New to the forum. Thanks for all the help I will be asking for in advance.

Just picked up a '98 300 4x4. When test driving it, it seemed to shift just fine but after driving it for a few days, going in and out of first and second can be very hard sometimes. Do I have a clutch issue? It just doesn't act like it wants to run well in those gears and winds out fast. I have not owned a manual quad in a while and maybe it is normal for it to work through those gears fast? It can even be hard to get back down into 2nd from 3rd.

It idled OK at first but seems a bit rough at times. I think it just needs carb adjustment but not sure if that's impacting the sifting issues. Almost idles like a harley but goes when you ask it to.

The oil temp light is not on when I turn the key on but it comes on almost instantly once it starts. The oil can't be hot because it hadn't ran. I am assuming this is just an electrical issue.

I am just figuring this machine out so I am sure I will have a lot of dumb questions. As I do some random searches on parts, it seems there are tons of options for this machine and it does not seem very expensive to fix. My last quad was a polaris, so anything is cheaper than that.

 

It is worth adjusting the clutch. I've not had any problems with 300 gearboxes, the 350 & 450 did have selector troubles, and air cooled 500s wouldn't last the guarantee before the gear dogs wore out. Your oil temp light is connected to a black box which looks a lot like a CDI. Honda call it "the alarm," I would guess it is faulty.