had to replace head,cylinder pistons crankshaft etc A $1500- $2500 dollar repair I thought that was what I would be looking at also. All told doing the labor myself and with friends parts piston rings and full gasket set( I bought from Suzuki -Eieger 400 as Arctic Cat sells gaskets individually) $297.00.

Sorry so long of a story...But it has happened to other 400's. That being said I love my AC 400I just will need a little customizing to protect that area. Cannot wait to get it back together and do some riding."

03classic700