[ilinimud]

I have an 06 Foreman 500, just bought in November, i didnt pay for the additional warranty because i thought its a Honda it wont break, well i was wrong. In all actuallity i havent really rode it that hard. Well its down now, but hopefully not for good. It happened in a mudhole i wasnt exactly stuck yet i was working it out then all at once it sounded like i blew the clamp off the muffler or something and it sounded like air was leaking. I lost just about all power and the exhaust got really quiet like their was barely any compression. I managed to get it out of the hole and to the house where i took the pipe off and tried different clamps, but it changed nothing, the more i listened the more i thought it was something serious, so icalled the dealer i bought it from that is almost 90 miles away from my house,i bought it so for away because they had a killer price and again i thought....its a Honda it wont break, looks like i had a little too much confidence in Honda. Well the dealer said it sounds like a bent Valve and i tiold him i was 3 WEEKS out of warrany, he said he will call around and see if he can help me there but i seriously doubt that.

 

[ilinimud]

Oh well it gave me a chance to test ride a Can Am Outlander 650, it was GREAT, the 650 was fast, but i plan on saving all cash untill the end of the year then throwing a big ol' down payment on the 800. Looks like the wife is getting the boring Foreman and i am moving to a Big Bore.

 

[rubyandforeman]

keep us posted.

 

[fossil]

Cant see how you can bend a valve unless it makes contact with the piston. Hopefully it's nothing too serious or major.

 

[rubyandforeman]

u can bend a valve

 

[fossil]

Not to be cheeky but as a licensed motor vehicle mechanic for a very long time I'm curious as to how a valve can bend without making contact with a piston or from water ingestion into the cylinder causing a hydrostatic lock which usually will bend a connecting rod at times. I just cant see a valve bending all by itself, there has to be some physically force exerted on it to happen. At least thats the way it happens in automobile engines. Just curious.

 

[ilinimud]

im with you on this one, hopefully it isnt, i dont see how it could be really. i have pampered this thing compared to other atvs i have had.this happened in normal riding conditions, not even enough water to cover the wheels. i think it is in the intake somewhere so if this guy tries to throw a load of crap on me to pay more i am just going to pull it out of the shop and get my own manual.could carberator problems lead to other things in the engine very easily. i have never put a jet in a newer Atv before and when i got my exhaust i tried to myself, i got into it and decided i would mess with it i didnt want to hurt anything and it was running fine without it. this happened the first time i went riding after attemping this myself. i guess if i want it fixed i will have to be honest with my screw up.

 

[rubyandforeman]

something had to break witch leads to the valve open. and then the piston comes up and hits it. bend or break valve..

 

[ilinimud]

yeah i know how a valve bends i am just saying there was no abuse that it was put through to cause it to happened. in case Honda just cant build an atv for crap

 

[rubyandforeman]

ya honda atv from 05 till now and from now are goin to be shitty. i hate my 2005 foreman. i will b glad when it gets paid off then bye bye foreman. 750 brute force.

 

[biggamehuntr]

party crash

Dont knock honda becasue from i understand you have an after market exhaust but no jet kit sure they arent going to pay for it even if you did buy the extended warranty. Didnt you read your book that came with it. And as far as brute force goes you can keep em i bought my tires from suzuki sure were a lot of them mini jeeps getting tossed around by a fork lift back there. Seriously an exhaust without a jet kit is asking for trouble.

 

[ilinimud]

well i didnt post this here to get your critisism biggamehuntr go shoot a moose

 

[mhm2a]

Sounds like you may have messed with the carb and possibly left something loose and it got sucked into the engine? Could have been as simple as the carb boot clamp and you got water splashed around it and into it. Or maybe not?

Hunter.

 

[fossil]

Valve/cylinder troubles are not hard or expensive to determine, especially for a professional shop with the proper tools. Although they are expensive to fix. 1st off, whats the compression in the engine? 2nd, a cylinder leak down test should be performed. Will the cylinder hold pressure? If, not where can you heard the leak, out the tailpipe, at the carb inlet, or in the crankcase? 3rd, the valve cover should be pulled off and the engine manually turned through a few revolutions and the valves observed opening and closing and valve lift and closure measured with a dial indicator to determine if the valves are sticking in the guides.
Thats another possibility of a valve making contact with a piston, proper cooling and lubrication are important here, hence the need for a high quality oil, escpecially in air cooled engines. You also could have had a sticky valve from day one and it took the right circumstances for the problem to manifest itself after a period of time.
4th, did the timing chain jump a cog? Probably unlikely but anythings possible.
When trying to diagnose, go from easiest to most complicated till you have figured it out.
One thing about Honda and other atv's is the lack of a proper warranty. Honestly, 6 months is a joke. Funny, snowmobiles all have a 1 year warranty period and some even 2 years.
Anyways, hope that gives you a place to start or questions to ask your mechanic. Just a heads up, if it takes him more than 20 to 40 minutes trying to figure it out, I'd be looking for another mechanic.

 

[rubyandforeman]

hey ilini, get a hold of crash. he had the same problem with hes foreman.

 

[ClassA64]

Interesting post If the bike is under warranty they will fix it , I fix Honda cars for a living and even with aftermarket parts on the car It has to be proven that the Non Honda part caused the failure no matter what the problem. I cannot see an exhaust addition cause any engine related failure. As far as a bent valve goes I have seen a Valve seize open in the Guide and the piston hit it. Could the exhaust have cause such a lean condition that the Exaust valve hung open ?? Please let us know what the dealer found and what they think the cause is. As far as reliability goes They are the best in MY opinion. If you want to fix you bike on a regular basis go by a Polaris LOL.

 

[ilinimud]

sorry guys, i know that they are the best out, i just had to vent a little. Still no updates yet.

 

[fossil]

make to let us know how you made out

 

[ilinimud]

Well i feel stupid now. The stealer tells me that the only thing that was wrong with the bike is that the pipe was clogged with mud. Now i personally dont see how that could do everything that was gojng wrong, i mean it sounded really bad i thought it was a major engine porblem. Hopefully that really was the only thing and that it didnt cause any other problems anywhere. Still that little thing made it act like it had lost almost all compression? He didnt tell me how packed it was but im guessing pretty bad. so all i had to pay was the labor for him to do something i could have done.

 

[rubyandforeman]

ya i think crash had the samething happen a few months back.