Your engine failure history

[Lund]

I have so much time on my hands right from a work place injury that I figured i would try to list all the sled motors i have fubar over the years...LOL

I distinctly remember my first one, my buddy Snow-jet. We traded for fun and i ended up seizing it in 10min. WTF, he was not happy, that was back in very early 80's or maybe late 79.

After that all went well till I bought my Exciter 570 in 87 and lean seized it, my fault for not getting the right jetting in the first time for the pipes.
Then it was my A/C 700, crank bearings, 2 times in under 2000miles. That was frustrating, it was concluded that the crank bearing were poop on those sleds. LOL and made me go back to a trusty triple instead.
After that Cat 700 experience all went well till my Doo experiences from 2000-2009.
My first one was my 2000 Summit Highmark 700, PTO bearing failure, fallowed by next seasons rod failure.
Next was the 04 800 SummitX head failure at 800km.
Then talked into an RT1k in 05 to have a rod failure, also around 800km.
Fallowed by head failure the next season, though the bigger issue I had with this sled was clutching and sensors for the ecu made it a gross under performer and a lot of factory changes had to be done. The engine still remained a clay pot.
(These were my personal sleds and not friends or customers that I repaired.) There would be a much larger list that I would not be able to remember..LOL
The end.

 

[LUCKY 7]

2010 Dragon. 4 engines in 7 weeks. first engine blew up so tried warranty but answer was no so a CV TECH engine install. that was never assembled correctly and blew up. Warranty engine installed from cvtech. that blew up so they gave me a loaner sled. Went approx 3 kms and that blew up. Got my sled back and was good for a few rides then started running on one piston. Took it to the dealer and told the guy I never want to see the sled again and then went home. A few days later he agreed to trade the dragon in for a new 600 RMK. that sled is now my son's and runs perfect. Had 2 more RMK's since the dragon and so far all good

 

[Bnorth]

05 RT1000 pto big end rod bearing failed and scrubbed the bottom of the case. Ended up rebuilding it myself and putting it into a full carbon RT1K that I had acquired in the meantime. It ran strong after that and I parted out the original RT.
2019 Cat 800 big end bearing failure on the mag side. Dropped it off at the dealer and then picked it up. Much easier process than the RT lol.

 

[CatMan16]

Only one knock on wood. 1997 580 cat ring pin went missing and the ring turned until it caught the exhaust port. Had the heads shaved for that motor and had put rings in it at the time. Not sure if I screwed up put it ran for a season like that before it popped.

 

[Lund]

05 RT1000 pto big end rod bearing failed and scrubbed the bottom of the case. Ended up rebuilding it myself and putting it into a full carbon RT1K that I had acquired in the meantime. It ran strong after that and I parted out the original RT.
2019 Cat 800 big end bearing failure on the mag side. Dropped it off at the dealer and then picked it up. Much easier process than the RT lol.

My RT did the same LOL
Me too BRP was a pain, would only cover half the job even though it was 3 month old.

 

[Lund]

Only one knock on wood. 1997 580 cat ring pin went missing and the ring turned until it caught the exhaust port. Had the heads shaved for that motor and had put rings in it at the time. Not sure if I screwed up put it ran for a season like that before it popped.

It could had been, generally when top end fail's bottom end will be contaminated and shortly fail.

 

[Clode]

Lost a phazer crank, it had sat for many years, lower rod failed. Put new Mongoose crank in, new top-end and its still going.

 

[Longhairfreak]

Luckily I was not a Ski-Doo fan. Since 1996 riding the mountains I have had 2 engines fail that I needed a tow out. First one was a 98 700 RMK 700 with a Highmark head. Blew out a gasket and lost antifreeze. Second was my 1160. Bad fuel detonated a piston but was able to ride it down the trail. Happened half way up at Blue Lake. Third was my 1160. Blew the crank in half ripping across Blue Lake. I'll blame myself for that one. I bought a used bottom end for the build. Probably not a good idea. Needed several people and sleds to get it out.

 

[snopro]

One failure. Two dealers in western Canada picked up on a mistake in 2000 when Skidoo accidentily listed the new 800 engine in the parts price list. Our dealership and A&E in Brooks ordered one up before Skidoo realized what happened and had them in a chassis and on the snow before they knew what happened. Skidoo had not even released info on the new 2001 Summit by then so I would imagine someone lost their job over that. Anyways sled ran for about 400kms and the PTO bearing and seal let go because of lack of isoflex grease and we had to tow it in. Sadly was at a SkiDoo function another dealer had put on in the Pass. Everyone was pumped when they heard we had one. Everyone had a laugh when we towed it back to the trucks. I may or may not have had to ride double with a good customer. Still scarred over that...

 

[Anvil1010]

My one and only was an 86 or 87, I think, Phazer. Which was down to bad fuel.
I had a 94 Vmax that we took the motor out of to put in a 700 Mountain Max of my Dad's that after 3 pistons he was fed up with. That one still runs today.
All our next sleds have been Ski Doo and I have never blown one up. My brother had the 800 in his 07 blow but I think he had over 4,000 km on that one.

