Mech

If the rod's blued at the top I'd be very reluctant to reuse it. That said, they are often a little blue from the manufacture. If it's been overheated though then I'd biff in. After that no oil situation the crank needs stripping for cleaning.. in which case new pin, bearing, rod are all pretty much mandatory. All those parts I mention will be available I'm sure.

Yup well quads are a bit more fussy about their gear changes than two wheelers even. If you want nice gear changes, it always pays to wind them up/out to a few revs(more the better I think), and then close the throttle off sharply and then back on again as you change up. Same as on a two wheeler. And changing down it always works much nicer, both the change and the bike behavior, if you give the throttle a quick blip as you press the gear-change down a gear. A blip, then a bit off, and then back on enough to match the needed revs. The very momentary bit off takes the load off the gears so they can slide, and the blips gets the two shafts spinning at near the right speed to synchronize the gears. Bikes and quads need a lot more active participation in the driving techniques than a car. And quads the most of all in my opinion..

It's always a good idea to read the owners manuals..haha. Some quads start in gear if the brake light is on.

You need the battery in there to do any meaningful output tests. The regulator will get hot if it's trying to control an open circuit voltage. They work by shorting the excessive power to earth, but they are also designed in anticipation of about one to two amps(make and model) load always going into the battery. The starters wear out brushes regularly. it's an easy fix. They sell new brushes, springs etc all on new brush holder plate. cheap !

Ha. yeah Bro... Good leaning for junior.. Get a beer and a chair and tell him how to do it. Everyone benefits..

Oh ok. Well....

If this make and model of bike has an oil filter, you could check there for oil flow, or blockage, and you could probably use an oil can and pump a little oil down there in an attempt to prime the pump, and then see if that oil comes out when it's started... Bit you know, different makes and models all have differences.. so it's pretty hard to say.

Hi. Well it is probably a carby problem but it could also be a spark plug with too much gap, or incorrectly adjusted valves. I'd check the plug gap first since that's simple, and while I was dong it I'd check whether it looked like it had been running rich of lean. Since it hasn't been runnig far or right, the colour shouldn't be relied on too much, unless it's really white or black. Then I think I'd check the valve adjustment if it's an adjuster, not a shim. If it's a shim system, they don't often get wrong, and they are more trouble to do. If it's shim I'd check the compression perhaps but basically carry on with the carby checks. (inserts a cut and paste of paste {of my own}, off another site.. wouldn't want to be accused of plagiarism.). If it's a carby fault, it might be an adjustment rather than a blocked jet.. Float level, idle mixture and choke operation would be the things I'd be checking.. Mixture first of course. If the choke is a plunger that pulls up/out, rather than a butterfly, then it could be that the choke doesn't operate correctly because the idle speed is set incorrectly. When you are adjusting the idle, it's important the mixture is set with the idle speed set as low as possible. You adjust the mixture till it's in the best position, if you turn it a little one way it will run rich, and a little the other way and it will run lean, set it to the center of those two points. Then adjust the speed to a low idle. Now repeat the mixture adjustment, to the center of rich/lean. Now adjust the speed again. Keep doing those two steps till it's set with as little throttle opening as possible with the mixture set to center. Finally, set the idle speed to specs. When it's set like that the butterfly or slide will be opening and covering the two idle discharge holes as they should be, so that as the throttle opens, the idle mixture, which initially was discharging a fuel mix with extra air in it from the second or aircleaner side discharge hole, will start drawing airfuel out of both discharge holes, and it will be mixture without the leaning effect of the air being drawn it through the up stream/second hole.. It gives an automatic enrichening as you open the throttle.. Try that and see how it goes.. after it does go that is.. The electrical problem.. Hmm.. It went for a while the first day, but developed a fault while siting.. Seems strange. I guess I'd be looking for a short or broken wire, though it would have to been something that happened while you were riding.. So.. rack your brains.. anything that happened on the ride.. water crossing, rolled it down a hill, it was running bad when you turned it off perhaps.. Else, I guess you will have to get a manual and start tracing the power from the battery to the switches as a first thing..

Bahaha... And I got it wrong.. too funny. In actual fact..... To move the crank sprocket by one tooth, takes a certain number of degrees or rotation, but to move the cam sprocket by one tooth it takes HALF as many degrees of rotation of the cam as it would of the crank to move that one tooth.

