2005 400ex rejuvenation.. Sat for a long time..

[troutman561]

Hi all..

I was once fairly active on this board but the last few years have been busy with school and such so I have not rode in a while, nor have I posted on here since probably 06/early 07.

A little background... I bought my 2005 400ex new in January of 05 and rode it hard for about 2 years. At that point school got busier and my friends quit riding so I sold the 400 to my brother. He put maybe 4 hours on it since then and it has pretty much sat either outside or in a barn for 2.5 years or so. Now, the last time it ran was probably about a year ago and it has since stopped running due to what I am guessing is E10 gunk. Last time I tried to start it( 9 months or so ago) it would turn over but not start and gas leaked from the carb. I am thinking the float is stuck. I am now in Chiropractic college and just brought it home to work on in the little bit of spare time I have. There is a good bit of rust on the frame now and the chain is shot. Today my friend Josh and I are going to drain the gas and clean the carb. I am hoping we can get it started and it is a simple clogged carb issue. Now the questions begin:

Do I need to get a carb rebuild kit or can I first just try to take it apart and spray some carb cleaner in all passages and such? Do I even need to take the carb off? Can I just spray some seafoam into the intake and let it soak and try to start? I need a starting point and I am sure there are people who have been down this road before..

I want to take care of the frame rust.. Can I simply just sand the rust areas down and prime and paint over, or is there a better option??

I am sure I will have more questions but we have not started anything yet so I can just guess what we will run into. I will post pics and progress later..

[Ratman]

Welcome back, its not going to hurt to get a kit (you can clean it out just to get it started) and go threw the carb, espeically if you are going to ride again. As for the rust you can sand it ( to much work ) or get some navel jelly brush it on and hose it off, then paint

[Buscg1]

As for the carb you can probably get away without a rebuild kit. While you take the carb off let the fuel drain out of the gas tank as well. Then rinse a little fresh through the tank. The carb is fairly easy to clean. Your best bet is to take the jets out and try blowing them out with compressed air and also the idle passage. When you pull off the float you can inspect and clean the tapered end of the float needle where it sits in its seat. Also blow out the seat where the fuel comes in. Once you blow out the jets you should be able to see light through the small holes. Clean out the bowl, and After all that you should be good to go. Shouldnt take more than an hour. I personally would take kt off to clean it, you may be able to get it running without but you have a good chance of clogging the jets more if you get it running and get gunk up in them.

[troutman561]

Thanks guys..

I plan on taking it off to clean out and such. Plus I was to take the plastics and tank off to get at everything and clean her up really good.. So far I have just ordered a standard yellow colored non-O-ring chain off of ebay.. Should be here by the end of the week. I also need to change the oil.. I really hope the bolts dont break since it has been like 2 years since it has been changed..

[troutman561]

I also need to get a new spark plug? Is there a NGK recommended for the 400ex? DP9EA?

[Ratman]

no the dp9ea in a colder plug ,you want stock dp8ea.

[troutman561]

Well Josh and I tore into the 400 today after class... We removed all the plastics, tank, and carb. We pulled the carb apart and it did not seem that bad. We cleaned it up good, reassembled, and began to work on the ignition. Unfortunately there is something wrong with the little cylindrical ignition switch where the key goes so we had to remove it and splice the wires together as a temporary solution. Once we got that taken care of we cranked her with no luck. It turns over but there seems to be no spark. I figured the spark plug needed changing but we had no socket to grind down to fit the spark plug today. I am going to take care of that and hopefully I can find someone who carries the plug so we can either fix the problem or eliminate another potential problem. I am going to attach some pics from today.. The frame rust is pretty extensive but it seems to be superficial and does not seem to be affecting the structure of the frame.. More updates to come tomorrow once we can get at it again.

http://i50.tinypic.com/fe13lc.jpg
http://i48.tinypic.com/jajbes.jpg
http://i48.tinypic.com/2v82zr9.jpg
http://i46.tinypic.com/33x7exy.jpg
http://i46.tinypic.com/wrjkfl.jpg
http://i46.tinypic.com/2m463j4.jpg
http://i48.tinypic.com/a10b5g.jpg
http://i47.tinypic.com/10r7rzt.jpg
http://i46.tinypic.com/r9gx7q.jpg

It is disappointing to see it in this condition because I took such good care of it when it was under my care, but what can you do?? I would say it is in pretty good shape considering it sat outside for 1 of the last 2 years.. I wish I never sold my Powerbomb and my 450r shocks either..

Also, any suggestions on what to clean it with.. Is there some sort of degreaser I can spray on there that is safe for aluminum and rubber that will make it easier? Or is it going to require some old fashioned elbow grease? And finally, what is the best way to get rid of the minor oxidation of the head? Thanks in advance!

[JOHNDOE83]

In my opinion, for the rust...The way I like to do it is easy and does the job... use a fine or medium wire wheel on a grinder it works great...then get matching frame paint or spray paint.

Regular spray paint isnt the best but does do the job. I stripped and repainted mine twice since Ive owned it and the spray paint held up just as well as the frame paint but any paint will chip at sometime on a quad. Mine only chipped around where I chain it up everynight.

[Ratman]

On that type of rust i would still use the navel jelly, you can get it at an auto parts store. As for the aluminum, I use Eagle one eching mag cleaner. It is used for old non polished mag wheels. Ive got it on paint it doesnt hurt it. Ive used it on my shocks, calipers and whole engine (DONT get it on polished aluminum), put it on for a short period of time and hose off.

[troutman561]

Thanks for the info on the cleaning guys...


Well we finally got her running after chasing some electrical problems but still seems to have a carb issue. She will start up with no choke when you give it some gas but will die once the throttle is released. Basically it wont idle. On the other hand, it will start and idle with the choke down one click(not full) and run fine. When I went to ride it with both no choke and the choke down one click I could go upto 3/4 throttle it will bog down. It also is continually spilling gas out of the overflow tube that runs out in front of the swingarm and I believe the solution to that is going to be the solution to the problem, but I dont know what it could be, any ideas?

[Buscg1]

Sounds like the float is still not seating. May have to get a new one. As for starting with a little choke, thats normal as long as its colder out and a cold motor. If after a couple minutes it still isnt working right than you still may have stuff in your idle passages. If it worked when you owned it before and nothing else has changed then its probably not the jetting, so it narrows it down to probably still plugged somewhere. Did you use compressed air to blow out the jets and passages?

[troutman561]

Well the 400 is finally running perfect again. After unnecessarily removing the carb for a second time we realized the reason the gas was leaking out was because the little screw to drain the bowl was loose. Once we put it back together we adjusted the idle and she idles and runs like the first day I got it. Now onto the cleaning part!

[99exrider]

Originally posted by troutman561
Well the 400 is finally running perfect again. After unnecessarily removing the carb for a second time we realized the reason the gas was leaking out was because the little screw to drain the bowl was loose. Once we put it back together we adjusted the idle and she idles and runs like the first day I got it. Now onto the cleaning part!

keep us updated, and please post after shots and what you did. I have the same exact rust spots on the frame, and even the oxidation on the head.

[Ratman]

I wish all leaks were that easy to fix.