 

[snochuk]

Burned a piston in a Yamaha 82 SS440-easy piston swap, crank out of DooFormula MX470, crank bearing in 01 Summit 700, two motors in my 06 Summit-one crank and second was a crank also I believe but I sold chassis before I checked. Crank in 09 Summit- all three of the 800 Summits were between 2900 and 3200km and warranty covered.
Brother was shocked I did not kill my Cat before I sold it.
Then there was the cars.........

 

[ABMax24]

98 RMK 700, broke half the piston skirt off on the trail in, rode all day on it, didn't even know I broke the skirt off except it ran on 1 cylinder for about a minute and the aluminum dust on the spark plug. Only part of the piston I found was a small piece stuck in the bottom of the rod, everything else got chewed up and sent out the exhaust.
13 Pro RMK 800, melted a hole in the exhaust side of the piston, too much boost, not enough fuel, and questionable octane rating. Was out almost 70km from the truck, rode it out on one cylinder, still made 7 lbs boost, sounded like a tractor or an 1100 turbo. Also had the oil pump fail and cut oil delivery by half, seized the lower rod bearing solid, died right while running at 8200 rpm and 8 lbs boost. Essentially welded the rod to the crank, I couldn't get it to move after removing the crank from the cases and beating it with a hammer, got towed 50 km to the truck.

 

[cattechsummitrider]

1975 Sno-Jet astro ss 340 piston went down no idea how many miles on it, it was alot because my dad and older brother had it before me,, 1978 Kawasaki Invader,, crankshaft,,1995 skidoo summit crank seal-- belt wraped around crank ( does that count? ) 1997 summit 670 ported cylinders and case Jaws pipes ( loud) piston at 8900 km ( bad fuel) 2008 summit 800r piston

 

[kanedog]

95 Thundercat 900 triple with a 1050 hooper. I put too many miles on without a rebuild. No bottom end damage, just needed a top end and all good.

98 Polaris Rmk 700. Ported by Union Bay. It kept cooking pistons even with av gas. Unwillingly sold it to a friend.

99 Polaris xc 700, big ol’ 136” 2” track. Psi 925 went down. Magically, got upsold to the new 995 I think. Got and extra jug and piston. Sold sled, gave parts to friend for free. 10g’s. GONE! Haha

 

[1200]

Well have had mostly new sleds so not to many motors . Polaris had 96 680 altra top end cant remember the miles it had maybe 4000 . 02 edge piston broke 2000 ish miles. 03 vertical escape pto bearing 3500 ish miles. 09 assault 250 miles pistons due to detonation. Now cat m1000 300 miles more detonation. Now Yamaha 97 mm700 7000 km o wait still runs original motor. 07 apex still runs original motor 8000 km Now skidoo 16 t3 been trying to make it blow but just keeps running 8000km . All these are mtn miles. I wont get in to the truck motors i don't have all night .

 

[Lund]

Well have had mostly new sleds so not to many motors . Polaris had 96 680 altra top end cant remember the miles it had maybe 4000 . 02 edge piston broke 2000 ish miles. 03 vertical escape pto bearing 3500 ish miles. 09 assault 250 miles pistons due to detonation. Now cat m1000 300 miles more detonation. Now Yamaha 97 mm700 7000 km o wait still runs original motor. 07 apex still runs original motor 8000 km Now skidoo 16 t3 been trying to make it blow but just keeps running 8000km . All these are mtn miles. I wont get in to the truck motors i don't have all night .

Hahaha, I've been lucky with trucks.

 

[dabensmiller]

I have had a few failures over the years, my 08 dragon 700 was by far the worst. Blew the crank in December 2009, when i say blew the crank, i mean destroyed that thing, the crank was twisted in two pieces. After getting a new long block installed on warranty, it proceeded to take out 5 top ends that winter. That winter was a rough one on my wallet, i rode rented sleds more than the one i owned.

 

[LUCKY 7]

I thought those 700's were rock solid engines?

I have had a few failures over the years, my 08 dragon 700 was by far the worst. Blew the crank in December 2009, when i say blew the crank, i mean destroyed that thing, the crank was twisted in two pieces. After getting a new long block installed on warranty, it proceeded to take out 5 top ends that winter. That winter was a rough one on my wallet, i rode rented sleds more than the one i owned.

 

[dabensmiller]

I thought those 700's were rock solid engines?

It gave me 1100 miles of great performance, then took a steep decline. I have not heard of any other 700's that were so problematic.

 

[1100]

01 zx RKT 827 bigbore. Seized up a piston, bad fuel low elevation. Good sled.
RT 1000. Dropped skirt around 2600 km. Rebuilt with 1100 bikeman twin pipes Polaris clutches.
about 1000 km later p 85 brakes off crank stub and clutches play death match under the hood. Pulled it down got a new crank stub pressed on. Lasted about 3500 km before it dropped a skirt and broke all the windows off, in the back of renshaw. Rode it out like this. Didn’t actually run that bad suppringly, A few spark plugs as every one and a while piston skirt would smash spark plug electrode.
rebuilt sled to stock and put a turbo on it. Never really could get it running right, mostly due to lack of knowledge at the time. Crank stub came loose just started rubbing engine cases. Caught it rite away as I was doing plug chop checks in the field. Came apart again, welded crank. Toyed with it for another season before I parted sled out.

Also bought an 2007 xrs with a fresh 860 in it. Fresh crank. Made it to the back of Allen creek and the crank locked up at idle. Bad connecting rod bearing. Pulled that one out.