Is my 400EX making oil? I think not. I will share my story, in hopes of enlightenment. After a fresh oil change, followed by a full day of riding, I checked my oil the next day (with a cold moter). My dipstick read a small bit of oil below the low level (with the stick threaded). Needless to say, I was a bit concerned. I promptly added enough oil to raise it close to the high mark. Then I rode about 20 minutes, wrapping it up hard to check for blow-by, not a hint of blue smoke. I then checked it hot after a minute or two of sitting, now the oil was sitting at the dipstick thread level, way high. So I waited for it to cool and let the oil contract a bit. It then read between the stick threads (at the top of the dipstick) and the high mark; improvement, but still too high. I took a whiff of the oil and it smelled a tad gassy. However, it had not been flooded since last oil change.

Now, this quad has had about 7 - 10 tanks of gas through it, and I was wondering (hoping) that the valves may need an adjustment. Now, the question, would out of adjustment valves cause this condition, letting gas pass on compression and contaminating the oil? I have no idea why it was low to begin with, maybe error on my part - although I'm compulsively ****! I'm not too worried about damage caused by it being low - there was still over a quart of oil in it.

Do share.

 

Read the owners manual, it says to let the engine idle for 5 mins, then shut off for one or two mins, THEN check the oil. Makes a huge difference. After I changed the oil the first time in mine, the manual says "1.95 quarts", so I put in 2 qts, checked the dipstick, and it was dry. Going on the faith of the manual author, I started the engine and let it idle for a few minutes to warm up the oil, then let it set, and checked the oil, and it was right in between the marks on the dipstick where it was supposed to be. If you filled it up to the dipstick mark while the engine was cold, then you put in too much oil, which could possibly cause damage. Drain a little out, then check the oil again according to the process outlined in the manual, and you should be ok.

 

Thanks Motorhead. By the way, I did read the owner's manual; unfortunately, since I'm the biggest retard in the world - I forgot. I hope this topic is read by few and goes away quickly!

 

I made the same mistake as you with my 99 400ex and the dealer did with my brother's 2000 400ex. We both noticed that the engine seemed to run poorly with too much oil (as one would expect). Don't know why, but they run better with the correct amount of oil.

For all new 400ex owners out there, Check the oil after the dealer services it. You may find it has be overfilled.

 

Hehe, sorry, I hope I didn't come across as making fun, I was just saying "read the manual", not like "read the manual you retard".

I'm also one of those people that only reads the manual as a last resort, but since I just spend 5.5K on a new quad and I wasn't familiar with the dry-sump setup, I thought I'd be best off to check the manual first. Good thing I did, or I would have probly done the same thing you did.