So I am helping my mother. She has a LT230 quadsport that we just want to get running to sell it. It will start up but it smokes alot (out of exhaust) when running. Does everyone think it's the top end and motor is burning oil getting by the rings? Any other advise? I don't have a compression tester so I can't give you any information about that. Could it be anything else? The bike has sat for about 1.5 years. I have not done anything to it yet and my first plan of attack is to clean the carb and go from there. Any other recommendations?

thanks everyone

 

personally i think you pretty much nailed it go for carb first if not then the rings

 

common for rings to go in the 230 cause of the low gearing. Rings aint too bad to change but piston could need changed also

 

what color smoke is it?Black smoke will probably be carb problem.light color smoke while it is running is probably bad rings.

 

it is light color smoke. I'll clean the carb and pray it works. If not I'll try out some new rings. Does anyone have a write up on taking the head and cylinder off? I have done it on a two stroke many times but never on a thumper.

Thanks guys... your help has been priceless.

 

If you do take it off, don't do as I did, take a card board box, flip it upside down, poke holes in it identical to the head. As you take bolts/nuts/washers off put them in the box and label them....

 

You could always change the oil. LOL

 

I'm betting its the rings. Seen it TOO many times now. 1) The rod on the 230 sucks and the small end stretches. 2) The stroke is really long anyway for high rpms use. One way or another, the cylinder gets egg shaped and lets LOTS of oil go by the rings,,, which are already worn out because of hard use on a long-stroke engine.

Anytime you see a sentence having to with "LT230 quadsport" and "we just want to get running to sell it" you can rest assured the rings are bad (and probably the cylinder is out of round too). [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

 

should I bore the cylinder out and new piston or rings or do you think rings will do the trick?

 

Its very likely that the cylinder is out of round. I would bore it... if nothing else so I could get the wiseco 10.25:1 compression piston. But, to really do the job right, you should check out the rod too. Put the wrist pin in the rod. If it wiggles around,,, especially up n down,, the cylinder will probably just get out of round once again. Solution: Send the crank to Vince at http://vincescycle.tripod.com/newparts/lt230s.html and for $129 he'll fix you up.

Once you crack the engine open, you have lots of choices to make. For $350 or so you can have a 260 kit (piston, resleeved jug, and gasket kit). You could choose to go with a +4 rod (no extra charge - still $129) to increase top end performance and increase longevity. There are lots of cams to pick from. Then you're on to exhausts and carbs.

Or you could just slap some rings on and see what happens.

I'm going all out. 260 kit, +4 rod, porting, larger valves, stiffer springs with titanium retainers, decked and milled jug n head, polished piston, larger breather, larger carb,,, you name it. On the chassis I have +4 a-arms, +4 swingarm, lightest chain available,,, total weight at the end should be a hair over 300lbs. Why? I'll have about $2500 in it and... Where you gonna find a quad like that for $2500 new??? Every part designed the way I want it. To do exactly what I want it to do. And it will be brand new and will last a good long time to boot. Plus, in another 5-10yrs, these quads will be collectables. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

Come hang out over here http://forums.atvconnection.co...TMP=Linear&#lastunread
We're all pretty much in the same boat right now with our 230's. Everybody's doing the BB kits and chassis mods and whatnot.