ever overheat honda 4 wheeler? / consequences?

Went for a ride on my 4 wheeler this evening. Left about an hour before dark. Hit some really slushy mud that I had to keep it floored in 2nd gear to get through. Problem was that I had to keep it at max for 10-15 minutes, during which it had gotten dark. After a while the overtemp light came on while still not out of the mud yet. I shut the engine down immediately. I sat there in the dark... well except for the BRIGHTLY GLOWING ORANGE exhaust header. I let the engine cool for about 5 minutes then started it back up. The temp light was off. When I revved the engine, a would get a little smoke out the exhaust. I smelled the smoke; it did not smell like oil smoke. It was really like nothing I had ever smelled before.

I tried to drive on out, but the temp light came back on after about 2 minutes. I left the thing and walked/slogged out, got help, came back, and pulled it out the rest of the way to the road. By this time it had really cooled down. I cranked it back up... no more smoke. Cranks like normal. Sounds normal. Power is good. Seems unaffected.

Ideas as to what the smoke was? It makes me nervous, but I would guess that the temp light comes on BEFORE any damage occurs.

Specs are:

Honda 2004 rancher
350cc engine
air cooled
remote oil cooler
no fan

Tomorrow I will clean it up and change the oil as I am sure it took a real beating.

well I notice you say this has no fan? I would fix that. A friend of mine has a 2003 rancher and it has a fan that does come on from hard riding and mud is hard riding. If the smoke did not smell like oil maby it was mud or other stuff stuck to the exaust system.
If your quad does not(I had thought all honda ranchers had fans)have a fan, I would add one.
I my self drive a foreman 450es , I added a second oil cooler for that.
I upgraded all the lighting to HID! makes lots of light now!

Yeah, fan is top priority right now.

The smoke seemed to be coming from inside the muffler, with the exhaust gases. I have never ever seen an engine this hot, and I have been riding for about 25 years.

Blue smoke upon starting cold engine = fried valve seals

Also check compression for bad head gasket

Like I was saying above... seems unaffected now.

At the temps is was when I shut it down, I would be leaning toward a munched ring due to insufficient lube due to oil temps.

Another idea I had was that some of the gaskets in the exhaust system were outgassing due to the INCREDIBLE heat. I cannot stress enough how hot this thing was.

After my friend finished pulling me out, we went riding for about an hour, getting back about 10 last night. It ran like a champ during this time. We ran the machines hard during this time, so I guess if it was an internal engine part it would have smoked more or showed some signs during this time.

I have seen and smelled burning oil before. This did not look like oil, act like oil (hang in the air), smell like oil.

Today I rode again. I have no rattles, knocks, or other strange noises. Compression feels good, power feels good...

sounds like no damage was done.
i would at least change the oil.
a friend of mine wasnt so lucky with a xl250.
he left it idleing in the garage and forgot it.
the plastic dipstick tube melted and got into the transmission.
had to tear it down to get the melted glop off of the output shaft.

Ok, changed oil today.

The filter was clean except for 1 or 2 small aluminum pieces in it. Did I mention this is a brand new unit? Supposedly a little trash in the filter is normal on the 1st or 2nd oil change.

The oil...

Smells ok. Color is still golden. However, it has millions/billions of TINY little particles suspended in it. They aren't visible to the naked eye, but show up pretty well if you use a flashlight or strong light source.

From internet research this seems to be common. These are particles that are too small to filter out. They are usually labeled as 'wear particles'. The 4 wheeler is still in the break-in period. And, this oil runs through the engine/tranny/clutch as well. That's a lot of places to pick up particles from.

I went and checked some old oil from my truck that was sitting in the recycling jug. They were in it, but were much harder to see since the oil was pretty much black. I checked the oil in a plain oil 6 HP briggs... golden color, same floaty stuff (this engine has no filter though).

If possible, would a few of you guys check your own equipment for these particles. I would love it if I could get some data from another honda 4 wheeler.

As far as the smoke goes, I have a pretty good lead on where it came from and am checking it out.

Thanks for the people who have responded.

Have spoken with master certified tech. He and I both agree that the smoke was highly likely pulled from the crankcase through the breather tube after I would rev (vacuum condition) the engine. It did not smoke at idle, only after it was winding down from being revved.

This is backed up by the fact that when I looked down in the dipstick tube during this time, smoke was coming out in pretty decent quantities.

Got the optional engine cooling fan installed. It is nice, and I would recommend it to anyone. I did not use the thermostatic control though, wiring it up with a simple waterproof switch. That way I can control it the way I want to.

Where did you get an optional fan from? I know of fan switch bypass and added oil coolers but did not know about a second fan?
I allost killed my quad a few weeks ago, was trying to cross a flooded section of trail, all three of us got stuck, mine was the worst as my motor stalled and water killed the spark(water got up the sparkplug boot), water got into the engine from the tail pipe! took us over 30 min and standing the quad up on it's rear rack and side to drain the water, water also flooded my hella DE hid lights, they are currently getting cleaned. Water also flooded the front brake drums, oh what fun quads are /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rant.gif
Atlest with my tires the quad floated out!

Well, mine is setup for a fan (brackets are already there) but did not have one. Local dealer wanted ~$350 for the fan assembly. I found one on ebay for $27 used. It bolted right up, and I ran a wire to a waterproof switch and then to the battery. Apparently all hondas for about the last 10 years use the exact same fan assembly.

With all the airflow the fan puts out, I honestly do not see how you could ever overheat.

ATV swimming... yes went there the other day. If you could have gotten it started the water will burn out of the exhaust system. But, draining it helped get some of the dirt out though.

Tires... I am going Monday and have Goodyear order me some mud runners. The stock tires are pretty crummy.

I called the stock tires "dun flops" I now use mud lites and love them.
After We got the quad started We nick named it "puff the magic quad" due to the white smoke. this whent away after the water evaportated and luckly did not milk the oil.
I have never had my quad overheat due to the fan, it's odd that yours did not have the fan?