[ahenderson50]

I just bought my first Honda. It is a 04 rancher 350 4x4 and it smokes. Alot. It still has great power though. I assume it needs rings and new piston. I talked to a repair shop today and they told me that just rebuilding the top end in these ranchers won't work, that it needs completely rebuilt ($1600-$1800). I took off the air filter and there was no dirt or mud inside. Was this guy right, or will a traditional top end rebuild work? I just want to hear from someone that personally experienced this. Thanks in advance!!

 

[Saber6]

Do a compression check. Get your base compression then ad a little 30wt oil into the spark plug hole and recheck. if the compression increases its the rings if it stays the same its the valves.

 

[brucefulcher]

Man my honda place told me it was all that too just get some new rings and that should fix you right up. But make sure you know what your doin or you could have a BIG mess

 

[ahenderson50]

Compression

What and where do I buy what I need to check compression? I own a couple outboards and would like to own the tool.

 

[Saber6]

Clicky

 

[Saber6]

This is like the one I have.

 

[ahenderson50]

Thanks, I'll head to my local O'Reily's tomorrow so I can check it.

 

[ahenderson50]

Ok, couldn't find a compression tester today under $40 so I'm going to borrow one. I did drain the oil today and it did look a little gray colored. I then added new oil and filter and ran it for about 10 mins. I drained the oil again and still kind of greyish smoke colored. Someone told me to now put kerosene in the and run it for about 10 to 15 seconds. Then drain and fill with cheap oil twice, then fill with high quailty oil and he thinks this may solve my problem since the atv still has great power. What do you all think?

 

[Tapp]

I don't know about kerosene but I have read that Seafoam works really well to clean the oil system. It may be kerosene for all I know?

Tapp

 

[ahenderson50]

Well I ended up running kerosene twice and oil 6 times, but I've finally got my oil coming out looking normal. No wonder this thing was smoking! The previous owner must have drove this thing to the bottom of a lake! Unfortunely, still smoking. Not as bad, but still smoking. Guess its time for the top end rebuild.

 

[ahenderson50]

Well I took my rancher to a guy today to fix this stubborn smoking issue and he seems to think that the carb just needs rebuilt. It runs great though, just smokes. He said since there was some oil in the air box and the smoke was blue and not black that it was the carb and doesn't need rings. Could a dirty carb cause it to smoke like crazy??

 

[Billy250X]

Nnly if it was jetted so highly that it was loading up on fuel.Then it would be either white or black smoke.

 

[Helmut]

Blue smoke is oil smoke. Black smoke, it's flooding.

 

[roehm_rpm]

What they said^^^^^^^^^and if it is oil then stand behind the bike and smell the exhaust it should smell like burnt oil. Not too possible for it to be the carb if it runs good like you say it does, plus if its a dirty carb most likely it would be running lean from blocking fuel passages, although if a piece of dirt got into an air passage then it would run rich but most likey it wouldnt run good.

 

[tarheelblues]

i dont wanna sound like a "negative s.o.b" but why did you buy a quad that smokes so bad?was it that good of a deal maybe?youve gotten some good advice here about checking the compression to see if its bottom or top end but you couldnt get a tester for under 40 bucks so you flushed with kerosene?how much did you spend on the smokey quad? im sure more than 40 bucks,,sorry if this rubs anyone the wrong way

 

[TRX2fiveO]

I'm going to say valve seals. after it gets hot does it tento smoke more?

 

[ahenderson50]

Yes, it does smoke more after it gets hot. It also had a little oil in the bottom of the air box as well as the tail pipe. Not sure if this indicates anything or not. If it is the valve seals, what am I looking at for repair?