i noticed my quad is smoking a little bit. i wanna go ahead and change my valve seals anyways. my question is, is it hard to do? what all is involved? what brand of seals?

 

Do you actually mean valve "guides"??? Or, are you refering to resurfacing the valve "seat"????

In any case, get a service manual, and it will tell you what all is involved.....

 

ummm, i'm not sure. a friend of mine that is really good with working on quads said that my valve seals might need replaced, cuz it smokes a little bit.

 

Serviced the seals on a 400EX yesterday. There are a few ways to do it. Pressureing up the cylinder and changing them without removing the head, or remove the head and use a valve spring tool to remove the springs. If you have not done this before, I suggest having someone who has, do it or have them help you.
The unit I did smoked when first started. I did find the exhaust seals were not soft, they were baked hard. I pressured up the cylinder after removing the entire valve cover, rocker assembly. I used a tool to compress the valve springs that I built for myself, years ago. Works slick !

----- Gregg -----

 

I think that replacing valve seal is more of a CAR deal, these motor for the most part don't have problems in that area. Worn rings and bad valves are more likely

 

Good point.
Notice I said that the 400 I replaced the seals on smoked when started and then cleared up.
I was brought this unit last year with a lunched cam and head. They came up with a head off e-bay. I talked them into re-ringing the unit but they did not want me to go through the e-bay head as they were told it was good. I made a note the seals were bad on the work order. Guess what ? It is back for seals, and still no head rebuild. Oh well, the start-up smoking went away.

----- G -----