I bought this turd 03 Kodiak 450 not too long ago and have been meaning to start working on it, its been sitting outside under my lean to and I just pulled it in the other night to start wrenching on it. Came out the next morning to find it had puked oil everywhere! Any ideas what happened? I have a 2000 Kodiak 400 that has been flawless but this thing worries me, had the valves adjusted after I bought it as it was pretty noisy. Needs a bunch of parts. Im assuming I need to remove the entire swing arm to get to it? I bought a boot but no idea why or where the oil would come from back there?

 

Looks suspiciously thin oil and black, at a guess a mix of oil and fuel caused by someone leading the float chamber drain tube upwards instead of down. Then, when the float needle sticks, fuel runs into cylinder and airbox because it has nowhere else to go, and from there into the crankcase. Smell it and check the airbox. If it is fuel, drain sump and airbox, remove spark plug and turn engine slowly by hand to let any fuel out of cylinder, be careful, I have set bikes on fire when doing this, as a spark can ignite the expelled fuel. Dry air filter, clean carb out, checking float needle is OK, make sure that drain tube goes downwards, refill with fresh oil and try it.

 

Ok this makes sense, how can I check the float chamber drain tube? I assume its a vent off the carb somewhere? Thanks for your input!

 

I would second that. Check your oil level. Is it over full?

Does it smell like gas?

Drain, refill, Remember to shut the fuel petcock off.

 

Oil seems low, always forget if you have to screw it in to check or leave it unthreaded to check. Might smell like gas, air box is dry though? He did have a petcock rigged up on it so that probably is the issue, as I didn't turn it off. I have never turned off the gas on my other Kodiak 400 or Sportsman and have never had an issue?

 

As I wrote above, smell the stuff. From the pic it looks like oil fuel mix, but sump would be full if the fuel tank had emptied into it, unless it has a fairly major oil leak from a crankcase seal as well. Float needle has to stick for this to happen, but the drain tube from the lowest point of the carb, downwards, is supposed to pour the fuel onto the ground if this happens. If someone leads the tube upwards, when the needle sticks, the fuel can't run out of the tube, so runs out of throttle body into cylinder and airbox. Is the plug in the airbox bottom fitted? If missing, this would let the fuel out again. You check oil level with dipstick unscrewed on Jap stuff. Your other bike may, on occasion, have had a stuck float needle, and dripped some fuel out but, with the drain tube correctly routed, you may not notice.

 

Ok thanks again for your help

 

I'll just add, It seems these kodiaks of that era have some needle and seat issues. Sticking.

I have an 03 400 that I have adjusted a dozen times. Seems perfect then the overflow might drip while riding, or it might not. Might drip while parked, might not, might drip at idle, might not.

I gave up, ran the overflow house out the back so it isn't dripping on my foot and turn the petcock off every chance I get.

For me, it gets ridden maybe 10-15 hours a year. Not worth screwing with it anymore.

 

All bikes do it, a tiny piece of grit gets stuck between needle and seat. Usually, once the engine is using fuel, needle opens enough for the grit to get flushed into the float bowl and the drip stops until some more dirt comes through from the tank. Needles can get a bit worn on the sides and catch, leaving them off the seat, or the tiny spring and plunger in the needle can stick, this causes the dripping fuel drain problem to get bad, or permanent. Suzuki fitted automatic fuel taps to combat this, but deleting the overflow pipe from the float chamber as well, led to more problems than fitting an auto tap cured.