Dead King Cat......:(

[dwillowguy]

Well it started out as a good day........getting ready to go to the mountains Chirstmas day, so getting the sled's ready. Loaded up the polaris sled's into trailer, fired up the Cat to load into the trailer....got about 100 ft, when engine shut down. Tried to start again....stuck engine. Checked plugs, chocolate color, Let it sit for 20 minutes and was able to turn over again. Running rough and back firing from mag side cylinder... Walked machine back into shop and did compression test.... clutch side at 125lb's mag side at 50lbs......Have no clue as to why it burned down, was running good in shop before starting to load in trailer. My questions to you guy's are...should I do both jug's or just the bad one. As far as pistons go, should i use the OEM CAT pistons or are the SPL ones just as good.. I hope that the nickel plating in the jug is ok and just need to de-glazing it.

My other concern is what caused the failure in the first place, don't want to rebuild it and have it fail again, any suggesions out there as a possible cause? Will post's some pic's later as I tear it down.... Just havin a beer right now before I start taking it apart tonight. This is not a good start to the season and I hope it's not like the one 2 years ago when I burned down 3 engines on my sled's including the wife's......she was not happy about that, not allowed to ride that one again....LOL

 

[Bulldog Racing]

Check to ensure the oil pump is functioning. I had the screw that holds the actuator lever come out up in Allen Creek. Had to take half the sled apart to find the screw, but was able to get it. Also, check to make sure the oil pump cable is working. That's where I'd start anyways.

 

[ttpowersports]

Well it started out as a good day........getting ready to go to the mountains Chirstmas day, so getting the sled's ready. Loaded up the polaris sled's into trailer, fired up the Cat to load into the trailer....got about 100 ft, when engine shut down. Tried to start again....stuck engine. Checked plugs, chocolate color, Let it sit for 20 minutes and was able to turn over again. Running rough and back firing from mag side cylinder... Walked machine back into shop and did compression test.... clutch side at 125lb's mag side at 50lbs......Have no clue as to why it burned down, was running good in shop before starting to load in trailer. My questions to you guy's are...should I do both jug's or just the bad one. As far as pistons go, should i use the OEM CAT pistons or are the SPL ones just as good.. I hope that the nickel plating in the jug is ok and just need to de-glazing it.

My other concern is what caused the failure in the first place, don't want to rebuild it and have it fail again, any suggesions out there as a possible cause? Will post's some pic's later as I tear it down.... Just havin a beer right now before I start taking it apart tonight. This is not a good start to the season and I hope it's not like the one 2 years ago when I burned down 3 engines on my sled's including the wife's......she was not happy about that, not allowed to ride that one again....LOL

how new are the pistons ....it always easier to do them both and have the compression the same, than have one stronger than the other...you should also be able to clean any debris up with a nitric acid,,,thats what we use,,,then hone.....

when ever possible we always try to use oem...parts....less chance of bs down the road...

anything we can do to help let us know - remember the s&M discount


Terry

 

[dwillowguy]

That's the first thing I thought of.... I can see the pump arm moving when I use the throttle lever, so unless my pump is f***up it should be working. One thing I noticed is when the engine was running before the problem it had a vibration on idle but would smooth out when reved up, not sure if related.

 

[ttpowersports]

That's the first thing I thought of.... I can see the pump arm moving when I use the throttle lever, so unless my pump is f***up it should be working. One thing I noticed is when the engine was running before the problem it had a vibration on idle but would smooth out when reved up, not sure if related.

always - start a square one, varify, pump operation- and output...some times u get a blockage...also could it be something stuck in the carb...? just the one side.... as far as the vibration...thats a toughy all the big twins vibrate....until u accelerate....

t

 

[Uturn]

Old fuel? Good warm up? Was it fogged before it was put away?

Curious to see what it looks like once it's apart.

Sorry about your luck.

 

[dwillowguy]

Well it was'nt old fuel, and engine was fogged before put away. As far as warm up goes I never move sleds until heat exchargers are warm, in this case it was running for 5-6 minutes at idle. After tearing jug down ....both intake and exhaust have scuff marks, but exhaust has a bit more and deposited aluminum on jug wall. I don't think that today's run ( if you can call 200 feet a run....LOL ) caused the failure. Took some pics and will post. Any idea's????

 

[FossY]

could get u some ideas from my blow up last year

burned same site as u
and discovered a hole in my crankcase which leaned the motor out causing the piston to melt (sled run really good befre it happened was warmed up in shop and just 200ft on the field and back to the shop)

when u take your juggs out and pistons put a shoplight infront of the motor so it shines underneath it and than look from the top in the crankcase if u might see some light shining threw the case

 

[dwillowguy]

Here's some pic's of piston on mag and exhaust sides. Other jug is good, not a mark on piston.

 

[Polarblu]

Nickasil flaked and caught the rings. I have seen it all to many times. Also the locating pins can fall out and cause that. The low speed low rpm points right at foreign object.

 

[kootenaycat]

Did you check the intake boots/gaskets? Looks like my 800 Summit except mine happened 2km from the truck.

 

[dwillowguy]

Well I replaced both pistons with SPI's ( they weighted a little less then the OEM'S) , the jug was shot so new one was installed, Bearings and gasket kit and the engine was running again. The cause of the problem was that the oil line to the pump had frozen, engine seized from lack of oil....should have dumped some in the fuel tank maybe would have saved her. Cleaned oil lines and primed pump also added a bit of methal hydrate to oil. Added oil to fuel (AMSOIL INTERCEPTER) Compression was 145lbs per hole. Repair was $180 for pistons, $295 for jug, $120 for bearings and gaskets, $8 for a can of black BBQ paint to paint new jug. Was lazy and did'nt take engine out of sled ,but rebuilt in sled...should have kicked the bike off the lift and put the sled on it instead of bending over all the time. Engine was running on the 23rd of Dec and sled was loaded into trailer ready for trip. As far as breaking engine in I let it warm up till I could feel the heat exchangers were warm...approx 10 mins of idling. Drove the first 2 miles with throttle no more the 1/2, after that she was to the bars. That trip we put on about 450 miles and she ran strong. Plug color was a chocolate brown color after a hard pull and compression stayed at 145lbs. Since then she was been on 5 more trips and to date has another 1200 miles on her and running strong. Starts on the 2nd pull no matter how cold it is.

 

[900kingkitty]

had the exact same thing happen to mine 3 times while it was under warranty,dealer blamed cold siezure, when i argued not, last time dealer rode with me , let it warm up well and bang happened again, end of story bad oil pump. pistons looked just like yours.. the oil pump has very little output at though, turned mine up so oil pump arm moves before throttle does, never had a problem again