I have a 2002 rancher 350 es with 2200 miles When I bought the machine it had been sitting for like 3 years. Now with that said the float definatly has a sticking problem. The machine has a hard time maintaining idle it idles good for a bit then the engine skips a little sometimes it stall sometimes it doesnt the only way to make sure it stays running is to have the idle turned up a little higher than I would like. I maintain it well with oil changes and air filter cleanings the engine seems to make no noises but I was wondering if you if think its just a carb needing a tune up or maybe valves also??

 

Carb needs cleaned, might also try running some seafoam in it, might clean it up.

 

Seafoam is good stuff, but with running problems like that I'd recommend removing the carb for disassembly and cleaning. Idle jets and/or passages are likely a little gummed up.

Valves aren't likely causing the idle problem, but if you don't know when they were done last, I'd be for doing that too.

You might also take a look at the spark plug, or just replace it.

 

To be honest I don't think I've ever had a valve adjustment on any quad I have ever owned lol I got 800 miles on my rincon also so i should probably get those adjusted what do you think is a fair price for a shop to do a valve adjustment?? I don't wanna get bent over to hard!

 

I'm not sure what a shop would charge, as I do that kind of stuff myself.

You could call and ask.

If you have a manual and an experienced buddy to help the first time, you might want to consider doing them yourself.

 

I just adjusted my 03 ranchers valves. Very easy and I only have 700 miles on it. Did they need it. Probably not. But I did it because I could and like to tinker.

 

on your rincon i'd wait till 1000 miles. hondas and yamahas arent bad for valve adjustment, but suzuki's the valves tighten up. but i understand your concern as rincons arent a particularly cheap quad. lol i'd say they'd hit you for about 100$ or somewhere near there for the valves.

 

for the rancher, i have a 300 that idles rough like that. you may clean from now on on the carb and the rancher still run rough. then, you may clean your jets and needleseat and it may cure it. just something you have to tinker with. but my 300 experiances the exact same thing. it will idle fine for awhile, after it sets for about 10 seconds, start loading up, and run slower and slower until it floods out. you could have a dealer rebuild the carb, thats sure to fix it. but.. it probably wont be cheap on the wallet.

 

Rebuilding the carb and cleaning the jets isn't that big of a deal.

As far as valve adjustment goes, I checked the valves on schedule on my Foreman, and I think it had 1200 miles or more before one was out of spec enough to need tweeked.

On the Rincon, on the first inspection at break-in one of them was a bit out of spec and needed adjusted. After that, they have stayed spot-on.

Following the recommended service schedule is IMHO a good idea. Most of the time the valves will be close, but the engineers probably set the service schedule with the worst case in mind.