My nephew rode our 400ex with about a cup of oil in it and it stipped running. We didnt know the oil was that low because I had just changed it befor our last outing.
when I looked at the oil it smelled burnt and was very black. So heres what I want to know. what am I going to be looking at for damages??
if this helps he only ran it for about 10 to 15 minutes befor it stoped running.
I'm totally to blame since I didnt chect the oil before he left.
I feel like such a Horses A$$.

 

You may have burnt up the piston rings, and that may be the least of your worries. You could have melted the piston, but it doesnt seem like 10/15 minutes of riding woud do that. Piston rings arent expensive so you may be in luck. Weiseco pistons are somewhat cheap to, i think its about 60 bucks for a new piston with rings. Have you put oil in it and tried to crank it yet? There not be anything wrong with it and it just over heated, but dont take my word for it.

 

You probably fried the crank bearings too. Not to mention the rod bearing and probably siezed the piston. You will be lucky to get it all fixed for under $1,000.00

 

New crank bearings, new rod bearings, new piston and rings, cylinder bore, all new gaskets top and bottom end, maybe new clutch too since it is lubed and cooled with the same oil as the engine. Major, MAJOR damage.
Sorry to break the real bad news to you.

 

Whew, thats alot more than i expected. I hope your wrong Red400exrod, thats major damage [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img]

 

You may also want to find out WHY it only had a cup of oil in it, especially if you just changed it. That way after you get it fixed, you wont run into this problem again

 

Dont be to worried. They are blowing this out of proportion. I have rid with low oil before. What happend? You will notice differnt problems, before the bottem end internals go for the most part. You may hear a knocking coming from the top end, which is the cam getting scratched from not having oil along with the rockres.

 

well, thanks for all the info I hope its not too major I'm taking it to my local mechanicto have him take a peek. I did try putting oil in it and it still didnt start, it cranks but wqnt start. although it sounds like the starter is under a little load.

 

Don't be worried? You've got to be kidding. He wasn't low on oil, he had only about a cup in it. Try running your car on a quart of oil. About the equivilant of running a 400ex on a cup. The first things you'll lose are the main bearings, the rings most likely are the LAST things you lose because they get partialy lubed by fuel. The lower end is much more costly to repair than the top end.

Also don't try to start it any more. You could do more damage.

 

I'm with Red400EXRod on this. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img]