I just bought my first Ranger today. 2000 Ranger 500 with 450 hours. When I bought it, the air cleaner housing lid was backwards, and there was some engine oil inside the housing.

I called the Polaris parts house, and they said just put the lid on right and wipe out the oil.

Well, I stopped to get a new air filter and bought some oil and filter to start off right. When I took the oil pan plug off, this stuff that smelled like gas came gushing out!

The motor runs great. It smokes a little from the exhaust.

Did I just get hosed?

HELP!

 

it might have been flooded prior to getting it and still has a little gas left in the oil. your doing the right thing by changing it and strating from scratch to see if it goes thru oil. who knows what was used b4 you bought it. worse case, do a compression test to see what it is. just a thought.

 

1.What color was the smoke? black=gas. white=water in the oil
2.Are you sure it wasn't foam filter oil in the air box? maybe it was dirty foam oil?

To the best of my knowledge, if it was oil in the air box there was too much oil in the machine (or to much of something, maybe a little h2o), what color was the oil when it came out? if it was a little milky the quad was swamped, and as long as its running good, I wouldn't worry much, just change the oil quite a few times maybe 3-4, after running it for 10-20 minutes in between changes, my oil has a smell to it too when I change it, but oil and gas are related so I think thats normal. I mean my oil dont smell like straight gas, but it has a hint of use to the smell, if it ain't broke dont fix it. That all I know. But it sounds to me your machine was swamped at one point. All you can do is change the oil and hope for the best.

 

almost sounds like maybe the needle and seat are out of it in the carburetor. if it continues to have gas in the oil, then thats ur problem

 

Thanks fellas for the input. I figure I'll just run the hell out of it and see what happens.

It's been my experience that Wide Open Throttle don't solve everything, but it sure makes trying fun!