I should have got back quicker but hopefully this will save you some work pulling the flywheel off.. To do as I suggest and move the crank by one tooth you don't need to pull the flywheel. For the sake of an example we will say that with the crank timing marks lined up, the cam timing marks are a halt tooth to the right(clockwise), and that the cam timing marks are straight up and down. If the timing marks are flat across then you could put a mark straight up and down. All you need to do is hold the chain at the very top, in line with the mark on the sprocket, you will be holding a link that's slightly to the right of the very top, then pull the sprocket away from the cam and drop it down, work the chain off the sprocket. Now turn the crank till the chain has moved one link through your fingers. In this example the crank would need rotating to the right(clockwise). Now slip the cam sprocket up or back in and fit the timing mark, or the mark you'd made, back into the link between your fingers. Put the sprocket on the cam. Now you have the timing mark, the mark that used to be a half tooth to the right, back right where it used to be, looking a half tooth to the right.. But, when you turn the crank the one tooth's worth of rotation it need to get it's marks lined up again, (to the left/anti-clockwise), the cam is going to move half the distance, or a half tooth. Both marks line up. Turn the cam till the bolt holes line up and put the bolts in. But, but, but you say, how can that be(I've heard this before), the chain got moved one tooth on the cam sprocket, which you'd already done thirty times.. It doesn't make sense.. Well, the answer is.... To move the crank sprocket by one tooth, takes a certain number of degrees or rotation, but to move the cam sprocket by one tooth it takes twice as many degrees of rotation of the cam as it would of the crank to move that one tooth. Hope that helps anyway and speed up the job a bit.

