Hot!!

[Honda4LifeWes36]

Hey, I have a 400ex and it seems to get hot way to fast!! I have oil in it and check it everyday before riding...what could be the problem?!

[Punkmaster Flex]

It's air cooled, there's your problem. ;)

[Honda4LifeWes36]

LOL thanks buddy. I should insert a fan! YA RIGHT!! :D

[0101]

Look at the stickies at the top of the page. The one called SPAL Fan should help you quite a bit.

[uchi]

yup air cooled man. dont let it idle. if your stopping for a short period of time shut it off. try to not travel slowly through high grass either. i made tha tmistake last year, did about half hour or riding through some peg high grass, some of it even higher and the sucker got hot real fast and lost all pwoer. wouldnt find the top of third gear thats how gutless it got. let it cool down for 20 minutes and it was brand new all over again.

[puTTs]

How hot is "Hot!!"? Any way you could measure it? Aircooled motors run hotter then water cooled by nature. They are designed to handle it, as long as it's not to hot. You'll start to kill your oil once it reaches about 300-350F. The actual engine components can handle much much higher temps, but since the oil breaks down at such low temps you lose the lube factor of the oil and this is where engine mechanical problems come from when referring to heat.

Not poking fun but there was a post a few weeks ago like this. Turned out the guy rode around for 15 minutes stuck his hand on the header...this is how he determined it was running to hot.:rolleyes:

[uchi]

haha yeah dont give it the finger test. and dont touch the header and exhaust. if mines running for 30 seconds the exhaust is hot to the touch. hot enough that i dont wanna touch it.

[ae13291]

define hot to me. even if i let mine idle for 20 mins my oil temp wont go past 250

[rob_990]

maybe try a thicker oil

[Honda4LifeWes36]

I let it idle for probably 3 minutes, rev it up a little bit, and I can already start feeling in on the insides of my legs.

[honda400ex2003]

haha yeah dont give it the finger test. and dont touch the header and exhaust. if mines running for 30 seconds the exhaust is hot to the touch. hot enough that i dont wanna touch it originally posted by uchi


heres your sign. LOL classic jeff foxworthy sorry just had to do it.

I use an xrsonly dipstick to check it out. If it is over 270 i would consider it to be too hot. anything below 250 is acceptable. It will be getting warm in that time when idling. it is generating heat so it will get warm. steve

[n811]

I have a oil temp stick in the reservoir. Mine will hit 250 with just blasting around. I put a spal fan on it and it really didn't do all that much? If i hit 260 I shut it down

[RIDEREDson]

Originally posted by n811
I have a oil temp stick in the reservoir. Mine will hit 250 with just blasting around. I put a spal fan on it and it really didn't do all that much? If i hit 260 I shut it down


That seems high, even with the fan. Does anyone have temp readings with fan on and off? I've never seen anyone post the differences to actually see how much the SPAL fan decreases the temp.

[Honda4LifeWes36]

Uh oh, I went out to the shop tonight just to get the check over on everything because a bunch of my buds and I are taking off for some riding. I started it and let her warm up and I reved it a couple times to get her good and ready. I noticed some smoke rising from the wheeler into the shop so I checked it over to see where it was coming from and it happened to be outta the exhaust right behind where the actual pipe is...

Any news for me??

[honda400ex2003]

it may need a new crush gasket where the two pipes meet in the back, it also has a clamp stock so it may be a good idea to put the clamp on if it is off. I did not notice an exhaust listed but i did not look. good luck, steve

[honda400ex2003]

number eight is what i am thinking about.

http://www.bikebandit.com/houseofmotorcycles/honda-atv-trx400ex-fourtrax-ex-2003-muffler/o/m2661sch92570

i am not sure if that is the right spot that you are talking about or not but i think so.
steve

[Honda4LifeWes36]

Yes it is right around there. Will that wear and tear on the motor if not fixed immediately??

[ae13291]

if u changed the cam in it and used the same cam cover gasket, you might notice some oily mist around the spark plug area near the top of the header, that may be your smoke, the oilis dripping on the header

[SPDSNYPR]

Odd that I saw this today. I was riding today - maybe 95 out. Seemed like the thing was just screaming hot on my legs. I don't remember it getting that hot before. I did switch from a 20w-50 oil to a synthetic 10w-40. Wondered if that was part of it. No power loss and oil level was fine. Again, just don't remember feeling that sort of heat against my legs. Also - very little wind, which is unusual here. OK is always windy.

[Honda4LifeWes36]

I rode it today and the smoke went away as I rode. I think I may have sprayed something on there and it made it smoke!

[Tommy Warren]

make sure your jetting it right...if its too lean you may be running too hot.