I took the 04 Rancher AT out for a 70 mile ride this past weekend. As always, it performed flawlessly. Towards the end of the ride though, it started hesitating in the mid to high range. It felt like it was completely mis-firing. It was hot and extremely dusty where I was riding (Texas Creek, CO), so at the time I shrugged it off to a dirty air filter. Well, I cleaned the air filter and the problem still exists. If I just put it in neutral and increase the throttle, it will start to mis-fire when I get up to the mid-high range. It does the same thing without the filter on. I have a dial-a-jet kit on, but did not make any adjustments to it prior to or during my ride this weekend. Also, I noticed I was leaking fluid of some sorts. It wasn't fuel, so I assumed it was oil (with all the dust, it was impossible to tell). I noticed it dripping during one stop during the ride. I did a thorough check when I got home, but I cannot find where there would have been a leak anywhere. The oil level was in the desired range. I changed the oil (didn't need to because the oil looked very clean) and cleaned everything up. I ran it awhile after changing the oil, but nothing ever leaked. Could the two be related in any way? Is there anything I can check on the mis-firing issue. I ran the thing pretty hard, so I don't know if anything could have jolted loose. I'm not a gear-head, but I do have the shop manual and I am good at walking myself through things. I'm just not sure where to start with this.

Thanks!

 

Same thing here. It does not hesitate long, just a fraction of a second. I noticed it a few weeks ago. I really noticed it one day when I was on a long straight away and it just kept hesitating every 7-8 seconds. I have a jet kit in it so I thought maybe it needed adjusted. I am going to be getting a winch on soon so I asked the tech to take a look at it when it is in there and see if anything needs adjusted.
IF you find anything out please let me know. I will let you know if the tech has anything to say.

 

Lube your throttle cable!!! Are you overheating, does the auxillary fan run all the time?

 

yoda - I'd be happy to hear what your tech comes up with.

RancherATCrazy - funny you should ask about the overheating. When I was checking for the fluid leak, I must not have attached the fan sensor (at least I'm assuming it was the fan sesnor) tightly enough. The fan never came on after that. We had some cloud cover and it cooled off a bit, so I assumed everything was fine. The engine never got overly hot on my legs. When I was cleaning it up, I noticed the sensor wasn't attached. What would this have done? Could you also explain to me the relationship between the throttle cable/overheating and my mis-firing problem? The throttle feels smooth. There is no "catching" that I would associate with the mis-firing.