Ask: My 2007 Honda Recon's pull start rope won't retract. I had the stupid idea of trying to use the pull rope for the first time and now it won't retract. It seems as if something has bound up. I think this is because the electric push button start won't work either. It sounds and feels like the engine is under compression. The bike was off when I pulled the rope and worked just fine until I attempted to pull the rope. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Our son has a three-day weekend with no bike to ride...
Mikey: Why would it be a stupid idea to utilize your backup recoil starter if your electric start wasn't working? That's what the engineers at Honda had in mind when they incorporated the feature. The recoil starter is a spring-loaded ratcheting-type system that should retract whether the machine is running or not. Yours has obviously malfunctioned and needs to be rebuilt. I'd say this is probably due to dirt, grime and water entering the system. I assumed the machine was off when you attempted to make use of the pull start long before you felt the need to state the obvious in your question. Your electric starting problem and your recoil start malfunction aren't related, so be prepared to address an electric start issue as well. FYI, the "pull rope" isn't there for any type of towing purposes, I promise!
Ask: I was driving my Suzuki Eiger in the snow last week and when I shifted into second gear (semi auto gearbox, no clutch) there was a crunch and I lost all my gears. I've tried 4WD, 2WD, high and low and still nothing. When I rev the quad something is clunking around inside the engine and it has no drive. Do you have any idea what broken?
Mikey: Ouch, I've experienced similar situations and it's a gut-wrenching feeling. You already know that you have a potentially serious problem on your hands, so I'll try to go easy on you. You may have damaged a shift fork or something in the shifting assembly. You need to go inside and find out what's damaged before starting and running the engine. Loose components clunking around inside will certainly cause unnecessary, costly damage. You wouldn't typically lose all of your gears, so I'm sure there is damage preventing the gears from being engaged. I hope you're eager to wrench on your Eiger because you have a very involved task on your hands.
Ask: Is there any place I could go to download a repair/service manual for a 2007 Polaris Ranger 500 EFI 4WD?
Mikey: Of course there is, and it took me less than two minutes to Google Polaris Ranger 500 service manual and find half a dozen of them. I did this in a fraction of the time it took you to write and email your question. I have a scenario for you to imagine. You're replacing a broken axle on your Ranger and your hands are covered in grease and grime. Would you rather have a genuine Polaris service manual that you can thumb through while wrenching in your shop or a PDF version on your laptop? I guess you could print the pages that you'll need before starting your project, but if you were this crafty, you wouldn't be asking me where to find a downloadable version. Go to your local Polaris dealer and purchase the manual. It's worth its weight in gold when performing routine maintenance and priceless when taking on major repairs.