Hi guys, looking for input and suggestions. I was on a long run on the weekend. I have a 2004 400 Sportsman. We had been running in a lot of mud and water. It was working well but then I started to here a rattle or light knocking noise. It was dark and I was still 1 hour from home. I looked the bike over with a light and found a hose on the front of the engine had came off. It had leaked a lot of oil. I think this hose is a crankcase vent hose. I checked the oil and it was over full and milky white, obviously water. I changed the oil there on the trail. Drove it for a ways and checked the oil again and the new oil was still comtaminated. I had no choice but to drive it the rest of the way out of the woods, I'm going to drain and change oil again several times with filter. Any other suggestions and also if the noise in the engine persists what might I need to do ???????

 

i would say you might be lucky. i would change that oil a few more times and let it go at that. be sure that you get all the water out.

BTW, when you changed the oil out on the trail, what did you do with the used oil you drained-out?

~MT

 

DRAINED IT INTO MY HARD SIDED COOLER,

 

Boy MT, You are the suspicious type.

 

Well I thought so too, for the record I don't through as much as a gum wrapper on the ground,so I definitely would dump oil on it

 

i'm glad you saved the oil. look for metal shavings in the used oil. if you don't see any, everything might just be ok inside. just a thought!![img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

-MT[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

Hey KINGSCLEAR,
Got to the local auto store and buy some PB blaster. It is a penetrating oil. Spray that into your motor where the oil goes. Use the whole can in there. It will not hurt your seals and it will get rid off all the water. Then use regular oil to fill it up the rest of the way. Start your bike and let it run a couple minutes to heat up the oil. Drain oil and refill oil and change filter. The PB blaster will get rid of all the water. I had my counter balance dip stick come out on my 2 stroke and then got a bunch of water in the bottom end. I ran about 5 quarts of oil through it and never got rid of all the water. I bought a can of PB blaster and it got all the water out in one change. Saved me a lot of time and oil.

 

If you're still hearing a knock or rattle, this isn't good and an indication you're going to have to perform a rebuild. I had a similar experience on a new engine (V-8) with a head gasket failure. Engine probably ran 40 minutes before I discovered the oil contamination. Just to be safe I pulled the engine and the bearings were already showing signs of scouring, but no knocking. If you had mixture coming out of the breather vent, it must have had a lot of water in the crankcase. The more water, the more likely you have some engine damage. Probably, not what you want to hear.

 

I wonder if some of that gas dryer stuff that they sell for diesel fuel would work in oil. I'd check into it before I tried it.

 

Thanks Guys , here's what I have done and I might have got lucky. The old oil was grit free no metal or sand was evident. I work for John Deere so I'm have access to get the oil tested which will be down. Last night over the course of 4 hours I filled and drained my oil 4 times running it for 15 mins between changes. I on the advice of the dealer just used a cheap 5w30 for this. I then changed the filter and filled with the Polaris oil. It is running well and there is no smoking . The oil is looking clean. I'm not sure about a noise, I think now I'm hearing things. There is no loud knocking or rattling. So with fingers crossed I'm going to take it out and run it for a couple of hoiurs on the trail tonight , Now for all Polaris owners or for any ATV ownwer for that matter because this same thing happened to my buddies Honda. Take a look at your crank case breather hose. They all seem to be clamped with a cheap spring clamp that you can remove with your fingers. Take it off and replace it with a gear clamp. It is worth it.