I just bought a 2003 Honda Recon and about 2 weeks I got some water and trash in my gas. Well I have the Carb cleaned and Tank drained and all of that good stuff. Well now it does not seem to be running the same way it did before. To best explain it. I go through all 5 gears and it sounds like the Motor is under so much stress at half way that I need to gear up again. Sometimes it even spudders while holding the throttle about half way. Is this normal and I just need to live with it or is there a bigger problem that I need to have fixed?

Thanks!!!!!

 

Hey, Clanton... home folks (I went to school in Tuscaloosa bacjk in the 60's) !

I am NO expert but I had a similar problem once about 30 years ago with a Fiat. The Fiat carburator was water cooled. After a complete engine rebuild, I inavdertantly connected the water jacket line to the EGR port and thus 1) injected water into the carb and 2) filed up the EGR cannister withwater. The symptoms were the same as yours except that they got rapidly worse after a few miles. Boy, was I pissed off - and with no one to blame but myself (LOL).

I suggest that you drain the gas tank again, blow out all the lines with compressed air and clean the carb yet one more time. It "could be" just trash intermittently blocking / clogging your gas line.

Oh, and replace the filter.

Other than that, how do you like your Recon? I'm about to buy one for guests to ride when they visit my ranch over in the desert.

 

I talked to the Mechanic and he did all of what are you are saying he said he didn't know unless he checked it again ($85.00). Other than this problem, I love it. I was going to buy a 350 or bigger but for the money I saved to get the smaller Quad it is great! Where I ride I can ride anywhere I want to and I paid half the price that all the other guys did and I get a much more confortable ride then they do. If you have a good bit of really soft mud I would not suggest it but for Trail Riding, Hill Climbing, just running around the woods as fast as you can this is the best ATV I have ever ridden!!!! Tuscaloosa huh? You keep up with U of A much?

 

Just off the top of my head it sounds like the carburetor still has water/trash in it.

I not sure how the got they got the water out of the tank but without going out and looking at my recon there could still be water in the tank. I got some water in one of my mowers before and to get it all out I had to take the gas out and then set the mower in the hot sun so the water would evaporate.

Chet

 

It sounds like the carb needs to be cleaned out again. That water can be a pesky thing. You might want to do it yourself and spare some major expense, the recon's carb is quite simple to work on.

If you're uncomfortable removing the floatbowl, you could at least remove the floatbowl drain bolt (it's the bolt on the bottom of the carb, screwed into the floatbowl). Make sure you turn off the fuel before you do it, or else you'll have a never-ending supply of fuel pouring out of your carb. Anyway, this will remove any water sitting at the bottom of the carb. When you take out the bolt (the bolt is hollowed out), check to see if any debris is in there.

While the bolt is out, and you have access to an air compressor, go ahead and blow air straight up into the hole (don't use too much psi, maybe 30-40 psi), as the main jet is located there, you may be able to dislodge any water droplets that are stuck there. Doing it this way may allow you to avoid taking off the floatbowl.

I hope these ideas help!

ogre

Edit: Chet brings up a good point, it's pretty hard to get ALL the gas out of the tank, there could've been some excess water in the tank even after it was drained the first time, thereby reclogging the carb. You could either do what chet suggests or else go and get a few gallons of gas and a bucket... then remove one end of the gas line from the tank to the carb and let all the gas drain out. fill some fresh gas in the tank and drain it out again.