Seized up!

[Phillburt57]

So I have called around to a bunch of diffirent places and they all say my motor is seized. How can I free it? Can I do that w/o taking the head off?

[hondaman440ex]

the only thing i can think of to do w/o taking the head off is take a 10mm allen wrench and take off the cap on the left side of the engine. The get a 17mm socket and try to turn the bolt inside. That bolt is connected to the crank and you should be able to turn in if no it is seized. Then you can bore it out and spend money like i had to when i ran mine out of oil (except my just burned oil really bad after putting more in it).

[Phillburt57]

I changed my oil and I had about a quart and a half in it was I running to low on oil and maybe it seized up? Or did I have enough oil? It's an 05 and I bought it in 06 so if it is seized shouldnt Honda be willing to fix it?

[GPracer2500]

Why would they fix it if you didn't have the correct amount of oil in it? :confused:

[Phillburt57]

You dont think that one and a half quarts was enough I had no idea that I had that much in there. But on a positive side I did what hondaman440ex said to do and it does move so its not seized up but the starter still clicks what could be worng with it?

[EX LONERIDER]

dead battery... charge the battery back up and try it again.

[Phillburt57]

The battery is charged and the starter still clicks..... I opened the plug on the left side of teh engine and the 17mm nut spins a little and then the starter just clicks after that. Could it be electrical?

[EX LONERIDER]

hmm.... yea, at this point id start leaning twards electrical. if it still moves then its not seized up. being seized up would not spin at all. start looking into connections.... trace down right from the battery and see if there's anything funky goin on.

[250x_kyle]

um honda not gunna pay for your mistake. when you buy a 400ex new the warrnty that it comes with covers factory defect not your ***ups. did you spin your crank counterclock wise. sounds like a wire or battery to me.

[Phillburt57]

I opened up the starter and thats all good, its that thing in front of teh battery that is clicking what is called?

[250x_kyle]

the selonoid? or the little box type thing?

[gcart2]

check the fuses. my sis 250ex did the same thing.

[j450rking]

dude it's your ground! take all the ground connections off and clean them and put them back together and it should start up and if that don't do it then you need a selonoid

[my88r]

Originally posted by j450rking
dude it's your ground! take all the ground connections off and clean them and put them back together and it should start up and if that don't do it then you need a selonoid

yea i bet that is it or check the connections around the light. do you have a tether cord. if you do make sure the ground is still there.

[j450rking]

yeah tether kill switchs mess with things alot

[casey_lamm]

Why was it only at 1.5 qrts. The service manual says the capacity is as follows:

1.9Q after draining
1.95Q after draining/filter change
2.3Q after dissassembly

Running on the low end is asking for trouble. Even if it didn't seize this time...there is just no good reason for it.

Do you have the procedures for checking and changing the oil.

They have been posted many times. If you want them I copied them to a file and can send them to you.


Anyway good luck. With the clicking...it also sounds electrical to me... ground wire, etc...

Have you tried jumping it? Have you tried bypassing the silonoid?

Man I wish I could spell! *LOL*

[TheNewn]

I had the same problem on my 400EX jsut a couple days ago after rebuilding it from a tear down. I jsut had the grounds/selinoid hooked up wrong.

My question is...Who'd you take it to that told you it was seized?

[Phillburt57]

I called a guy up here in Washington and he immediatly told me that it was seized and then he quoted me 3000 dollars to fix it and I told him to go well you know. There is no kill switch on it all that happened was it completely died and then it just clicked.

[TheNewn]

Did you go over the wiring? I'd just double check all the grounds everywhere.

[j450rking]

did you try checking the grounds?

[Phillburt57]

Everything is cleaned and checked its all ok..... I charged teh battery up completely and now when I go to start the motor it turns over but sounds like it taking a lot for it to even do that. It wont fire but its turning over.

[casey_lamm]

have you checked your spark plug wire for spark?


Originally posted by Phillburt57
Everything is cleaned and checked its all ok..... I charged teh battery up completely and now when I go to start the motor it turns over but sounds like it taking a lot for it to even do that. It wont fire but its turning over.

[Phillburt57]

I have done that now and its not getting spark.... The motor fires up for about 1-2 seconds and just dies...... What is going on???

[hondaman440ex]

Originally posted by Phillburt57
I have done that now and its not getting spark.... The motor fires up for about 1-2 seconds and just dies...... What is going on???

How can it fire up for 1-2 seconds if it's not getting spark?

[casey_lamm]

im confused. either there is spark or not. In order for the motor to turn over even for a few cycles, then there has to be combustion.

Please explain exactly what you hear when you try this. and make sure what you are hearing is the starter.

better yet, do you have a digital camera or anything that takes video w/sound...and post it.

sometimes its easier if we can hear what you are doing.




Originally posted by Phillburt57
I have done that now and its not getting spark.... The motor fires up for about 1-2 seconds and just dies...... What is going on???

[JOEX]

Even though you charged the battery it still may not be strong enough to turn the motor over fast enough.

Try jump starting it with your car...

[Phillburt57]

Alright so I go to start it up and that little thing in front of the battery just clicks... I think it is my battery because when it was fully charged it turned it over and started it when my thumb had the throttle opened a little..

[casey_lamm]

ok then change the darn battery and up the pilot jet to a 40 or 42...



Originally posted by Phillburt57
Alright so I go to start it up and that little thing in front of the battery just clicks... I think it is my battery because when it was fully charged it turned it over and started it when my thumb had the throttle opened a little..

[Phillburt57]

Thats the thing though is that the "darn thing" is already jetted perfectly and was running great a couple weeks ago.