Growling when cold is thick oil .... I run 10w40 . It was -21 last week ..FYI it will not start below 15° without a jump and ir heat .. the intermittent slip was probably the chain slipping . I'd replace the chain n sprockets if ya can ..

@@wesinthewild thanks for reply, I also used 10w-40, Castrol motorcycle Actevo JASO MA2 spec oil for this last change. You mentioned that the noise is caused by "oil pump cavitation" due to lack of flow through those plugged up screens. Just thinking I may need to go into front case and do the oil pump chain, o-rings, clean the screens, possible clutch linings, and also add the plugs under the case for future cleaning of screens like you mentioned. Can you possibly show in more detail exactly where these plugs should be located? Thanks much

Yep..... mainly from plowing snow .. you can't select gears to stay in low so they are hard on clutches .. this motor came from a Rincon and was swamped and froze cracking the case ,oil pump and the shift body . The main contamination came from the factory Grey silicone that smoothed inside the case and eventually wore off and stuck to the filters . Enough to completely fill the space btwn the screen and case ..so blocked it sucked the screen concave into the pickup tube lol. Showed my dealer and he laughed and said honda fully knows about that issue and will not fix em . Was quoted 3000 to replace screens . Also honda admitted to knowing you can't service the screens (oil filters) without the 2 plugs drilled in . Honda later put in plugs on the 2016 and up models and no issues reported on those models .

Have a 2016 pioneer 700-4. Is there 2 plugs under to access screens