well, I am tearing it down tomorrow. What do you guys think I lost...pistons or rings or ...?

Anyone want to make me a good deal on a 39 PWK or something similar?

 

Hey, good luck with the tear down. Since you checked for leaking gaskets it sounds like you might have had a dreaded crank seal go bad on ya. If the leak was bad enough you could find a nice hole in the top of your piston, but that is a worst case scenario. With any luck it just cooked your rings and didn't damage anything else internally. Let us know what you find out.

Dave

 

Why is it a "dreaded crank seal leak" ? Is it that hard to replace them? Can't I just pull the stator and replace the seal from behind there? I might as well do the clutch side at the same time

 

no you can't.you'll have to take the top end off.then the whole clutch assembly and any gears or anything else.stator flywheel and anything else over there.then split the intermost cases where you'll find the tranny and crank then put it all back together right

 

I just called it dreaded because it's just one of the last things you want to happen since if it goes bad and you don't catch it quick enough it can trash your topend. The right crank seal, clutch side, can be changed without splitting the cases. However, there is no way to get a hold on the left crank seal without splitting the cases. But since you got me thinking about it, it may be possible to take a couple self tapping screws and screw them into the seal a litte and then pull on the screws to get the seal out. It might not work, but if it does it would save lots of work.

Dave

 

hey, for the air leak, look around the spark plug hole, see if someone put a heli coil in there once before, it happened to my friends quadsport and the broken heli coil fell in the cylinder and messed the whole bike up

Mike

 

Don't tear it down just yet, go have a leak-down test performed on it while it is still together. This will tell you what it is and if you have any relationship with the dealer, won't cost a thing. It does sound to me as if your crank seals could be gone. If you find this to be true and you elect to fix it, it would be in your best interest to replace the crank bearings, too. If you go to the trouble to split the cases, you will want to do the job right; seal failure usually is related to some form of bearing failure and vice-versa. Hopefully all will go well for you and your machine.

 

Well, from what I have been hearing, a leaking crank seal will cause it to be hard to start. Especially if it is sucking enough air to cause this:

http://www.timberwolfpaintball.com/images/quad

Luckily, the bore is still good. I am going to clean the molten aluminum out of the cylinder with some muriatic acid and drop a new piston and rings in there. I also picked up a V Force reed cage, a 39 PWK and some dyno port pipes. I am going to start with a 200 main jet this time and work down from there. Hoping this thing will run like a raped ape after the work and last a little longer.
Looks like I might buy some new plastic. Anyone need a set? I'll sell my old stuff (front stock, rear maier - both are in good shape, no cracks that show)

 

I hope you haven't decided to rebuild, put the thing back together again, and start it up without finding the air leak problem! Make sure your main bearings are good. If the flywheel has any up and down play in in from bad bearings, this will allow air to leak past the main seals and cause the motor to run lean. If an air leak isn't the problem it could be your carburator. I have a Quadzilla that the carb slide wore out on. The place where the idle screw contacts the slide was wore to the point that it no longer lifted it high enough. This resulted in the quad running very erratically at idle and even race at times. I put a new slide in and the problem was gone. (I have since installed a 39 PWK which made an incredible difference in performance.)

 

Well, I think it was in the carb. Part of the problem was the 240 main jet in the stock carb. I think is calls for a 270 stock, and it was in the 20 degrees temperature range when I was riding. It was WAY lean. I replaced the whole carb with a 39 PWK with a 200 main jet. Runs great now, but I need to replace the needle. I have a DGH needle and I have to run it at the top clip position to get it to make any power in the mid range.