I have had my 99 Sport for about 8 months now, it has always smoked (what I thought was a lot) the dealer told me that its perfectly normal for a 2 stroke. I went ridding this weekend with an older 250 2 stroke trail boss. His hardly smokes at all, he even comented on how bad mine was. I know its hard over the forum, but what is right? How much smoke is to much? I use the Polaris gold oil. thanks

Bruce L. Hall
99 Sport 400

 

About 2 months ago, I went riding with some guys in Arkansas. One of the guys had a Sportsman 400 2-stroke bike, and when we started riding, his wasn't smoking any. I mean, I couldn't see any smoke. After about 1 hour of riding, his started smoking pretty good. I didn't understand it, but I was more relieved for him when it started smoking more. Alot of smoke is better than no smoke when it comes to 2-strokes. I wouldn't worry about it any, unless it quit smoking. Smoke would mean insurance to me that the engine was getting plenty of oil. Maybe your buddy's bike wasn't getting enough oil???? Who knows?

 

This is a very difficult question to answer. If you ask a dealer/technician they will say, "they all do that". The reason they say this is because if it is smoking they know that the engine is not going to seize because of a lack of lubrication.

You say that you are using Polaris Gold. This is their top of the line oil and should be barely visible during operation on a warmed up two stroke.

Your friends quad is an older one and they were set up from the factory to run on less oil. (I have seen some of them running at 90 to 1 lubrication ratios)

On the other hand your quad is a late model high performance model and the factory most likely set it up to run richer and save the engine from seizure and reduce warranty expense.

Do this: Measure your fuel consumption very accurately over a period of time and write down every gallon that you put into the machine. (starting with full fuel and oil reserves) At the same time measure the amount of oil consumned by your quad during the time that you burned a measured amount of gasoline.

There are 128 ounces in a gallon.
Oil ratios are measured fuel/oil.

Let's say you burn ten gallons, or 1,280 ounces of gasoline. Divide 1,280 by the amount of ounces that you put into the oil resevoir. It should take about 21.33 ounces of oil which would be a 60 to 1 ratio.

IMHO any more than that and you are using too much oil, again MHO.

I have never been able to get a straight answer on this question from any dealership or factory personnel. They avoid this question like the plague.

Most snowmobile manufacturers aim for 60 to 1 on their injector ratios.

(Marine engines can go higher because they are water cooled with an unlimited supply of coolant)

Check back in and tell us what your ratio was after you get done measuring it. Okay?

 

Some Auto-lube are at 20:1 like the blaster is

 

Every 350 or 400 that I have seen that smokes too much or fouls plugs too much is because the index on the oil pump is set incorrectly. The adjustment is under the cover in front of the motor and can be a pain in the butt to adjust, especialy if you have front wheel drive. Check it out.

 

The Blaster autolube pump is set at 20:1, not 25:1.