Need Immediate assistance!!!!!!

[400exowner]

I have a bad ticking noise in my motor. I thought it would be the valves. I got everything apart to adjust them, and they were tight. little play. Is it ready to blow? Please say no lol.

[Pappy]

did you actually use a feeler gauge to determine they are at the correct lash or did you wiggle them to come to your finding that they are where they should be:p

[400exowner]

Ya i used a feeler gauge the sizes are .004 and .005 rite?

[exrider23]

400 motors tend to tick alot....pretty normal really...mine ticks and so does all my other friends 400's

[Pappy]

Originally posted by 400exowner
Ya i used a feeler gauge the sizes are .004 and .005 rite?

I believe those are correct. Check for an exhaust leak, but the 400ex does like to tick

[400exowner]

Do they tick very loudly? When im riding i can hear the ticking over my exhaust, its stock but still.

[400exowner]

It has lots of power but the only thing is from idle when i give it a little bit of throttle, it likes to die out or dog. It smokes when its cold but goes away. Oil is full and dark. Running 10w40. When u adjust the valves, how tough should it be to put the feeler gauge thru?

[curious george]

oil should be full and gold not dark dark is burnt and you need to change oil and filter and go with 5w30. check exhaust leak between header and silencer, there is a gasket in there that will wear out and you can tell easilly with out tools buy placing your foot hard up against the header guard and rev the engine and see if that is it, there might be loos bolts places even the header gaurd might be loose. and the boogin is in your jeting turn the fuel mixture screw out a half turn. and if that does not help re jet your carb with a detaled jet kit, i like dyno jet my self.

[coryatver]

5w-30 are you kidding me? You want to run 20w-50 in a 400ex! They run hot you need some tough oil in there. 5w-30 would last one ride before it was toast.

[my250ex]

20w50? that must take forever to warm up.. that doesnt seem like a good idea do you know how long its going to run without any lubrication when you first start it up? thats like pouring concrete into your lines until it gets heated up. i run 5w40 and it doesnt run any hotter than if i ran 10w40.

[Wildbrain]

:eek2:

[mrnate400ex]

i run 20-50 in mine and have since new. i do change to 10-40 in the winter months, but that is just a given. anyhow, back to the topic of the thread. it could be chatter from a loose cam chain. have you verified that your tensioner is functioning properly?? how much time is on your engine?? the cam chains do stretch and will "chatter". but, like these other guys said. the 400ex does tick a lot!! i've been worried about mine a couple of times where i will just notice it out of nowhere, but it does it all the time i just tune it out most of the time. i'd say ride it!!!

[400exstud]

400ex's do tend to tick a lot.

I run 20W50 in the summer and 10W40 in the winter.

Last fall, it got really cold early in the season and the 20W50 damn near froze. The starter with a fresh batter would only slowly chug it over.

I have also seen lake racers seeze their motors up by running 20W50 because their oil got too cold:eek:

Lesson learned..... change to 10W40 before it gets cold.

[400exowner]

I almost know for a fact its a valve tick. Ill check the other things tho. Honestly should i put 20w50 in it? Also the oil in mine is only like 10 hours old and its black. How tough should it be to put the feeler gauge thru? As for the air screw, i turn it counterclockwise? And the bogging means its to rich?

[GPracer2500]

Originally posted by 400exowner
I almost know for a fact its a valve tick. Ill check the other things tho. Honestly should i put 20w50 in it? Also the oil in mine is only like 10 hours old and its black. How tough should it be to put the feeler gauge thru? As for the air screw, i turn it counterclockwise? And the bogging means its to rich?

20w50 is fine. I run it year round here in the desert.

The feeler guage should have a light drag on it.

Your carb has a fuel screw not an air screw. There is a guide in the "How To" section that should help you with that.

[400exowner]

So even there is a bad tick i should adjust the valves to specs not a lil tighter?

[Halter]

just run her till she blows

[400exowner]

I dont want it to blow

[GPracer2500]

Originally posted by 400exowner
So even there is a bad tick i should adjust the valves to specs not a lil tighter?

DON'T adjust them tighter than specs.

Too loose is better than too tight. Hotcams actually specifies .001" looser than the stock clearance for their cams. Too tight will beat up your valves and valve seats. I've been told that in extreme cases too tight can start to interupt the oiling orifices on the cam causing premature cam and rocker arm failure.

There's an old saying that a noisy valve is a happy valve. I'm not sure how strictly I'd adhere to that but it's something to consider...

[400exowner]

I found out what the noise was. The timing chain was loose so it was hitting the head cover. Is there any way to change that chain without taking the clutch basket off?

[440_Turtle]

NOPE, youve got to remove teh clutch basket and oil pump to get to the counter shaft, and remove the cam chain.

[400exowner]

Why do i have to remove the oil pump? I took the clutch cover off and i see i only have to take the basket and sprocket off and it says the same thing in my manual.