New ATV

[Guest]

You must have $$ to burn!
It took me a year to do what you did! My wife watched me like a hawk and when she was gone once, I took the Foreman for a heck of a mud ride. I ended up pulling the Polaris 500 and Kawasaki out of the muck several times.

You have to change the oil regardless on a new machine after a little use. As far as everything else goes, it's a Honda. You are on the road to really see if you can kill it! I haven't killed any of my Honda's (motorcycles, wheelers, outboard) yet....

[bklimek]

No, I don't have money to burn, just stupidity . As you can tell by my email I still feel sick to my stomach after buying such a nice machine and treating her the way I did. I don't intend to do a lot of trail riding and the remainder of her life should be easy just a little light work around the yard, pulling out deer, and pulling myself around the hardwater.

Thanks,
Butch

[Guest]

Don't be too hard on yourself. You have to have some fun!
Mudding is really tough on machines. I stay away as much as possible because it messes up small things like my drum brakes. I have to go through the whole break system after that kind of abuse, so it is a deterent.

Clean it up good, change the oil (you have to anyways for break in) and it will keep going.

[Dave]

bklimek, shame on you! More than likely, you got water in the airbox, too. Take the air filter out, clean it, dry it, re-oil it and reinstall. As the others mentioned, change your oil. If you swamped it that deep, change the oil and filter to make sure it's pure. Wash it good too. Welcome to the swamper club...lol

[bklimek]

I recently purchased my first ATV a 2003 Honda Rubicon 500. I wanted to get out and ride it of course, so me and a couple guys decided to hit a few trails that they knew of. What I thought I was going to do was take my ATV out for a nice easy day of riding for its first time out and familiarize myself with it but ended up doing the exact opposite. I ended up putting on 50 miles on its first run. I was going at high speeds at times, we had trails that came to some fairly deep mudholes where I had to rev up the engine really high and put it through some rough terrain. At one point in the ride we came to a creek bottom that was fairly deep with water. The first three made it okay but they rutted it up and made it even deeper. I ended up swamping my machine and getting water in the carburetor. Needless to say I was not happy and it still bothers me. We tried to get it going but were running out of daylight. I ended up getting towed back 6-7 miles. Of course when we got it back home we got it going within 5-10 minutes (luckily). I have a few questions. I have heard you are suppose to give them 100 miles before you should put them through the mill like I did. What is the rule of thumb on that and have I caused any major damage to my machine or shortened its lifespan? Is there anything I should do now to help it "heal"? Such as changing the oil or talking to it real nice? I checked the oil and it doesn't appear to be foamy as if water got in there but would it be a good idea to change the oil on my machine anyways? Its nobodys fault but my own. I feel sick because I take real good care of my stuff and can't believe I did that to my new machine. I would appreciate any thoughts or suggestions.

Thanks,
Butch

[This message has been edited by bklimek (edited 08-28-2003).]

[Dr. Fish]

What you did on your initial ride, won't hurt your machine at all. Holding the throttle wide open for long periods of time is what you don't want to do. Running the motor throughout the whole rpm range is crucial when breaking it in. ATV's are tough, and capable of taking abuse. I've owned ATV's my whole life, you did nothing wrong. If the oil looks "milky" change it before you ride it again. Have fun! and ride hard!

[bklimek]

Thanks guys. That makes me feel a little better. I hope to take it out this weekend and do some deer scouting. Have a good one.

Butch

[SPIN DRY]

It sounds like you just had a good time out riding. Don't forget to talk to it really nice when you change the oil. [he,he] Good luck.

[RiverKarhu]

Don't know for sure 'cause I haven't seen it in print myownself, but a Rubicon owner told me his manual says not to tow the machine....?