walhonding300 53 Posted July 12, 2023 Good Morning. First post. Glad to be here... I just purchased a '98 300 4x4. I have always wanted one and its the right size that my son can ride it around the yard. I am not new to atvs but have only owned 1 Honda (2003 400ex). 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. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Fishfiles 20,147 Posted July 12, 2023 18 minutes ago, walhonding300 said: Good Morning. First post. Glad to be here... I just purchased a '98 300 4x4. I have always wanted one and its the right size that my son can ride it around the yard. I am not new to atvs but have only owned 1 Honda (2003 400ex). 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. Hi, welcome to the forum --- 300s are great atvs ----likely could be a clutch adjustment causing your shifting problem ---- sitting on the seat , on the right side of the case is a 14mm hex nut with a slotted adjustment screw in the middle , that is your clutch adjustment , you loosen the jam nut , turn the adjuster till you feel resistance then back off 1/4 of a turn here is a link to a free manual download ( if you don't already have one ) https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1xPtIRTon47rnmYmqflFS5d8LqLeuZlql 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
walhonding300 53 Posted August 7, 2023 Thank you. I made the adjustment and it's much better. Another question, if you don't mind. It doesn't smoke bad, but on start up and just sometimes if I let if idle, it does smoke a little bit more. Is this an issue or nothing to worry about? 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Fishfiles 20,147 Posted August 7, 2023 31 minutes ago, walhonding300 said: Thank you. I made the adjustment and it's much better. Another question, if you don't mind. It doesn't smoke bad, but on start up and just sometimes if I let if idle, it does smoke a little bit more. Is this an issue or nothing to worry about? Glad it is better !!! You can ask this group all the questions you want , they are happy and looking forward to try and help >>>> Smoke could be from about 3 things that I can thing of being half woke this morning , oil could be making it past the rings , bad valve stem seals could be allowing oil to drip into the cylinder or it could actually be unburned fuel from being out of time or carb dumping too much fuel -- bad valve stem seals would be my first guess being you say it is on start up I would say it isn't going to hurt anything , run it till it gets worst 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jeepwm69 7,719 Posted August 7, 2023 6 hours ago, Fishfiles said: Glad it is better !!! You can ask this group all the questions you want , they are happy and looking forward to try and help >>>> Smoke could be from about 3 things that I can thing of being half woke this morning , oil could be making it past the rings , bad valve stem seals could be allowing oil to drip into the cylinder or it could actually be unburned fuel from being out of time or carb dumping too much fuel -- bad valve stem seals would be my first guess being you say it is on start up I would say it isn't going to hurt anything , run it till it gets worst Just make sure you check your oil regularly and keep it full. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
