Earlier this year when the weather was still cold, below 10 degrees F, my fathers new 2006 EFI Rincon would not start. It just cranks and sputters once in awhile. I'm wondering if anyone else has had this problem, and/or have found a solution through Honda or elsewhere. When even alittle above 10 degrees F it would start and perform perfectly.

He returned to dealer three times, the first time they changed the oil, to make sure it was correct for the temp range, unfortunately it didnt solve the problem. Upon the second trip they called Honda and they suggested the same thing, and also to change and check the gap on the spark plug, still no solution. On the third trip they put the machine outside along with 2 other 2006 Rincons and waited for the temp to drop, my fathers and two other new machines side by side would not start. No solution yet.

In addition - I wanted to make sure the problem was at least on record with Honda so I called them direct. They said they have not heard of this problem before. This doesnt seem likely as three machines all failed to start.

In reading on the net I believe there is a sensor for temp fed into the computer, so you would think cold temps would be accounted for and probably tested in design???

The temps are now warm and the dealer assured the problem would be resolved at some point - it's easy to forget about now that the temps are warm and everything about the machine works great. Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

 

Well, not a solution but here's a suggestion. Do you have a way of keeping it inside overnight before you go riding when it's cold out? Clearly there is a problem but maybe if you garage it and use a small space heater to offset the temp a few hrs before you decide to ride might help? Sounds like a pain in the **** but until Honda finds a solution would be a temp. fix. I'd assume once fired up even in the cold it would still run?? Maybe the very cold gas is mixing up the EFI sensors? Considering this is a new engine/fuel delivery system could be possible there is a glitch somewhere. Both Honda's I've owned were/are very cold blooded suckers period and it doesn't get anywhere near those temp's around here. Good luck man!

 

Its probably the efi needs a little bit of remapping. I suppose they figured that no one is going to ride at those temps.
You could try to make it artifically rich, by blocking the air intake with a mitten or something. This will really choke off the air, and make the mixture way rich.

 

Thanks for the input!!!!

If anyone else runs across this problem, and or a solution please let me know.

In the meantime I'll do some reading on reprogramming, although this scares me alittle bit. The stock performance, other than in the cold temps is so nice you hate to mess with it....

 

My rancher is a little cold blooded at times too, but you'd think the EFI would take care of all that. But Honda probably figured that nobody is going to ride at that low of a temperature, and didnt map those temps into the fuel tables in the ECM. It's a new system, new systems always have glitches. They need for these machines to have problems so they know what to improve on next year, etc.

At least your concern is common, If all 3 machines didnt start in the cold, and they were all identical. I would be even more pissed if it was only mine that didnt start. Now you know that there really isnt anything wrong with your machine in particular, it's just a bad design at this point. I'm a auto technician at a Ford/Chrysler dealership, and we end up with a lot of the same kind of issues, and we just have to wait for enough customer complaints and the manufacturer will eventually investigate and find a solution. That's where a lot of recalls come from.