Hello,

Just curious of what weight oil comes in new 2007 420 Rancher? I will use bike for ice fishing before initial oil change (which I intend on doing at 10hrs) and I want to ensure oil from factory is o.k. for cold temps.

Thanks

 

It is most likely Honda GN4 10W-40, but only the dealer that put yours together knows for sure. Give them a call.

If you're starting the engine cold after the machine has been sitting outside in sub-freezing winter weather, I would change to a cold weather specific oil such as 0W-40 ... pronto; and hopefully you can find one JASO-MA rated.

There is a nice little chart on page 107 of the 2007 Honda Rancher owner's manual which shows 10W-40 engine oil is good down to about 15 degrees F., 5W-30 is good down to about 5 degrees F., and 0W-30 goes down to minus 20 degrees F.

 

Thanks Woodrat. I think I am going to ride her a bit before it gets too cold and them do an oil and filter change after a few hours to the lighter weight oil. Probably a good idea to change out earlier than later due to metal filings etc from manufacture.
Woodrat I also want to thank you for your Rancher page as I used it as a guide in installing my hour meter. I wondered where I got the page from (I saved it) and I want to thank you for your descriptions AND pictures.....very helpful. I will be using your winch mounting directions when I install mine. BTW did you have any problems with the winch touching the tire on steering?
If it is o.k. can I contact you if I have any questions? I am thinking about putting the socket in as well.

Thanks again

 

You're welcome Wayne36, feel free to private message me anytime. The clearance between the right front tire and the winch has not been a problem, it's only close when turning hard left, but I think about it every time I'm in a situation where I might get a big stick jammed up in there. The winch has been dunked a few times crossing water without any apparent problem, even though mine is not rated waterproof.

I'm about to do my third engine oil change now at 49 hours using the Castrol Act-Evo 10W-40 JASO-MA synthetic blend again, since I have it on the shelf in the garage. We get occasional snow here but rarely have temps below freezing; and the Rancher is garage-kept where it never gets below 50 degrees.

I did the first change of rear final drive oil last night; put in Valvoline SAE 80W-90, and I'll do the front differential oil change today. At 49 hours this isn't up to Reconranger's standards, but well ahead of the Honda recommendation to do it at 100 hours. I wanted to see what the oil looked like; it wasn't too bad, discolored somewhat gray, not too dark, but with a significant amount of the tiniest specs of metal particles. Since the rear final drive is always under load while driving this is about what I expected and saw nothing the heavy gear oil couldn't handle. But now I know it's fresh again and would recommend doing it just for one's peace of mind.

On another maintenance issue, it was interesting to read about the procedure for servicing the spark arrestor, also recommended every 100 hours. It seems you just plug the exhaust orifice with a rag, remove the spark arrestor service bolt, start the engine, and rev it up about 20 times to remove carbon build up. I'm going to do it today just to go through the motions of performing this maintenance, then record it as done in my service notes.

 

I appreciate the offer Woodrat and may take you up on it should I require assistance.
As for maintenance I am also a stickler for it and know that it pays off big time in the long run.
I purchased the shop manual for the bike and it will probably be one of my better investments. Takes you by the hand to perform all required maintenance including valve adjustments. Have you adjusted yours yet? If you require anything specific let me know and I will do my part.

All the best

Wayne

 

Yes I've adjusted the valves, see the discussion on this post:

Honda 420 Valve Adjustment - Tough job?!

Maybe I'll put up a table on my web page with the service notes I'm writing in the back of the owner's manual.

 

Thanks Woodrat...good read and I saved some of the tips not offered in Shop Manual. This is a great site.

Regards

 

Conventional wisdom is that you need to break the engine in on dino oil. The reason I mention this is, I don't think there is a dino 0W30 MC oil that I can recall(???).

If it were me and the weather was cold, I would run Maxima Premium (dino) 5W30 during break in, then quickly switch to a synthetic 0W30 after that. I live in the mild southwest (my winter oil is RedLine 10W30), so I can't say I have personal experience with any of the synthetic 0W30 oils. I might try Maxima Ultra 0W30 in extremely cold weather?

 

Thanks Reconranger.....I am going to contact dealer to see what was put in during bike prep and go from there. Going to do first oil change at around 5hrs and will take your advice. Temp can vary greatly up here during the winter. It might be 32 degrees one day and 0 or colder the next.

I also believe in full synthetic after break-in and I realize oil cannot be "energy conserving"

Thanks again

 

How about 20w50 in these things.....