20w50???

[beefy-1]

i'm new to the forum and need some advice. i have a bunch of the threads on oil but didn't find anything relating to my question.
i have a friend who has been riding 400ex's for a long time and sought advice from him. he said all he's ever used was valvolene vr1 20W50 race oil....well, me, being new to the sportbike world changed my oil to this. the prob is after changing it, my quad puffs smoke for a very short period of time and only on cold starts. the guy that had the bike before me ran 10W40. the quad did not smoke with that oil. he suggested this heaver oil due to the quad mods. my cousin's stock 2000 400ex does the exact same thing as mine

any suggestions???

[93 lx]

Did you find out anything about the oil situation? I posted a thread on oil also, but did not get a response. I purchased 20w 50 and have not used it yet.

corey

[MO-EX-RIDER]

i use 20-50 ams oil in my stock 400ex during the warm months and its fine, no smoke ever????

[jsmith2232]

When i ran petrolium based oil i always ran 10-40 but i run belray semi-synthetic thumper racing oil 20-50 now but the synthetic oil is a bit thinner then the petrolium based so it should be fine. run a search on oil on this site and youll find a lot of info.

[fox17]

i live in florida so its always hot here and 20w50 is recommended for hot weather so we use it and it is fine. the owners manual should tell you what kind to use for your climate.

[plkmonster2]

Sounds like your rings or valve seals are shot. The valve seals are common on a 400, but I've never had this problem.