dude its only 2 months old, you better take that thing back to the dealer and get it fixed since its still under warranty.

 

If your oil is milky color you have water in it, which is causeing your white smoke. change the oil alot until the oil isn't milky, your smoking will go away.

 

<< Although you're correct pure white smoke usually indicates a coolant leak into the combustion chamber, I don't believe that's what he's experiencing as the 400EX is AIR COOLED [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img] >>



DOH, thus the lack of a radiator. I'll be hiding over in the corner if anyone needs me, hehe.

 

Thanx for the help guys, Im gonna flop up in the truck and go get some 40w oil in just a minute, Im gonna get enough to change it 2 or 3 times to make sure whatever is in the engine is out.

 

Is there anybody out there? I don't care what color your oil is, a 4-stroke does not burn it, so it does not matter if it is milky or not! If it is 2months old, take it back to dealer. And what is up with this oil grade? Oil is sold by weight, not by grade. The cliamate you live in determines what weight oil you should use. What does matter, is that you use a oil that is engineered for motorcycles. Automobile oils are not made for transmissions. The oil on a 4-stroke motorcycle/4wheeler is also used in the transmission! If it were my bike, I would use Spectro4 20/50. If you like blowing money, use Golden Spectro 20/50.

 

ok

<< Is there anybody out there? I don't care what color your oil is, a 4-stroke does not burn it, so it does not matter if it is milky or not! If it is 2months old, take it back to dealer. And what is up with this oil grade? Oil is sold by weight, not by grade. The cliamate you live in determines what weight oil you should use. What does matter, is that you use a oil that is engineered for motorcycles. Automobile oils are not made for transmissions. The oil on a 4-stroke motorcycle/4wheeler is also used in the transmission! If it were my bike, I would use Spectro4 20/50. If you like blowing money, use Golden Spectro 20/50. >>




Actually professor, when there is water in your motor it will puff out white smoke. When my Recon was brand new I got water in it and it too puffed out white smoke. Last time I checked it was a 4 stroke. Some friends 300EX's have done the same thing too, they are also 4 strokes.

 

Here's the big question.......How did you end up with water in the oil to begin with??

I see many quads that come in with water contamination and the white smoke IS a symptom of it.

On submersions on Honda ATVs do require a rebuild if you didn't take care of the milky oil soon after you ran it into the water. The oil filters that Honda uses on it's ATVs will not flow oil through the engine because the milky oil is trapped in the oil filter.

You need to get your ATV back to your dealer and have them look at it. Don't expect warranty coverage since you have obviously submerged this engine at one point. Don't think you can hise it because your dealer can find out in as little as 5 min. regardless of how many times you change the oil. There's a simple way of finding out that hardly anyone knows about.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

One other thing I should mention is that automotive oil causing clutch slippage DOES happen, but on models with a centrifugal clutch....not a manual. The clutch pack itself in an auto clutch quad isn't affected by automotive oil either...just the centrifugal one.

You still have the problem though of automotive oil breaking down faster in an ATV due to the oil being used in the transmission like 2fat4moto explained.

 

KILLER250R,
I did not think that anyone would be stupid enough to submerge a engine in water &amp; run it again to make the white smoke. If you know you got water in the engine, do you think it will just magically disapear? Man, you guys are hard on your quads.

 

It's not always stupidity, some people are just not knowledgable about it. If you were to submerge a quad way out in the woods what are you gonna do? Your pretty much forced to ride it back. Once I got back I changed my oil. hondaquadrider obviously did not, that doesn't mean he is stupid, he might nit have known he got water in the motor.

PS Thanks for the reply KNOWSALOT

 

Well, I put my P650 under &amp; waited 3 hours for someone to come &amp; pull me back to truck. No way in hell I was going to crank mine. I would have spent the night with it if I had to. Cell phone went under too, it is still dead, but P650 is o.k.