I hve a Ranger I bought a number of years ago. Use mainly to move/check water. A little fencing/repairs etc.

B ought the unit at auction. Motor was toast.Put a brand new motor in out of a ranger someone had just bought and was upgrading.

Rnger runs really well except for a few little things.

The display gets confused. Doesn't always show the proper gear/range.

Biggest problem is the thing seems to run hot. Run it for a little while and the aux fan kicks on and wants to stay on. Let it sitand idle after running it and you will get the HOT warning sign on the screen.

Would love some well-founded thoughts/guidance.

Quite possibly it's an air bubble in the water lines. Get out your your manual, or maybe Youtube, and see how to fix it on your model. On mine, it's getting the front wheels up a bit and opening a bleeder valve on the engine.

This. If it’s a 1000 there will be an 8mm bolt in the center head just above the manifold. Power wash the radiator too. Next things would be thermostat and/or thermistor.

The gear selection is likely due to belt or clutches getting worn. Most people don’t know what a worn belt looks like so study up. Inspect your clutches for grooves in the secondary and inspect the primary and weights for wear. If you have clutch creep there are shims you can add or remove to re align the clutches.

Blowing out your clutches with compressed air a few times a year is good idea

Is the electric fan coming on? I had a wire break in a bundle in the wiring harness. I just jumped a wire around it.

Yes. The fan comes on regularly

Then most likely it's an air bubble. If you let the overflow tank under the hood get empty, it can suck in some air and you have to bleed it out.

I have a buddy who had this issue. The fan was running but would kick on and off. He replaced temp sensors, coolant, and fuses.

He eventually put a dedicated switch on the dash for his fan and would turn it on to run when the engine temp came up. He's still driving it.

Year?

Engine size?

Lights for gear selection or LCD display?

My polaris atv did that over heating thing once and I found the radiator was packed full of some sort of weed seed. Cleaned it out and never had another issue.

700

Maybe a 10-12

LCD display