After 7 months, 900 miles my Rancher at starts smoking bad (blue smoke). I had a very competent mechanic tear the engine down and the cylinder liner is loose and the oil rings are worn. I have not had it in deep mud nor water. I have been told by a Honda dealer that the Ranchers can get fine dirt/grit into the crankcase through the recoil starter. They say that being the crankcase has a vacuum that it will suck dirt by the crankshaft seal behind the recoil starter. Has anyone else heard of this? Also the Honda dealer said he has seen several cylinder liners come loose. Honda has put a bad taste in my mouth.

 

Interesting that the Rancher 420 comes with no recoil starter. Absolutely never felt like I needed one anyway...it's easy enough to push start these machines.

I have heard of this problem occasionally with the Rancher 350 (grit eventually breaking down the seal), but I think it is pretty rare.

The cylinder liner thing with the AT is a new one. Never heard of that.

 

We've had the cylinder sleeve come loose on several engines from 350's , 400's , 450's ... They aren't made 1 piece , the cylinder is aluminum and the sleeve is steel so once in a while 1 will come loose ..

If your bike is only 7 months old your dealer can contact Honda and they will replace the cylinder under good will warranty .. We've replaced cylinders on bikes 2 years old if they are in good shape with low milage ..

 

Wow, I haven't heard of the cylinder liner coming loose on these...

The pull starter getting water and grit in it leading to seal failure is something that gets chatted about quite a bit among the deep mud crowd. Some seal the starter up with RTV, and I believe Highlifter makes a cover so you can remove the pullstart assembly all together...