For those interested, or having trouble with those sites.. Here's the suzuki specific criteria.. most of which is applicable to all makes though.. It has one mistake in it.. At one point in the explanation it says the check digit applies to the digits before the check digit, that's not right. The check digit checks all the digits, including the check digit.. The Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) is composed of 17 characters. The standard was originally defined in ISO Standard 3779 in February of 1977. Then it was revised in 1983. The ISO VIN is designed to identify motor vehicles of all kinds: cars, trucks, buses, motorcycles etc. The Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) contains three major sections: WMI - World Manufacturer Identifier (1,2,3 characters in VIN structure) If the manufacturer builds less than 500 vehicles per year than the third digit is "9". The WMI is described in detail in ISO 3780. VDS - Vehicle Description Section. It contains 6 characters (4th to 9th positions in VIN) and defines vehicle attributes specified by manufacturer. VIS - Vehicle Identifier Section. The last 8 characters of VIN define Year, manufacturer plant and serial (sequential) number of the vehicle. The last four characters shall be numeric. The 10th position of the Vehicle Identification Number is a YEAR CODE. ISO recommends that in VIN code capital letters A to Z and numbers 1 to 0 may be used, excluding I,O and Q in order to avoid mistakes of misread. No signs and spaces are allowed in Vehicle Identification Number code. *********************************************** Recap with examples: Digits 1,2,3 are World, Manufacturer, Identifier Digits 4,5,6,7,8 are Vehicle descriptor Section -- *Somewhat variable based on manufacturer. Digit 9 is the check digit Digit 10 is the Year code Digit 11 is the Factory code Digits 12,13,14,15,16,17 are the Vehicle Identification Sequence Let's see how this splits: First digit - Country code U.S.A.(1 or 4), Canada (2), Mexico (3), Japan (J), Korea (K), England (S), Germany (W), Italy (Z) Second digit - Manufacturer Audi (A), BMW (B), Buick (4), Cadillac (6), Chevrolet (1), Chrysler (C), Dodge (B), Ford (F), GM Canada (7), General Motors (G), Honda (H), Jaguar (A), Lincoln (L), Mercedes Benz (D), Mercury (M), Nissan (N), Oldsmobile (3), Pontiac (2 or 5), Plymouth (P), Saturn (8 ), Toyota (T), Volvo (V), Suzuki (S), Kawasaki (K). Third digit - Identifier Motorcycle (1), ATV (A) Kawasaki and Suzuki seem to follow this anyway Fourth digit - Vehicle category Data here is Suzuki specific, haven't found info for other brands. ATV (A), Scooter (C), Business model or commuter (B), Single cylinder sport/street (N), Multiple cylinder sport/street (G), Family (F), Off road (S), V-Type engine, street, V2/V4/V6/8,... (V), Square Four (H) Fifth digit - Engine Displacement Data here is Suzuki specific, haven't found info for other brands. A=49cc and less B=50-69cc C=70-79cc D=80-89cc E=90-99cc F=100-124cc G=125-149cc H=150-199cc J=200-249cc K=250-399cc M=400-499cc N=500-599cc P=600-699cc R=700-749cc S=750-849cc T=850-999cc U=1000-1099cc V=1100-1199cc W=1200-1299cc Y=1400-1499cc Z=1500 & up Sixth digit - Engine Type Data here is Suzuki specific, haven't found info for other brands. 1=2 stroke single 2=2 stroke twin 3=2 stroke triple or four 4=4 stroke single 5=4 stroke twin 6=? 7=4 stroke four Seventh digit Data here is Suzuki specific, haven't found info for other brands. Design sequence or model version first version uses 1 then second version uses 2 etc... the tenth version would then be identified by the letter A then B etc.. Eigth digit Data here is Suzuki specific, haven't found info for other brands. First version uses 1 then second version uses 2 etc... the tenth version would then be identified by the letter A then B etc... Ninth digit - Check digit The ninth vehicle identification number digit is a VIN accuracy check digit, verifying the previous VIN numbers. This is how the check digit works STEP 1 Assign to each number in the VIN its actual mathematical value and assign to each letter the value specified for it in the following chart: ASSIGNED VALUES: A=1 G=7 P=7 X=7 B=2 H=8 R=9 Y=8 C=3 J=1 S=2 Z=9 D=4 K=2 T=3 E=5 M=3 U=4 F=6 N=4 V=5 STEP 2 Multiply the assigned value for each character in the VIN by the position weight factor specified in the following chart: VIN POSITION AND WEIGHT FACTOR: 1st = 8 10th = 9 2nd = 7 11th = 8 3rd = 6 12th = 7 4th = 5 13th = 6 5th = 4 14th = 5 6th = 3 15th = 4 7th = 2 16th = 3 8th = 10 17th = 2 9th = check digit STEP 3 Add the products from steps 1 and 2 and divide the total by 11. STEP 4 The numerical remainder is the check digit which would appear in the 9th position in the VIN. If the remainder is 10, then the letter "X" is used for the check digit. Tenth digit - Year Code 80(A), 81(B), 82(C), 83(D), 84(E), 85(F), 86(G), 87(H), 88(J), 89(K), 90(L), 91(M), 92(N), 93(P), 94(R), 95(S), 96(T), 97(V), 98(W), 99(X), 00(Y), 01(1), 02(2), 03(3), 04(4), 05(5), 06(6), 07(7), 08(8 ), 09(9),10(A), 11(B), 12(C), etc. Eleventh digit - Factory Code Manufacturer code for what plant it was built in Twelfth to Seventeenth digits - Serial Number Your vin number will be on a steel plate welded to the left rear down tube I think.. real obvious..

Try and find any parts for them.. or for that matter, any real dealers with backup and service....

