Have just under 200 miles on initial oil . The dealer told me to change the oil at 200 and bring it in for servicing and a check up. I want to put 0w40 synthetic in as it is quite cold here already, and my cat wouldnt start the other day, -24 celcius and all my buddies did ,,,,got bugged to say the least!I am just worried that it may be too soon for synthetic as its not broke in enough, is this right? Also ever since I have had it I keep getting flats, the tire doesnt come of the bead but looses just about all the air, and I have too sometimes even lift on the Quad to get it too take air . sometimes I got a mile ,sometimes I got 5-6 miles before the flat, and got bugged by the same guys as they waited for me to pump up. I took the tires in to a local tire shop to get taken off, cleaned and re-beaded hope this fixes them. Anyone else having this problem?

 

I changed oil at 100 and 200 with regular oil and at 300 went synthetic. My dealer said I could have go synthetic at 100 if I'd wanted to. But my experience said go a bit longer. When it was in for a clutch adjust recently, the service manager rode the bike before the adjustment and said he only ever had one other 400 as strong as mine. So I did something right. At just over 1300 miles now and still going strong. As for the tires, I Slimed the suckers early on (learned from my 250) and even though I've basicly destroyed 2 rims so far, no flats since the Slime went in.

 

I WAITED TILL 500 MILES TO SWITCH TO SYNTHETIC. FOR ME THOUGH IT ONLY TOOK A MONTH. 2600 MILES ON IT NOW AND NO PROBLEMS YET. THE TIRES,SLIME THEM LIKE BEAR SAID. IVE GOT THEM 4'+ HAW THORNS IN MINE FOR 3 YEARS NOW AND THEY NEVER LOOSE AIR. BUT IVE ALSO GOT THE 6 PLY 589'S TIRES.

 

I just went to synthetic at 200 miles on mine. Changed it at 100 miles also.

 

I hope not to offend anyone with this post (which means I probably will), but I just cannot let this myth about synthetic oil go on any longer. My father worked in the oil industry his entire life (he died several years ago). Directly and indirectly I, too have been exposed to the various odds and ends of oil my entire life and I'm older than Bear. I also have a very good friend and relative that is a Petroleum Engineer and we have talked at length about this. I also have minors in Math, Chemistry, and Physics. My B.S and M.S. are not related to oil and the above is only noted to lend a sense of creditability to what I am about to say.

Without belaboring the point - synthetic oil will not prevent break-in and can be installed immediately (Porsche/Corvette etc...hello). It is no slipperier than any other oil. This is the myth and it's nonsense. It's a wife's tale that needs to be ended. The real plus of synthetic oil is its ability to perform better than dino oil under thermal stress. In short, it gets to where it is suppose to go, and does its job better than dino oil whether it's hot or cold. Its base stock is also better and as a result requires fewer friction inhibitors, anti-foaming agents, vicisoity enhancers, etc. Most wear occurs in the first 10 minutes after start up. If you have an oil that can get there sooner, you'll have less wear.

Another thing...you are all aware of course, oil does not have to be synthetic to be called synthetic. Yup, that's a fact. There are some limits and I don't know what exactly they are, but an oil can be called synthetic without being synthetic. I won't name names because I'm not sure which ones fall into the non-synthetic list. I do know Mobil 1 is a true synthetic. I use it in everything I own and have since 1987. I change oil once a year in my quads, but they are only used 6 mos each year. The regular vehicles get their change every 10K. Got a 160K on the truck now and it doesn't use any oil and still gets 20MPG on the highway.

If it makes you feel better to use dino oil for the first few changes, be my guest. Just don't do it under false pretenses.

 

thats very interesting ,,,,, now I dont know what to believe. What I am doing is changing oil to 5w30 to help with the cold starting and if really cold I will use Heater again. Once this has ran for a while I will go to synthetic, and stay with that.
They re beaded my tires and put some stuff on the beads, I will see how that works. If not I will slime them.Everyone keeps saying "ya dont have enough air" but after pumping them up many times I made them pretty hard. One guy tells me go to the max psi , so I check max psi and its 36 . The book says 5, Is anyone going much higher than that?

 

I STAY BETWEEN 5 AND 8 DEPENDING ON WHAT IM DOING. 5 LBS FOR TRAIL RIDING FOR MAX TRACKTION AND 8 LBS IN THE REAR WHEN I HAUL WOOD ON THE TRAILER.

 

Brad,
You didn't say where you are from, but if it's good and cold, and you'll be using your quad throughout the winter, you might consider 0W30 or 0W40 (like you noted) as a year round oil. If you don't feel comfortable because of the "0" in the summer, you could change twice a year, spring and fall, using a heavier oil such as 10W30 or 10W40 in the summer.

BTW, the "W" in 10W30 means the oil formulation in that can has undergone a winter test. The SAE has a standardized test at a certain temperature and the winter test is a measurement of an oil's ability to flow, its viscosity. That's why you'll see a 20W20 oil, but you won't see a 40W40 oil. It will read 40.

You say you only have 200 miles on your quad and your post indicates the tire(s) have been leaking for some time. Do all of them leak, or only one? Is your machine new? I assume it is leaking at the bead - yes/no? Before you Slime them, and if your machine is new (under warranty) talk to your dealer. The rim(s) or tires may be defective. This shouldn't happen. A tubeless tire is a tire with the "tube" vulcanized to the inside. The part that seals is part of the flat portion touching the rim horzonally, and at the rounded edge as the bead goes up towards the sidewall. The tire does not seal up past that rounded part of the bead. Look for damage in the rounded and horzonal area. It doesn't take much. On the rim look for damage, something small stuck to the rim, or a mfg'ing defect, opposite where the tire seals.

Someone with more experience than I please weight in...it is my understanding that once you Slime your tire it cannot be repaired via an inside patch. Is this true? What about a plug?

 

I edited out all that I agree with and will cover each paragraph that I have problems with.

First, If you are older than me, then you are older than dirt.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-shocked.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

Second, You can't have it both ways. First you say it's not slipperier and then you say it has less friction inhibitors. Why sless fricyion inhibitors if it is not slicker? According to the jet engine wear engineers I have spoken with when I was working the experiment shop at Beech Aircraft Corp. when we were developing their first pure jet engined airplane, synthetic is not only more heat resistance (the main reason for it's creation) but it did turn out to be slicker.

They are called blended synthetics and they are a mix of dino and synthetic oils (they are cheaper than pure synthetic because of the dino oil in them).

 

I can relate to the tire problem on my 05 AC 400 manual.My first atv I have 40 miles total and have had front and rear tire off the rims and a third go flat(2 flats in one trip)Pretty disgusted as the dealer looked as if i had done something wrong on the first incident(20 miles total).When I brought the 2cnd and third in ,he finally took notice and is trying to find out why?I also took them to a service station to have them re-set the bead and look for punctures(none).I for one hope that there was a simple problemwith the bead and this will cure the problem.trying to keep calm as i don't like walking back in -5 degree weather.