I just recently bought a 400ex and ive ridden it a little over 2 hours now. Ive been taking it kind of easy, but ive gotten stuck in some snow a couple of times and had to push it while it idled. Will that harm the engine at all? I keep thinking im breaking it in wrong. Thanks.

 

Read this: http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm

This is controversial, but you need to break it in by riding it HARD to seat the rings! Might be to late already, seeing you have babied it!!! Change your oil and oil filter NOW, BEFORE YOUR NEXT RIDE. This is to get all the metal shavings out of the engine. Change your oil and filter again at 10 hrs. Stick with a petrolium based oil for the first 20 hrs., then switch to a good synthetic oil. My personal preference is Maxima Ultra Ester Synthetic. My second choice would be Motul 5100 Ester Synthetic.

http://www.thumperfaq.com/oil.htm

http://www.maximausa.com/technical/l...beNews2002.pdf

 

Umm yeah ive read that before and id rather go by the book. Ill trade performance for reliablity. Ive heard all the stuff youve mentioned, what i want to know is if its a big deal if it idled for a while. My dealer told me to change the oil after 10 hrs, but i guess ill do it sooner.

 

Oh and by the way, I didnt exactly baby it. I did open it up a little. And also, the dealer that was riding it before i got it ran it pretty hard also.

 

Tight rings ARE reliable rings! All sloppy rings are going to do for you, is let gasses blow by and contaminate your oil.

 

I don't think that lil bit o' idlin will hurt your motor that much. when i got my DVX i would let it idle and warm up for 'bout 5 min b4 a ride and wut not. And it's prob not a good thing to go full throttle non-stop until 'bout 8 hrs or so. you can probably just go full throttle in short bursts. I've just always been told it's not good to break in a new motor by hauling @$$ cuz it might **** sumtin up. just my 2cents

 

Your rings should spin around on the piston, and not stay in one place. The reason you don't want to keep one constant speed during breakin, is that it tends to not let the rings spin. Under those conditions, the rings wear a groove into the cylinder wall and they will be stuck and never spin again. Idling is an extreme constant speed, plus it puts no load on the rings. Not good in my opinion.

 

Listen to Recon, he speaks with truth and knowledge on this subject.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

I agree 100%

 

yep ied have to second that and i know that both recon and maddog know what theyr're talking about

 

I agree to the Motoman break-in, but am confused on the "rings spinning".
My 250R has a pin that locks the ring from spinning, and holds it in one place. This is not the case for other ATV pistons??