Burning coolant

AkNomad

Active VIP Member
Joined
Feb 2, 2010
Messages
1,550
Reaction score
1,795
Location
Alaska
Luckily I was riding next to our cabin when it started to burning it. Anyone else have this happen to them? What am I looking at here for damage? I didn't ride it very long and when I left the cabin I towed it back to my truck, hoping to keep damage to a minimum.
 

pfi572

Active VIP Member
Joined
Mar 10, 2010
Messages
6,064
Reaction score
15,264
Location
Grande Prairie
What Max said . Head o-ring , base gasket or cracked cylinder .
Cylinder most times crack around the power valves .
Recent rebuild by chance ?
 

Bnorth

Active VIP Member
Joined
Dec 18, 2010
Messages
10,782
Reaction score
20,844
Location
Salmon Arm
What Max said . Head o-ring , base gasket or cracked cylinder .
Cylinder most times crack around the power valves .
Recent rebuild by chance ?
this. reportedly some etecs have improperly torqued head/cylinder bolts that can lead to coolant leaking into the engine over time.
 

AkNomad

Active VIP Member
Joined
Feb 2, 2010
Messages
1,550
Reaction score
1,795
Location
Alaska
What Max said . Head o-ring , base gasket or cracked cylinder .
Cylinder most times crack around the power valves .
Recent rebuild by chance ?
No sir, original motor with I think about 2600 miles, give or take. She just all of a sudden started smoking real bad while I was carving up the deep stuff in front of my cabin. Not going to tackle it myself as I don't have the time, I'm going to have my local sled guy take care of it, I was just curious what it might be parts wise. Might be time for a new top end since he's going to be in the motor anyways.
 

maxwell

Active VIP Member
Joined
Apr 25, 2007
Messages
20,082
Reaction score
43,178
Location
Sherwood Park, Alberta, Canada
No sir, original motor with I think about 2600 miles, give or take. She just all of a sudden started smoking real bad while I was carving up the deep stuff in front of my cabin. Not going to tackle it myself as I don't have the time, I'm going to have my local sled guy take care of it, I was just curious what it might be parts wise. Might be time for a new top end since he's going to be in the motor anyways.

absolutely. let us know what he finds out.
 

AkNomad

Active VIP Member
Joined
Feb 2, 2010
Messages
1,550
Reaction score
1,795
Location
Alaska
absolutely. let us know what he finds out.
Just talked with him on the phone, he said it was either O-rings or a base gasket but i'm dropping it off tomorrow and will discuss it further with him. He's basically the only guy I trust, other than myself, to work on my toys.
 

AkNomad

Active VIP Member
Joined
Feb 2, 2010
Messages
1,550
Reaction score
1,795
Location
Alaska
Just got off the phone with my repair shop, the base gasket blew dumping coolant into the motor. Going to have to tear into the crank and inspect/replace anything that needs it including new Isolflex, new pistons, gaskets, yada, yada, yada. Good thing I shut her down when I did or she would have locked up and cost me a helluva lot more money. Check out the pics.
 

Attachments

  • Motor 2.JPG
    Motor 2.JPG
    254 KB · Views: 387
  • Motor 1.JPG
    Motor 1.JPG
    224.4 KB · Views: 381
  • Motor 3.JPG
    Motor 3.JPG
    227.7 KB · Views: 413

oler1234

Active VIP Member
Joined
Nov 20, 2008
Messages
3,652
Reaction score
6,207
Location
Calgary, AB & Golden, BC
Mag side blew out the base gasket?

This is is not a typical problem. Did yea let it warm up before you drove off?

Damage looks to be on the intake side of the mag piston
 
Last edited:

maxwell

Active VIP Member
Joined
Apr 25, 2007
Messages
20,082
Reaction score
43,178
Location
Sherwood Park, Alberta, Canada
holy crap! like mentioned NOT a common problem. in fact ive never seen that before. i dont really see how a base gasket can blow out like that being under that much pressure but anythings possible. almost looks like maybe the block wasnt drained before he lifted the cylinder

id be doing a full inspection but sounds like you are!
 

slededjr

Active VIP Member
Joined
Nov 25, 2011
Messages
1,577
Reaction score
1,972
Location
sherwood park
Gotta go with Maxwell on this for sure. I’ve never seen that either. Get a pic of the base gasket if ya can? By the look of the case the gasket should be in tact still on bottom of the momoblock. At least what’s left of it anyways.
 

maxwell

Active VIP Member
Joined
Apr 25, 2007
Messages
20,082
Reaction score
43,178
Location
Sherwood Park, Alberta, Canada
i always use the lower coolant hose where it attaches to the water pump to drian the block. is there another way? because it looks like that hose is still connected as you cant disconnect it with the starter motor in place.
 