Morning Chris. Saw this yesterday but got side tracked. I'm glad to hear you got it apart and back together successfully.. No oil leaks ? Bad noises ? Runs ok ? Well done.. You can do it ! Now, I bet you didn't check the gear shift before putting all the side cases and everything on as you were assembling it. That's important because gearboxes are a common difficulty. It always pays to check the shifting as soon as possible during the assembly. The manuals even say that ! Before you even have the shift shaft in you need to check the operation by rotating the shift drum by hand while turning the gear shafts. This is as soon as you have the cases together with just the crank and gears, shift barrel and forks in there. If there is any problems that's the time to back track and correct it. Make sure you turn the shafts heaps, and both of them, and backwards and forwards when checking. Do it during assembly before you fit the detent.. Explained down a bit further..(I'm editing).. So...I suppose you checked the shift forks for obvious bends, and that you could get a neutral when it was assembled. I can't think of anything obvious or that I've ever found that would cause one gear to not engage, other than a fork in the wrong place. Trouble there is that for years now shift forks have been carefully designed so they are hard to confuse.. Not impossible but difficult. It's probably possible to fit a gear backwards on the shaft too, but that should be obvious because, once again, they are designed to be self explanatory... One side has three engagement dogs, the other side has four.. something like that. I think you need to disassemble it again probably, but if it was me, and it was possible to take the clutch side cover off in place, I'd do that before I pulled it all out, and I'd check the shift operation without the shift lever or ratchet. I'd do that even after I'd pulled the engine out. I had a quick look, and will have a complete read later, but for now I'm thinking that the shift barrel has a series of pins poking out it's end that the ratchet engage with. Some bikes those pins come out, and there is a spare hole.. If you use the wrong holes you will have problems there. Also, the neutral switch, that could possibly stop the barrel rotating if it was fitted backwards(the switch, not the barrel). That can be removed easiest so check that first, then take the side cover off and check the barrels rotation and operation. Be aware though that sometimes to get gears to shift during assembly, you need to turn one or both shafts several turns before the drive dogs line up and allow engagement. It would probably be a good idea to jack the bike up and try shifting gears with the lever while turning the wheels back and forwards, possibly several rotations in both or either directions will be needed. Then if the lever comes up solid when engaging third, after you are quite sure you've turned it heaps, there will be some things for us to check, or, if the lever moves enough but does nothing there will be other things to check. Either way it needs then to have the side case removed and the same check done while rotating the shift barrel by hand. If you have the side case off, it would be a good idea to remove the shift detent, the thing that's spring loaded and holds the shift barrel in one gear or the next,, a sort of start shaped arrangement. Leave the star on the barrel but remove the spring loaded bit. They can cause problems shifting manually on the barrel. Then try shifting the rotating shift barrel by hand while rotating the drive or clutch, or both. If it still won't shift then, and you've noted whether it's not moving, or moving but not engaging, it's time to strip it down again I'm afraid buddy. It will probably be, sorry to say, and no offense intended, human error. I did warn you about checking the shift operation when we had been talking earlier.. We will get it though, and it will be a good learning experience.. haha..

Here in New Zealand the price of after market cables is the same as genuine.. I would only buy the genuine.

Kill switch ? Look at a wiring diagram (in a workshop manual, obtainable on here), and see where the power goes before it gets to the key.. It might go through the kill switch before getting to the key. Start from the battery in the diagram and follow the color to the key. Or, it's got a broken wire. Again, refer to a wiring diagram and see what color the wire is from the battery to the key(red I reckon) , and if you have a multimeter with a buzzer continuity setting, use that to trace/check for continuity from one end of each red wire(if it is red) till you find one that's broken.

Yeah the gearing is two to one between the two sprockets. If you leave the crank in the same place, and move the cam sprocket one tooth the timing looks a half a tooth advanced, and one cam tooth the other way it looks a half tooth retarded. So you turn the crank a little and refit the chain, and then refit the cam and it comes out right. One tooth's worth of travel of the chain on the crank, is equal to one half tooth of chain travel on the cam.

The cam timing can be a half a tooth off, till you move the crank one tooth. If it's not looking like it will line up the marks when you move the cam sprocket one tooth, try moving the crank instead which will be equal to a half a cam tooth.. And try to be patient..All good mechanics are patient..

The loss of compression when warmed up might be tight valve clearance...

And getting the numbers right.. yeah it can be tricky. I always take several photos, from different angles. Sometimes one shot has the first few clear, then it gets hazy, but as long as the next shot shows the last digit of the first shot clearly, and then a few more digits, I can patch it together. I sometimes also run a knife/scraper over the numbers carefully. When the numbers get stamped it raises a little metal around the indent, and when we scrape it the raised bit shows up better than, or at least confirms, the stamping. Scraping is better than either sanding or wire brushing because it doesn't get into the indents, it highlights the raised bits, and leaves the stamped number looking black against the bright steel where we scraped.

