Hi I am just wondering if someone could help me out. I recently bought a 98 foreman 400. It was great when I got it but over the past few days it's got a ticking noise whic when running at idle there is no smoke but under load I have a cloud of blueish smoke. Could this be related?

 

If it is oil smoke either the rings are worn or stuck, or the valve seals worn. Piston slap from a light seizure will produce a tapping noise and stuck rings. However, it is worth checking and re-setting the valve clearances to see if the tap is just excessive clearance, 0.006" for both valves with piston at TDC on compression stroke, will be near enough.

 

Hi thanks for that, that's what I thought. How do I find where top dead centre is?

 

Easy to find tdc. Remove the spark plug,valve caps/cover,etc. Look at the intake rocker arm only.If like most machine you'll have a small inspection plug and larger plug for access to the flywheel bolt. Turn the bolt counter clock wise,watch as the intake rocker arm starts to go down then starts to come back up.Keep turning slowly until the tdc mark on the flywheel lines up with the cover pointer. Valves can then be checked/adjusted if need be.