==================UPDATE==========================
The Warrior for $1,300 was sold...... [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img]

BUT, good news.....

He has an 89' Warrior 350 with tons of upgrades, full skid plate, exhaust, brand new A-Arms and suspension,ETC. And he's asking $900 for it. I can probally chew him down to $700. I think this is an awesome deal for this quad....Although there is 2 problems.........Needs a starter clutch for electric start, but starts by pull start and runs excellant , besides burning alittle oil......And thats it for the problems......I'm going there tommorow to check it out. How big of problems are these to get fixed? And are they that serious? Is $700 a good price for this? From my knowledge burning oil isn't that big of problem since you can run any 4-stroke on premix and it will be fine besides for all the smoking....So is burning alittle oil that bad?

 

The starter clutch will be in the $300 range for parts and labor to be replaced, and you should plan on replacing it because the pull starts were designed as a backup, and will wear out and break if it's used frequently. The oil may not be a big deal now, but oil burning only gets worse as time goes on, and will leave carbon deposits in the engine which can cause even more trouble. So it should probably be rebuilt before you put too much time on it, and to have a shop do that is going to be another 300-500. In the end it depends on if you think it's worth it, but personally i'd let this one go and wait for something in better condition to come along. Usually when multiple things are wrong with a quad it's because it was neglected, and the owner didn't care enough to get it fixed and take care of it properly, so you could be buying yourself into a money pit with this one. I made the mistake of buying a neglected quad, and I don't want you to make the same mistake because it sucks.

 

I just have to say, thanks a lot recon, I believe fully what you say. I will look at it just too see how bad it burns oil and if it was really badly neglected or not but 99% chance I'm not getting it.

Thanks alot, i really mean it.

 

If I go there tommorow and its not smoking at all and doesnt look neglected, should i tell him $550 or nothing? Since the starter clutch is about $300 that would come out to $850 for a good working ATV.

 

550 wouldn't be bad if it doesn't smoke and everything else seems to work good, just make sure you look it over good.

 

make sure where the frame meets the motor it isnt bent, my friend had a warrior and it was tragically bent there, if it snapped while u were cruising down the road or something you could get seriously injured. other than that they are pretty nice, kinda weak in power tho

 

ok, so I'm going to go there tommorow about noon time and check the quad and take it through all of the tests we discussed. I'm especially going to be concerned about the frame. And yes, I will look it over very, very, well.

Recon-I'm going to take lots of pictures and a video clip of it running. Would you be able to look the pics over and the clip and tell me what you think? You got a neglected warrior so I trust your judgment combined with mine on whether or not this is neglected. I really owe you recon thanks for all the help for a warrior noobie like me.


I was just thinking.......If it is burning alittle bit of oil where exactly would be causing it? And , once the oil combusts in the piston chamber,the only place the carbon would build up is in the exhaust system leading to the muffler correct? because if you take the exhaust off you should see the piston there.......I'm guessing the only other side effect is you would be fouling spark plugs pretty quickly. Where does the 300-500 come in from the rebuild recon?

 

Sure, i'll be able to take a look at the pics and vid when you get them up.

Generally the smoke can come from 2 places, either the valve seals or the piston rings, mine was coming from a little of both before the rebuild. It's not a big deal with the buildup in the exhaust, but the carbon gets onto the valves and seats, the piston and combustion chamber, and it can accelerate the wear on the cylinder wall, piston rings, and piston itself.

A rebuild consists mainly of the costs for the piston kit and labor, but lots of little stuff can add up quick. Here's a list of the stuff I can think of off the top of my head that it's likely to need:

Piston kit: $90-150
Cylinder bore & hone: $50
Top end gaskets: $20-30
Valve seals: $10-15
Cam chain: $25-35
Exhaust gasket: $5
3 quarts of oil & oil filter: $25-30

And the labor - depending on how much it really needs, and how quickly your shop works it may take 2-5 hours, at an average rate of $55 an hour that adds up pretty quick, and who knows what other kinds of problems they could find while they have it apart.

It may be only $250 for the shop to do the rebild, but it's unlikely especially on an older machine, and I don't want you to get caught off guard by a $500 bill like i've had happen in the past.

 

Thanks recon, good information. I'm really glad your telling me this in advance because I might have jumped the gun. Heres what I think I'm going to do......If it doesn't smoke at all and runs perfect tommorow I will offer him $550 because I still need to pay for the starter clutch. If it smokes very, very, slightly I will not offer him anything and talk to the local quad shop about there rates.


Thats too bad, so your shop just kept working at $55 an hour and then charged you $500?

If you don't mind me asking how much did you pay for your warrior?

Thanks for opening my eyes on this stuff. Sorry you had to buy an abused warrior.

oh yea, I just realized you are in PA. I am also. I live in the eastern mountains in lackawana county. Where is dover at?

 

Well, basically the shop did what they had to do. Sometimes you just can't avoid the labor, the shop does great work and charge reasonably, my warrior was just beat to death before I got it, and I didn't know that because I bought it from the local powersports shop, which also didn't have any knowledge of the problems. I traded a 99 honda recon plus $800 for my warrior (asking price on it was 2800). Right after I bought it I discovered that the frame was bent in the front, the powersports shop owner was cool about it and said that if it got any worse he would replace it, well the frame did bend even worse and the shop held it's word and put it on a brand new $750 frame for almost nothing, all I paid was the taxes on the $1500 it would have cost normally. After that I had quite a few more problems that needed dealt with:

axle bearings
swingarm bearings
rear linkage bearings
rear brake rotor and pads
burned up wire and starter button
starter clutch
starter rebuild
new battery
new clutch
new chain and sprockets
top end rebuild
i'm sure there's more that I forgot

I did some of that work myself, and my uncle did some of it, but the costs still add up. Add up all the costs and I could have almost bought a raptor 700 paid in full with the money that I spent in the last two years on this thing. Now that i've got all the kinks worked out of it it's been a super reliable machine though, it's just too bad that I had to spend so much money.

Dover is in York county, down here in the south-central region.