I have a 2000 Rancher 350 4x4. I bought it from an auto auction today for pretty cheap. It won't start, or at least today it wouldn't. I talked to the service dept. and he said it started and ran a little yesterday but the oil light would come on after like 10 seconds and then the machine would shut off. Today it would try and start but just wouldn't quite get there. The mechanic doesn't think it is too serious (he works a lot on atv's) but said it might be a coil or something? Anybody out there have any clue as to how i can fix this, what might be the problem with the starting and oil light? Thank you in advance for any help!

 

well, if it is a coil, it will start fine but shut off eventually when the coil gets hot, the coil expands when it gets warm and the connections will come apart and the coil will stop working. so if it is not starting at all when it's cold, i would check the spark plug and the fuel system (make sure there's gas in it) and make sure the choke and stuff works. if it fires but wont start, probably not a coil, probably more like a fuel problem. you could try taking the air filter out and spray starting fluid in. if it starts and you can keep it running by spraying that in, then i would suspect carburetor/fuel problems.

as for the oil problem, i have an '04 rancher that has a funny rod knock when warmed up, it's under warranty so i'm going to bring it in and see if it's anything to worry about, maybe they have oil pressure problems.

 

We tried putting the starting fluid in it and it didn't go. I know i live in florida, but the weather yesterday was overcast, rainy and probably in the low70's. The choke cable is missing so we couldn't choke it and i am wandering if this was the problem. We also put a new spark plug in it. So maybe on a hotter day it would go. Anyways, thanks for the response and if you have any other ideas please inform me. Thank you.

 

Coil wont cause the oil light to come on. Do an oil change, and filter change. The oil filter may be in backwards.
If the choke cable is missing, just put your hand over the snorkle opening, for the intake, and this will choke it enough to start. Hold your hand over it while cranking, and cover the opening about 90%.