Need some help here.

I barrowed my Brother in laws YFZ450 and he hadn't started the beast in about 1.5 yrs. So after going through everything we determined that he had the fuel set to reserve so the little amount that was in the tank was below the pick up. After we fueled it we had no problems starting it up. However, after idling for a little while the exhaust header was glowing red (this all took place in the evening). We looked for a window on the crank case to see the level but couldn't find any, and then we took the cap off and couldn't see any fluid. My first question is how much oil should be in the crank case. Second what is the small black tank that is attached to the frame for? We were debating if it?s for the clutch, or a reserve. One last thing that we checked was the coolant. It was in the middle of both lines (min & Max). Should it be higher? Sorry for all the questions but I don't to blow this thing up and have to replace it.

Thanks,
Brian

 

well the krank case should be filled at all times and the little black box is your oil reserve and that should only be filled till thedip stick marking... as fo rthe coolent your level is fine but depending on how long its been in there u might need to change it... if the exaust is aftermarket then its probobly going to glow red because most aftermarket exaust are single walled ohh and dont listen to 400exriderrr ... has no clue what hes talking about



ps... there is no window... the way you know if there is the right amount of oil is the dip stick

 

yep, he hit hit the nail on the head. i would change all of the fluids (oil, coolant, gas but i think its too late now if you added to it it wont matter)

 

How do I get the oil out of the crank case> I didn't see a drain plug. Is htere some type of device that I can get that will suction it out?

Brian

 

There is a drain bolt for the crank-case and a separate drain plug for the reserve. The drain plug for the crank-case can only be accessed once you remove the plastic skid-plate.

As for the glowing pipe...I have a YFZ450 as well and when I ride it at night the pipe always glows. This is normal for the YFZ. However, if it turned red from just idling then you may have another issue.