Is a Red Glow on a Yamaha ATV Exhaust Pipe Normal?

If you’ve ever ridden a Yamaha YFZ450 ATV at night, you’ve probably noticed the exhaust pipe can get so hot that it glows red in the dark. Is this a problem you should be worried about?

Partzilla’s Yamaha ATV expert John Talley hosts lives Q&A sessions on our YouTube channel every Friday at 3pm Eastern. In this session, John was asked if it’s normal for the exhaust on a 2006 Yamaha YFZ450 to get red hot and pop on deceleration.

Yamaha YFZ450 exhaust pipe

Yamaha ATV Exhaust Pipe Glows Red Hot Q&A

My 06 Yamaha YFZ450 exhaust gets really hot, and I mean red hot. People are telling me this is normal. Is this true? Also, it pops on the exhaust on deceleration. Could you give me some advice?

John Talley: Alright, the 06 is still a carbureted unit, because they didn’t go to fuel injection until 09. But yes, that exhaust head or that head pipe is going to get really hot. And at night, you can see them glow, it’s just unbelievable. From what you’re telling me, it may be getting a little too hot, and that tells me it’s not getting quite enough fuel, especially if it’s popping on decel. So I would say, richen it up on the main jet by a slot and see if that calms it down a little bit. I really wouldn’t worry too much about it getting red because most of them do it. It’s just part of that machine. The head pipe on it I think is made out of titanium, a really thin material and it dissipates heat. And that’s what you’re seeing happening, is that it’s turning red trying to get rid of it. But I wouldn’t let it bother me too much. As far as it popping on decel, why don’t you add a little bit of fuel to it and see if that takes care of the popping.