Honda 400 Help

Just got back from riding the trails in Ocala Fl, and rode over 100 miles, my bike blows smoke extremley bad and it is said that i need new rings and tom make sure I always hasd oil, with that in mind I planned on replacing the rings and the piston when my bro in law comes over to help after the trip I just came from.

Problem being while my son was riding one of the trails the bike died out, he immedialty checked the oil and of course it was low, the bike drinks oil like it is gas and just blows it out the exhaust, they let it cool down but they killed the battery trying to restart it, finally they pushed started it and he ran for a little ways more before pulling off the side of the trail to let someone pass and it stalled again and this time they left it in the woods for me to come and pick up. Now the battery is charged up and has more oil, and it turns over and starts but it will not idle. Why all of the sudden do I have this problem.

Please help

[Mr_RPM]

well u really need to rebuild it (like u said) if ur drinking that much oil. just stop rideing it till then.

but your idleing problem is probabaly a clogged pilot jet in the carb.

u need to take the bottem of the carb (float bowl) off.
u will see 2 "jets" (little srew like things. flat head screw driver toped screws with holes on top for sucking in gas)

there is your main jet (sticks way out) for when your on the throttle. and a smaller (tucked to the side) pilot jet. (for idleing and when your off the gas)

u need to take the pilot jet out (flat head screw driver) and spray it out with some carb cleaner. and even hit it with some compressed air to nock the dirt out.

u can hold the jet up to a light to see threw the hole.
once unclogged put back in and that should be your problem.

but i highly recomend u dont ride it till u get the new piston and rings in there.
or u could blow the top end.

but for the idleing problem u probabaly just got a little peice of dirt in your gas (only needs to be the size of a grain of sand)

a clogged pilot jet in the carb sounds pretty easy after reading your post. My brother in law has worked on a bunch of motors before and has never done a 4 wheeler before but he tells me as long he has a manual it shouldnt be that bad. Those trails were very dusty due to the lack of rain here in Florida, and it got really dirty because of that so that would make perfect since.

[Mr_RPM]

if u guys have any questions during the re-build ill be more than happy to help

let me know how it goes

I popped open the air filter today just to check it out? Fired up the compresor to blow it out a little and end up blowing oil to the bottom of the filter. looked in the housing for the air filter and there is red oil puddled up in the bottom, is that normal ? I dont see any kind of red oil anywhere else. Oil is tan and it appears the brake fluid is clear.

Thanks

I popped open the air filter today just to check it out? Fired up the compresor to blow it out a little and end up blowing oil to the bottom of the filter. looked in the housing for the air filter and there is red oil puddled up in the bottom, is that normal ? I dont see any kind of red oil anywhere else. Oil is tan and it appears the brake fluid is clear.

Thanks

[Mr_RPM]

LOL wow

its air filter oil
u MUST oil foam air filters (and K&N air filters) with air filter oil

its so when you suck air threw the filter dirt sticks to the filter and not go into your engine.
the only filters you dont oil is paper filters as seen on cars and some polaris quads but not many.

paper filters suck and brake down fast.

so make shure u clean your foam filter (and K&N) with water and a gental solvent (i use gasoline but something a little less harsh is better, esp for K&N. but for foam which i what i would guess u have being what comes on everything stock for the most part. gas works fine.) then rinse with soapy water then rinse with just water, then let it dry before OILING IT AGAIN with AIR FILTER OIL. (AIR FILTER OIL MOSTLY COMES IN CANS THAT U CAN GET AT A DEALER, AND CAN BE RED OR BLUE. AND JUST SPRAYS ON LIKE PAINT)

the red sticky oil at the bottem of your air box is just extra oil that driped off your filter, which shows it was oiled enough. make shure to get every spot of the filter next time when oiling

Just wanted to let you know rebuild coming along great, there was a cylinder bolt hole stripped out in the head replaced that with heli coil and know am looking for 2 cylinder head cover bolts that are stripped, actually think the loos cylinder bolt might have been the problem all along, that same bolt was loose coming out .. have new piston/rings and went ahead and got the valves re seated and working good there was nothing wrong them just thought i would do it couldnt hurt. but i wanted to ask you what the procedure is for break in i am getting different idea's and the shop that bored it out and did the valve work wrote his version down but i have seemed to misplace it.

[Mr_RPM]

i have broken in many many engines

i would recomend just going on a slow trail ride
and keeping the engine load down (keep it in the first 3 gears or if automatic just dont go around flooring it and blasting around)
u dont need to worry about over reving it but try to keep the RPMs on the low side for a while

after about 1-2 hours of the engine running (just have everyone take it for a light spin over the corse of a day)it will be broken in

when you first start it let it idle for 5 mins and let the oil get to full operateing temp. then look for any oil leaks or gasket leaks and look for air sneaking out (any time u rip apart an engine u will want to do this)
then ride it for as long as u want to and once the engine has 1-2 hours of run time u will want to change the oil and replace the oil filter (because the piston and rings will leave small metal shaveings during the break in and u want to get thows out after its fully broken in) after the oil change ride it how u would have before

what is your plan for those striped holes? are the re tapp able?