My Kodiak 400 is not starting every time I turn it over it is backfiring through the carburetor puffs of air are coming out I adjusted the valves set the timing and it is still happening does this mean one of the valves are not seated completely or bent or am I missing something else I pulled the spark plug it is shooting a lot of air out through the plug as I try to start so there is compression but I will be testing to see if it has holding compression in a couple of days when my tester gets here

 

Was the timing out? If so it could have allowed a valve to hit the piston, or could mean that rather than the valve timing being out, the flywheel had slipped round so the timing mark, rather than the valve timing, was out.

 

Yes when i gor it from him he said it died while he was riding it and i seen the timing chain jumped off the cam gear and when i checked the valve spacing for the intake at top dead center it had like an eighth of an inch spacing way off

 

backfiring threw the carb could be a air leak on the intake boot.

 

i will look at the intake boot today

 

So you are saying the chain had come off, and the inlet valve had a big clearance? Looks like the inlet valve has hit the piston and bent. You will have to take the head off, check it hasn't broken the valve guide too, and check the piston for cracks, a bit of a dent is nothing to worry about, but if there is a crack underneath, you need a new piston. There will be a reason for the chain coming off too, so ensure the chain guides are OK and there is some adjustment left in the tensioner.

 

yes it is bent i can see it is not closing all the way so ill be pulling the head to see the extent of the damage he told me that he had changed the timing chain but he never new how to adjust the tensioner for the chain so he put the new chain on and jumped right on it and to start to ride . But something else has come to my attention the oil level it's extremely high it is not mixed with coolant but my best guess it is mixed with gas any ideas what this could be

 

probably gas your needle and seat might have stuck open. Or it could be water too if its been left out with the motor open.