AkNomad

Active VIP Member
Joined
Feb 2, 2010
Messages
1,550
Reaction score
1,795
Location
Alaska
Mag side blew out the base gasket?

This is is not a typical problem. Did yea let it warm up before you drove off?

Damage looks to be on the intake side of the mag piston
Yes sir, I always let it warm up before I ride it, always. He's putting Wiseco pistons in it since the Doo pistons are all on backorder at the dealership where he gets his OEM Doo parts. He also said that it was good thing I didn't try and ride it any further or it would have hydro locked and caused much more serious damage. He's pulled the motor and is splitting the case so he can get a thorough cleaning done on it, won't be cheap but i want it done right and don't want further problems down the road. Next time I talk to him i'll ask him if he's seen this before and get more of his thoughts on what could have caused this to happen. Looks like it's getting a new cylinder too, the old one was too scored and couldn't be honed and stay within tolerance. Nobody ever said this sport was cheap!
 
Last edited:

sledd boy

Active member
Joined
Nov 26, 2006
Messages
58
Reaction score
31
Location
Edmonton AB
i always use the lower coolant hose where it attaches to the water pump to drian the block. is there another way? because it looks like that hose is still connected as you cant disconnect it with the starter motor in place.
Maxwell I use a slurp gun or vacume pump and run a longer hose down inside the coolent hose from the tank end
 

AkNomad

Active VIP Member
Joined
Feb 2, 2010
Messages
1,550
Reaction score
1,795
Location
Alaska
Got my sled back today and she's running like a top but it's back to break-in for a little while. Wallets a bit thinner too. lol
 

AkNomad

Active VIP Member
Joined
Feb 2, 2010
Messages
1,550
Reaction score
1,795
Location
Alaska
Did he mention what he thinks might of caused it?
Crap, I knew there was something I wanted to ask him. I guess I was just a little too excited to get my sled back for the weekend. I'll ask him and will post his answer here.
 

Wapow

Member
Joined
Jan 5, 2017
Messages
11
Reaction score
62
Location
Washington
Major bummer, but at least you got a new engine. Do you know if it cost you less to have your mechanic do the rebuild vs. just getting a long block from Doo? I did a long block swap on non-ETECs on a past sled, when upgrading to Doo's latest release just did not seem worth the extra investment. Was something like $3k to have the dealer install it, and it came w/ a 1 year warranty.
 

MK4TDI

Active VIP Member
Joined
Dec 5, 2010
Messages
4,038
Reaction score
16,797
Location
Saskatchatoon
Major bummer, but at least you got a new engine. Do you know if it cost you less to have your mechanic do the rebuild vs. just getting a long block from Doo? I did a long block swap on non-ETECs on a past sled, when upgrading to Doo's latest release just did not seem worth the extra investment. Was something like $3k to have the dealer install it, and it came w/ a 1 year warranty.
Was in at my dealer over the holidays pricing out an 800 etec short block, $2500 plus a core charge of 5 or 6 hundy..... and the best part was the 6 month wait....
 

AkNomad

Active VIP Member
Joined
Feb 2, 2010
Messages
1,550
Reaction score
1,795
Location
Alaska
Major bummer, but at least you got a new engine. Do you know if it cost you less to have your mechanic do the rebuild vs. just getting a long block from Doo? I did a long block swap on non-ETECs on a past sled, when upgrading to Doo's latest release just did not seem worth the extra investment. Was something like $3k to have the dealer install it, and it came w/ a 1 year warranty.
I would say that having my mechanic do all the work saved me a good bunch of money. He completely tore down the engine including the bottom end and cleaned it all, replaced both pistons with associated parts and cylinders. I also had him do my chain case oil and torsion spring holders while it was in the shop, the total bill came to $2157, which I thought was a pretty fair price considering the work they did on my engine.

As an aside, I asked him what he thought might have caused it and he didn't really have an answer, said it just happens sometimes or overheating it could have done it, but I never overheated that motor as I always pay close attention to the temp gauge. I'm chalking it up to bad luck.
 
Top Bottom