I bought my rancher in may and have enjoyed it since i bought it with no problems. i have changed the oil more then i should cleaned the air filter more then i should and kept it really clean (for the type of the riding i do)

The last time i had it out (right after i did the valve adjustment) it seemed more powerful and a lot more fun to ride. This trip was almost all highspeed hard packed dirt roads with a few smaller trails here and there. no water to speak of.

after getting home i started the quad and the exhaust note was slightly louder. i reved it and when it comes down off the revs it sounds like a baffel in the muffler has come un-welded because it clangs on the inside of the muffler. Also it is about 2x louder now.

I took it into my local dealer (i purchased the extended warranty from them) it has been there since sat and they just looked at it yesterday. The first thing they said when i called is that i needed to come down there and talk to them. i went there and they started interogating me about driving it through a stream or something (while yes i have take the quad through a stream that was deep enough to get 2" of water in the bottom of the box it wasnt the last trip i took) so i said not on my last few rides.

Instantly they said well there is water and mud in the air box. I was like: "well i was riding in dry dusty conditions this last ride and i washed it before i brought it up here". that wasnt good enough for them and the guy said that he would not put a new muffler on until he talked to honda about it.

my question is this:

Is that standard protocal for a dealership to do? Is this quad not an ALL terrain vehicle? I have 4 years left on the warranty, which i know that things are going to break during that time which is why i bought the warranty but am i going to have to deal with this everytime? I go hunting and will no doubt be crossing streams that may submerge the gas tank for a few seconds but that is why i got this quad, it has a 1 gal bucket for an air box.


here is the dealer that i bought my rancher from:

www.motionslive.com

thanks for you help.

 

well, first of all, if you read your owners manual, it will tell you that you can go through water up to 11 inches deep, wich is like 3/4 up the wheels, still way lower than the airbox. so 'technicaly' you operated your atv outside of its normal design parameters, and warranty would not cover repairs related to this. however, most good dealerships will understand how people ride and try to help the customer out in any way possible. it's hard to warranty a part that is rusty from water, especially an exhaust pipe, but the exhaust DOES collect moisture due to the normal combusion process, and if there is no drain for the water the muffler could rust and come apart, causing your concern. but if anybody has the leverage to get a part covered under warranty, it's gonna be the dealership. one thing to remember also is that the muffler is higher than the airbox, so water in the airbox doestn necessarily mean water in muffler.

 

Thanks,

I am about to call them again and see whats up. BTW, my quad has 25 hours on it [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img] and the couple times that i did get it real wet i always stopped and took the drain plug out of the muffler and let the water run out.

 

you could always put a snorkle on it so you dont have water problems*shrug*

 

wanna help? i have been trying to come up with a good way to run it. . .how big does the PVC have to be to get good flow?

 

2"pvc. you will need 1 1/2" pvc to come out of the air box then an adapter, i used 1 1/2" to 2" rubber adapter, then im using 2" or 2 1/2" shop vac hose(i cant remeber what size is stanard)with a 2' long chunck of heat tape for around the head then 2" pvc coming out the fender or where ever you want it to come out. i have not put the pvc in yet cos i have not made my mind up on where im going to bring it through the fender yet. i have seen some people move the gas on/off and come out that hole or cut a hole in the fender or i was thinking of comming out the radiator hole(havent thought about if that will restrick air flow yet so i dont know if thats a good idea yet or not) and dont forget to run all the air/vent tubes up aswell. i have only found 4 so far.

 

yeah i think the air vent tubes all come out by the gas tank. . .

you know, i had not thought about using vacuum hose [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img] that is a damn good idea!

thanks buddy.

 

[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

 

i feel for you, man. i ride my rancher in some pretty wicked shizznat, i've had mine up to the seat in water and never had much of a problem.. you'd think that as hot as the muffler gets that it would evaporate all the water before you have a problem, but who knows what happened... do they know for sure that the muffler rusted apart inside or did something else happen to it? sounds fishy to me. I noticed your post about a snorkel, that's probably a good idea BUT, check with your local regulations to make sure they are legal. They are NOT legal for use on an atv up here in minnesota except for organized competition events, meaning you cant just go out on the trail with an exhaust or intake snorkel and ride (well, you can, until you get caught) it's considered "tampering" with the emission devices, and that's apparently a big NO-NO.

 

Thanks,

Ill check the local laws out, but for the most part no one says anything about that kinda stuff round here. like i said iv been up to the gas tank in water, iv had to float the front to keep the stock snorkle above water once. . .but the engine never came down off full rev until i got out to make sure that i didnt suck water up the exhaust.

the dealership has not even taken anything apart. . .what they will tell me is it sounds like i broke a baffle off inside (which is probably right since i have jumped it and road it really hard) but they have said nothing about rust as the muffler is sealed i dont think they could tell [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]