I have a 1997 Sport 400L. The motor locked up in it. I took it to the shop to find the problem. The mechanic said he tore down the motor and found that the bearings were gone. He said that their is a drain plug on the bottom of the motor that has to be drained every once in a while to get rid of excess gas that builds up in the motor.I have never heard of this and he is saying not draining this caused the bearings to be washed out.What do you guys think?

Thanks, J. Prentice

 

So do you have a 400, or did you sell it ( your sig contradicts your post) anyway, there are two drains on the bottom of the 400. One is on the bottom of the recoil housing. That's for draining any water which might have gotten in. The other is for the counter-balance oil. There is also one on the bottom of the starter.

 

No I sold it to a friend actually...but am trying to help him get it fixed.So you are not aware of a drain like this...Thanks...James

 

I was draining my counter balance oil and saw the drain plug for the crankcase. I didn't know what it was for and took it out to see, all I got was a little dribble of oil that had a gas smell also. I've never seen or heard of routinely checking that drain for anything. Like I said I didn't even know what was going to come out when I removed it.

 

Your mechanic is not BS'n you. Was there water in the oil? Water pump seals have a tendency to go south after awhile and dump water in counter balancer oil. I would advise to get a service manual and read up. The manual is worth 10x's it's weight in gold.

 

Pudjumper, I think he is being told to drain the actual crankcase to keep the buildup of gas out of the bearings. If so that is BS!!! If that was a problem I would be in trouble for sure. On alcohol you burn almost twice as much fuel, and if it was going to puddle up that bad it would be a big mess. I can tell you that a 97 model would be ready for some crank bearings and seals,though. Get a whole redone crank through Rick Ritter and split it open. I would do like Jay said and buy a good service manual.Bubba

 

The dealer that has my machine just done a complete motor rebuilt less than a year ago.I think he is trying to BS me to keep from honoring the warrenty. (1 year) But am not sure what to do ow.Any Ideas? J. Prentice

 

I think your wrench is BSn you.
Washed out bearings sounds like lack of OIL!
Have you ever changed the in-line oil filter? You are supposed to replace it every 100 hours. Cost less than 5 bucks. Or the oil pump cable setting might have been incorrect giving you lean oil/fuel ratio.

 

Oil and gas can accumulate in the bottom of the motor, but have you ever noticed that when you first crank the engine there is alot of smoke?? Well, that is the oil from the bottom end being burnt up. Like Modquad said there are 3 plugs and none of them are crankcase plugs. So, he is not totally bsing you, he just doesn't understand that cranking the motor and giving a few raps of the throttle will clean all that old oil out!!

 

NC is spot on--On my 95 xplorer I have drained the plugs, and nothing from the motor.....Crank it up and let her smoke, it will burn out the excess