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fordrangerracer
10-22-2012, 07:28 PM
I bought my 1982 Honda ATC 200 in August of this year and recently its been starting to smoke a little more each ride. It used to just for a few seconds right after start up and now its fora bout 5 minutes. I change my oil about every 6-8 hours and the motor was n ever rebuilt with a total of 352 hours on it. Any suggestions? And to add in I use Valvoline 10w-40w ATV oil.

CodyRosa
10-22-2012, 08:05 PM
What color smoke is it? Is it white?

250sxman
10-22-2012, 08:08 PM
Sounds like it may need rings soon... Does it smell like burned oil?

kb0nly
10-23-2012, 12:24 AM
Probably needs at the least a honing and rings and top end refresh. I just got done doing this on my 200ES. Rule of thumb on these if it smokes a little then goes away quickly its the valve stem seals that leak down some oil while its sitting and it burns it off the next startup. If it smokes longer its rings.

What your probably seeing is it smokes until she is nice and warmed up to full temp and then everything is sealed up, when its cool the rings are letting oil past. If your going to dig into this expect to pay around $100 minimum. I spent about $100 on a gasket kit, oil seals, timing chain, timing chain tensioner, etc. Its one of those you might as well situations, if your going to tear into the top end you might as well refresh it all and be done with it.

If your lucky you won't need to re-bore, thats fairly low hours in my opinion. You might get by with a honing and new rings. Worst case, another $100 for machining and a new piston and rings.

tri again
10-23-2012, 06:02 AM
x2 on what the smoke smells like.

Any easy way to do a compression check?
I had one with a cracked valve stem seal but good compression.

352 hrs sounds low to me too.
God only know what these poor things have been through before we get them.

IS there some sort of hour meter on it?

fordrangerracer
10-23-2012, 08:38 AM
The smoke really doesn't smell like anything actually. More less smells rich. But its blue, oil and I figured that maybe the valves just needed adjusted. And I shouldn't say I'm the second owner because the original had it for less than a week, rolled it and sold it right away. The guy I purchased it from said he used it for farm use and there was an hour meter on it since 1984 according to paperwork from the dealer, same serial number on the paperwork as on the meter. So I'd say give or take 30-50 hours. But either way 400 hours seems almost brand new to me. I'm going to try and adjust the valves and see what happens since it only smokes for a few minutes. I'm not going to lie when I drink I tend to ride it a little harder and with no suspension I think they can become funny quite quickly. Any other input?

tri again
10-23-2012, 09:35 AM
We all run 'em hard at times.

I drag a spike tooth harrow with heavy logs and push that sucker to the limits.

Odd thought however, I had one with a leaky gas valve shut off and it would leak gas into the engine and oil if it sat over night diluting the oil.

Maybe your oil is diluted.

You'll also hear stories of them smokin' for years and keep going.

A compression test would put your mind at ease.

Seems easier and cheaper to get 'new' trikes than rebuild if we get lucky.
If the compression is good, valve seals are like a buck each if it even has them.
I forget.

We've been trying to destroy the 250 models for the last few years so I probably forget more than I ever knew about the 200.

it's a straight 200? chain drive?

A few posts lately about the spark advance mechanisms craving cleaning and lubrication.
Nothing to do with smoke but just a thought.

fordrangerracer
10-23-2012, 11:59 AM
Yep its just a straight 200 chain drive. I was thinking about something earlier, I checked the oil and its pretty black. Although I just changed it 2 rides ago, about 9 hours. I wonder if I have coal dirt or maybe a little water in there? And its very very thin also. Another question, any ideas on to keep tires from going flat? I plugged the holes and put about half gallon of slime in both rear tires. I've heard of people putting balls in the tires. Any other ideas?

kb0nly
10-23-2012, 06:45 PM
If the oil got that black that fast then chances are you are getting blowby on the rings, notice any smoke coming out of the crankcase vent if you pull the hose off it while running?

You will regret using that tire slime when it rots the wheels out. I pulled off both my rears, they had bead leaks i was tired of trying to seal up, just tossed tubes in them and no-more problems. I know some guys don't like tubes either but at least it won't rot out the wheels and cause other problems.

fordrangerracer
10-25-2012, 12:49 PM
Update, I cleaned the plug and attempted to adjust the exhaust valve. Smokes a whole lot less while running. Only does it when I'm around 2000RPMS and up. I'm taking it to my buddy who has been working on these old Hondas for years and he's going to adjust both valves and give me a rough diagnosis! And I'm ordering piston rings from Bike Bandit sometime in the near future.