I'm gonna run car oil in my quad now.

[Chris142]

My quad has a stupid design flaw. The exhaust camshaft sits in a tub of oil. The intake camshaft is up in the air!

I ran the expensive M/C oils including Amsoil, Mobil-1 and Motule. I ran 10w-40. The cam still wore out.

I replaced the cam, rocker and rings.

Right now it has QS 20w-50 in it with some of Torco's Magnetic friction reducer. I'm gonna stick with the 20w-50 oils to see how they do in the cam wear department.

I feel Moly should be used in this situation as a last barrier to help prevent cam wear. There's not much info on 20w-50 here.

Would say Pennz 20w-50 have as much Moly as the 10w-30? Should I stick with the Torco additive with it's pounds of Moly? How much per qt of oil?

The Moly doesn't seem to affect the wetclutch at this point.

 

[c_rossman]

What type of quad is it? Manual or automatic clutch? I dont think you will have a problem with 20w50 because it isnt energy conserving.

 

[DNS]

If you want moly, stick with the Torco additive or use Redline oil. I doubt that either the Penz 20W50 or 10W30 has much moly.

 

[Chris142]

quote:

---

Originally posted by c_rossman:
What type of quad is it? Manual or automatic clutch? I dont think you will have a problem with 20w50 because it isnt energy conserving.

---

It's a Kawasaki Mojave. 250cc, Dohc, 4 valves, 11:1 compression with a manual clutch.

 

[Chris142]

quote:

---

Originally posted by fuel tanker man:

Your cam may have worn out due to a clogged oil passage way in the engine. You may want to speak with someone who knows that engine to get some feedback. Or it could have simply been a bad cam and the new one won't have the same problem.

---

The intake cam wear problem is common with these engines. It's due to the lack of lube to the intake cam. The only lube the cam gets is from whatever oil slips out the sides of the cam bearings and gets splashed onto the lobe.

The engine is a motorcycle engine that they put into a quad frame. Kawasaki tilted the engine to make it fit the quad frame! So now the intake cam does not sit in a tub of oil on top of the head like it was designed to.

 

[fuel tanker man]

Ohhhhh....

I see, said the blindman...

Then you're probably going to have to proceed as you mention, with the barrier additives.

I think the worst thing that the moly might do is cause the clutch to slip a bit. So long as you take note of that and remove that oil ASAP if the clutch does slip you're good to go. (The moly should come right off the plates when you switch the oil if I understand correctly).

One other possibility:

Can you overfill the crankcase without any major problems? This might help get some oil to the upper cam. Just a thought...

Dan

 

[Chris142]

quote:

---

Originally posted by fuel tanker man:


Can you overfill the crankcase without any major problems? This might help get some oil to the upper cam. Just a thought...

Dan

---

Naw overfilling it just makes it blow oil out the vent. Plus it has an oil pump, adding more to the sump won't get any more to the topend unless I put a gallon or so extra in it!

 

[fuel tanker man]

And just one more idea...

You might consider the Lucas additive which appears to cancel out the anti-foaming action of the motor oil, allowing it to "climb."

If you add the Lucas and increase the crankcase oil level a bit over the stock level that might do it for you.

Dan

 

[fuel tanker man]

I'm assuming that's a wet clutch engine.

You don't want to use too much moly in a wet clutch system. From all the buzz, it can cause some clutches to slip. (Maybe not yours, but why take the chance?)

Your cam may have worn out due to a clogged oil passage way in the engine. You may want to speak with someone who knows that engine to get some feedback. Or it could have simply been a bad cam and the new one won't have the same problem.

The moly and ZDDP additives are nice for the times when the oil film breaks down, but that shouldn't be the norm. Find out why the engine isn't oiling up high.

Dan

 

[KW]

Have you thought about maybe plumbing oil up to the cam from the out side. Maybe pull oil from an oil cooler line and run the line up to the cam cover and point little oil squirters at the cam lobes.

I may not have explained it very well but I can sure see it in my mind.

 

[Motorbike]

Good idea there KW , build some and sell em

 

[Chris142]

Hmmmmmmm. Wonder how much oil pressure it would lose?

I did think of adding a small dripper like the early BB chevies had.

 

[Mike_dup1]

What the heck it a quad? ATV??

Honda and Polaris are the big sellers around here. A few Yamaha and Suzuki dealers but those dealers don't seem to last long due to poor demand for those brands around here. Several have come and gone.

If it is that poor a design, I would get rid of it and buy a better brand.

 

[KW]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Chris142:
Hmmmmmmm. Wonder how much oil pressure it would lose?

I did think of adding a small dripper like the early BB chevies had.

---

All you should need is a slow bleed on each lobe so you should not loose very much pressure. Heck you might even be able to cross drill some cam caps so they would have spurt oils to spray oil on the lobes.

 

[Chris142]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Mike:
What the heck it a quad? ATV??


If it is that poor a design, I would get rid of it and buy a better brand.

---

Ya you east side people call em ATV's. Us on the left coast call them quads.

As for buying a different one I'm not in a position at this time to drop 4-6K on another quad.

 

[Mike_dup1]

I'm in the middle on Lake Superior. 4x4/ATV/snowmobile riders wonderland.

Neighbor lad got a Kawasaki 350 (?) 2x4 ATV and it is a POS in his opinion. Its always broke down, seen it come back in the back of the his dads truck a few times. Of course, the younger you are the more you apt beat on them hard, have not seen a young guy that did not do that. Earlier this spring I was riding on this old RR grade near my home and came upon these young kids (maybe 14+-) and 2 of them had their atv's stuck in this mass 3 foot deep mud-hole that was about 50 ft long. They had to go out of their way to get into it. Wanted me to pull them out (have winch) but told them to call a wrecker and moved on. Could not tell what kind of machine it was, it was completely covered in red mud and the thing was in gear shooting mud and water 20 ft in air.

I have a 2001 Honda Rancher 4x4.

[ September 27, 2004, 09:26 AM: Message edited by: Mike ]

 

[fuel tanker man]

Chris,

I don't think the issue is so complicated. Just look into the possibility of increasing the oil volume a bit, and try the Lucas--it does do what it claims. Most engines really don't need an oil to climb, but it appears that yours could benefit from this.

Put in a little extra oil and some Lucas, and do a UOA after twenty hours or so. If the numbers come back bad you can resort to more labor intensive measures...

Dan

 

[KW]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Chris142:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Mike:
What the heck it a quad? ATV??


If it is that poor a design, I would get rid of it and buy a better brand.

---

Ya you east side people call em ATV's. Us on the left coast call them quads.

As for buying a different one I'm not in a position at this time to drop 4-6K on another quad.

---

Here in the middle we call them "four wheelers".

 

[arkainzeye]

i ran mobil1 10w30 in my quad for 5 years. it was a honda 300ex.. i got rid of it to get a street bike. but when i used to do valve adjustments on it, the inside of the engine was always clean. clutch never slipped. and i beat this quad to death...

 

[doubleshockpower]

These machines are very complicated and expensive to repair, if you enjoy the sport trade into a Honda..I have three Foremans '88,'03,'03 and they're bulletpoof..well almost BP my '88 needed to go in for the first time this year for brakes..lol.

BTW: Mike I run up by you all the time from Florence...I'm trying to get to the Kenton area from the Ironriver railgrade, any advice? from there I'll go on to Bergland and Silver City.

Wonderland is right.