hey all,
My friend has a 2001 Warrior. He bought it used from a guy in mass over bargainnews.com He went up there and saw it and has now had it for almost a year. Heres the story.

among other body work... it has a standard bore Weisco piston, jetted, K&N filter/precharger, and a full yoshi proline exaust (somthin like 700 bucks). It was all installed when he got it and it has been running fine with no problems so far. Over the last month or so I have noticed, especally when it is started cold, it smokes white smoke and smells more like my 2-stroke dirtbike. Having ridden 2 and 4 strokes for most of my 17 years on this plannet I knew myself this wasn't normal. I'm no mechanic or engine expert but it seems to me like the rings are shot and leaking, causing the burning oil because it leaks into the piston compartment. He was like (it's running like perfect it doesn't matter. I told him to check the oil to see how much it was burning and he was like, it's all there. then he checked and it was real low. didn't even show up on the dipstick. so he filled it up and again when starting cold it smokes a good amount of smoke. What do you guys think. I say ring job. I wouldn't think it is doing any imediate damage but if he continues to let it go couldn't it cause sleve damage etc. Looking for some feedback to convince him to get somthing done about it.

thanks,

 

I've had a few people bring warriors to me for repairs and so far I'd say maybe half the time the first start to smoke a little bit and then the needle bearings in the rod go and the crank grinds up the washers on the rod. Last one I rebuilt had a clanking noise when it ran. It ran fine but you could hear the piston slapping around in the cylinder. Most likely if it smokes all the time like you describe I'd say it needs a bore job and a new piston. I'd have him change his oil before he does anything and if there's a lot of metal shavings in the filter then the rod is toast too. Among other things is if the rod goes then you can most likely kiss your oil pump goodbye then too because the metal shavings get in there and pit the surfaces pretty bad. If there's no metal shavings make sure that you have the rod checked out if you do a rebuild, it takes maybe 5 seconds for someone to inspect the rod with the top end off the engine.

 

Last time I opened up my oil filter it had lots of little metal chips and paste, think it was the first time it had been opened since it was new though (old owner was dopey). Lets say you have the cylinder off and the piston and rod sticking out, how can you tell if the rod is still good? I think all that stuff in my filter was from my gear box though, dont think last owner used clutch to shift because my tranny is pretty notchy and dosent always like to engage first gear.

Oh, and CTATV, run a compression test. Part of the problem might be that Wiseco piston, forged pistons shrink a lot when they are cold, there fore they can rattle / smoke. If it stops doing it completely when its warm that might be it. You should always let that sucker warm up before you take off.

 

CT,
If it stops smoking after warmed up I would think it is fine. After installing the Weisco in mine it almost immediately started smoking on cold starts. Stops after warmed up. Partly due to the excess fuel from choking it but definately some oil smoke also. I did as Jakal stated and did a compression and leakdown test. Never have to add oil between oil changes. (3, 6-8 hour hard rides)

 

For the oil deal, see if he has a hole in his case. I too have never had any oil be missing....... Drive it over some concrete or a sheet of something and run it a till its warm and what not, then kill it and come back in an hour or two and see if there is oil on the ground. Gotta be getting out somehow.

 

If there's a lot of metal shavings in your oil filter and I mean a lot by they're all over it and just laying in the case below and you can scrape them out with your finger then your rod is most likely toast. They will run even though all the bearings in the rod are gone I'll give em that. To check your rod you have to pull the piston and wrist pin off too. You take your index fingers and hold the rod end where the rist pin goes though. You then center the rod on the crank and try and pull up. If the rod had ANY up and down movement junk it and get a new one. There should be absolutely no play. I've used wiseco pistons in everything I've rebuilt over the past few years and they all seem to smoke just a little bit when they're cold but once they warm up everythings fine. Sometimes if your engine smokes when it's cold it means the valve seals are bad.

 

I pulled on the rod and it wont move up and down, it will kinda lean to the side about 1 mm or less. Hard to tell since it just wants to slide and I dont want to scratch it up by forcing it.

 

If its stops smoking it is like the previous poster said - the wiseco piston, or it could also be warn valve seals that leak down after a while sitting.

Warriors are notorious for a small amount of metal flakes in the oil filter without anything necessarily being wrong, check them to see if they are aluminum by using a magnet. If they dont get picked up by a magnet then they are aluminum and probably from the transmission cases. If there are more than a few and they are aluminum check the rolling resistance of the quad in neutral. If it is hard to push you may need new idler gear bearing (sometimes when the bearings are worn the gear will ride back and forth and bind on the cases) after a while like this new cases may be needed.

Watch out if they stick to the magnet!

 

I agree with the 007 and the Warrior being notorious for metal shavings in the filter. Mine just stopped depositing large doses of shavings in the filter with about a 100 hours of use. I would not worry about shavings in the filter unless they start appearing heavy again after about 100 hours.

 

Some side to side movement is to be expected. What you want to do is center it inbetween the side to side movement and pull up. You dont have to pull hard at all but if the rod is bad you'll feel it move upwards. Like I said before if you have ANY vertical play junk the rod and get a new one. Otherwise if it's tight you have nothing to worry about.