I am fairly certain I have gas in the oil of the ATV I just bought. I am fairly certain it has been sitting for quite some time. I started it right up, ran it around the block a few times, then parked it in the garage. I noticed oil leaking around the filter so I decided to drain it and I discovered the issue. The fuel tank is off right now because I was doing some general checking of the machine. Oil was extremely thin and smelled of gasoline. My question is what do I need to look for? What may the issue be? I am a total rookie at this. This is the first ATV I have ever even looked at so I don't know all terminology. Layman's terms would be greatly appreciated.

 

Hello Pinnacle13,typically 1 of 2 issues cause this problem.1 the carb float valve is stuck open and allowing the gas to just run into the crank when sitting:resolution is have carb cleaned and rebuilt.2 the petcock is bad and allowing gas to flood thru the carb and into crank,pull fuel line off petcock,make sure no gas comes out when in off selection,if it is vacuum petcock pull vacuum hose off and see if any gas comes out.Good luck Pinnacle.

 

450atv nailed it in my opinion. I have also found that on hot days, that the fuel vaporizing causes excessive pressure on the fuel petcock which also can tell you that the petcock needs to be rebuilt. Not your issue it seems, but just throwing that info out there. Welcome to KF