No trouble buddy. All the LT-A500 are the same basically whatever the suffix, and the main difference I could see looking in the parts places was in the front bodywork... unfortunate since yours is all busted up.. If you look up a parts site though, you may be able to make out which model you had.. the grill is a good section to start in. They all have different grills I think

I'm not familiar with that model, but the oil supply to the head mostly comes up a stud, then to the cam up one of the small bolts holding the cam cover on if it has one.. Some makes have a copper washer under the bolt where the oil supply is. Otherwise it will probably be coming all the way via the head stud. That should have a copper washer too. Some manuals suggest loosening the bolt/nut to check for oil when you first start them. Otherwise just take off a valve adjusting cover and it should be oily in there.. The o rings should fit themselves to the countersink. They are normally a snug fit on the cylinder and/or dowel, and as long as they are the right size, that is the right cross section diameter, they will get pressed into place. When you fit the o ring it should be just slightly proud of the surface so it will be compressed during assembly. Just how much proud is a bit of a tricky thing to say.. but I'm sure you will figure it out if you have another go. O rings come in a range of cross section diameters, but in the range you are dealing with there will probably only be two sizes that would be in contention for the job. One will be a bit too small and another will be a bit proud(the right one).. or there might be one that will clearly not compress because it's too fat. And, I'd be pretty sure the oil leak will be the oil feed, not the cylinder base o ring. The stud is near the edge of the gasket, and has some oil supply to it, while the base ring is a long way from the edge of the gasket, and doesn't really have much exposure to oil at all. The oil supply o ring... there should I think be a thin walled locating dowel it goes over... You do have that ? Without it the o ring will crumple in around the stud instead of being compressed..

After thought... Most cylinders with an O ring at the bottom I've seen(hundreds), whether it's a big O ring around the cylinder sleeve, or a small O ring on one stud where oil gets fed to the head, there is one flat face and one countersunk surface. The gasket goes against the flat surface, and the O ring goes into the countersink.

If you used genuine gaskets then you shouldn't need sealer on the gaskets, but I always do. I use loctite master gasket and I strongly reccommend it if you are getting a sealer. I'd use sealer on the cylinder base gasket if I was doing it. The paper gaskets can get slightly damp without sealer sometimes, but they shouldn't let oil weep out like you are describing from the cylinder base. I'd strip it and check the assembly job and the O ring seems right. While it's apart I'd check the barrel oilways and the head oilways for a restrictor. Some makes have a little bung with a small hole somewhere in the oilways going to the head to preven excessive oil up there. Trouble is the tiny hole blocks up real easy. If the restrictor is above the base gasket perhaps there's too much oil pressure there, though I'd doubt it is the problem. You deffinetly should not use any sealer on the head gasket. Head gaskets have to get their heat away to the cylinder and head, and sealer prevents that heat transfer. I've had slight puffs of smoke out of those metal laminate gaskets before, but only a very little and only when you give it a sharp rev. I've always just retightened the head after it's cooled down, and again after a week or so, and they are normally good. The fact it's white smoke from the head gasket is a bit strange. Normally white smoke means a lot of oil. The combustion gases if they leak, shouldn't have much oil in them... not after it's had a first run anyway. Perhaps there is an oil leak at the head too ?

Ok, well we are struggling here Olddude, because it's another old dude here, and I miss-read(bad eyes) the vin number model year as an eight instead of a B.. Haha. If it's a B then the model year is 2011. I still can't resolve the vin number supplied though. I'd had an eight instead of a B in the tenth place, and I'd assumed that the first digit was/must be an S, because that's the only likely option I know of that looks like a 5. The S means England, but when we assign S a number the vin doesn't check right still. After I'd changed the year digit it still doesn't resolve itself, unless I put a 3 in the first place. A 3 as the first digit means it was made in Mexico. That engine number suggests it's a 500cc. So, looking up american versions for 2011 and I see there are four versions of LT-A500X***. They all have wet brake, belt drive, fuel injected and water cooled. If you look that model up on a spares place and go to the body work section it will probably identify which specific model you have... We hope. As for the manual, I had a search and can't find one exactly right. There are 2011 manuals for lt-a450x and lt-a700x, most of which would be good enough for most work. Or there are 2011 lt-a500 manuals without the x suffix. Hope that helps. And, for my own sanity, could you check that first vin digit again to make sure it's not perhaps a 3... Thanks.

My motto is "perseverance always wins, giving up never does.". Well done you..