Honda Rincon

I have always had trouble starting my Rincon in cold weather.
With this last cold spell it would start at 5 degrees but the next day at minus 6 no way. I would crank it and then prime it. The starter would engage then sometimes spin other times the stater would work fine. I put my jump pack on as I was running down the battery and I cut get a put put put both nothing else.
Any suggestions?

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I have a 05 or 6 rincon and it likes 6 pumps of the primer then pull choke then crank. If I don’t do the primer then it won’t attempt to fire. I had mine running on the trailer Sunday in minus 12 or 15 degrees. Definitely need a fresh juiced battery or it’s a no go.

Darn.
I do the same and mine won’t start. I got fresh winter gas in it. I have been working on this problem for years. I have always had this problem.
My mechanic suggested rebuilding/rejetting the carb (can’t remember the exact terminology) which he did a couple years ago and no different. I thought of putting a dc electric blanket over it a couple hours before starting. It sits in a enclosed trailer.

Couple tips:

Honda recommends a different spark plug for colder weather, you’ll have to look up what you’d need.

Your carb likely has a small heating element, cycle the key on and off (without cranking), watch for the red light to go out, then cycle again and again before cranking.

If you have a second person available, have one person crank the starter and the other rip the pull cord, that extra speed boost gets mine to fire everytime (when needed).

This is something that I’ll say as a general rule for all lead acid powered machines. If you’ve ever ran your battery down to flat dead and didn’t immediately recharge it, the integrity of your battery is likely compromised. The longer it sits uncharged the more damaged internally it becomes. (This is true for boat/trolling motor batteries too FYI) The 50% capacity that is left in the battery may be enough to turn over the engine when in the decompression starting mode, but then provides weak spark which causes poor running or no start conditions. The colder it gets, the worse the effects of this are. (which is why honda even recommends different spark plugs for cold weather) If you’ve cleaned the carb, got new air filters, etc. and nothing seems to work, I would recommend investigating/replacing the battery > ignition coil > spark plug system to ensure that you’re getting that maximum spark. I think most ATV ignition coils are like $50 bucks and are straightforward to replace. Especially if you have YouTube teach you how to do it.

No real solution to offer as others have great ideas, but I know my neighbor has a Rincon that must be about the same age and he notoriously swears about it being cold blooded. It seems like that thing is geared to pull a house off the foundation though. He will plow forever and I swear it moves wet snow like a truck

Honda has one major issue across every carbureted engine they produce.
Whether its an actual choke plate, enrichener or primer, they are too danged lean!
Their choke plates are cut so they cannot flood an engine, enricheners have too small of jetting which does not administer enough fuel to a cold engine.
Their primers are restricted as well as to how much they can squirt with each pump, or, if the primer is weak or plugged up the least bit cold starts become impossible in cold weather and the colder it gets the worse it gets.

So, what to do?? you can rebuild the carb and check the primer passages to make sure they are clear, or, carry a can of brake cleaner, ( I hate ether ) and give the engine a shot through the carb to help it out.
There are mods that can be done that requires modifying the choke/enrichener circuits but I wont type them here due to liability reasons as you are modifying a fuel system and thats a huge no no in todays world.

After all of this and its an injected model, check fuel pressures first, if its the least bit low, it will start hard especially when cold as it is running lean.

I fished 4 days in South Dakota at around 0 degrees and my rancher would always start but would crank for an abnormally long time I thought . Got home went to start it dead as a hammer . Put a new battery in it starts right up now .

My Honda is the most cold blooded, hard starting in the cold machine I have ever owned, granted it’s not a new machine, but the old Polaris was never a problem, it was just under sized for me, can’t say I’m a fan of the hondomatic either.

Switch to a full synthetic oil approved for your atv if you’re not using it already. I run conventional Rotella 15-40 in mine as it’s hardly used in the cold anymore. I have the same issue you describe when running conventional when it’s bitter cold which we don’t see often where I live now. I switched to syn. before going to sturgeon bay chasing whitefish when it was -20 and had no issues that weekend or anytime I lived up north and ran syn. My choke cable broke one winter and I used starting fluid then a fast idle for about a minute. I keep a can in the toolbox still and use if needed vs paying almost triple for syn oil.

I’m with iowaboy, no ether for me.
WD40 works good.

It seems 99% of todays world problems can be traced to the corn gas they want us to burn. Run the non-oxy and life will be better, motor may not start much better but life will be better.

The real reason is EPA having to run these engines so lean to pass their specs is the biggest reason we see these issues. IE My Yamaha T8 carbed would not run worth a sh_ _ and always cold blooded. Yamaha wanted $238 for a new one started searching found a company in China that handled these carbs and not EPA certified. $68 later and 4 weeks had a Yamaha T8 that started and ran like it never had even new. It also had High speed and low speed needle adjustments.

OK. Thank you. I have never sprayed brake cleaner WD 40 or starting fluid into the carb. Would I take off the air cleaner and give it a little shot there?

Yes if its easy to get to.
Brake cleaner,make sure you get the stuff that says its flammable as some are not.

Thanks. It is easy enough to get at. Remove Seat, remove air cleaner box cover, remove foam air cleaner filter.
I can’t wait to try it next cold spell. I have a good battery and a quick connect for my Hulkman 8500 jump pack. I am pretty confident these things will get it started. If not, no fishing below 5 degrees.
This is the first year without tracks. I am mounting chains later this week. If the snow gets too deep with the chains. No fishing.

I just had to replace the cdi box on my fourtrax. Went to start it when it was -10. No spark! Pulled the cdi and warmed it up, fires right up. Can we go back to points ignition?