Fairbanks Snow Travelers

So my sled stalled out on today's ride and I had to be towed back. Figured it was ice - so I brought her home and hair-dried her (to warm the lines up) . She starts rough, but will stay started until she is put under load. I jacked up the back and just ran her stationary - she required more and more fuel to maintain tread speed and finally stalled out again. Both sides of the exhaust seemed hot to me. I put an entire bottle of red heet in her and let the road home (20 mile CHSR) mix the tank up.

So is it likely ice in the lines, or something worse? I do not have a garage, so for me to drain the tank and the carbs is kinda a mess. If it is ice, could I restart her and just let her idle for a half - to a full hour and would that run it out enough? With all temp changes I guess I could have some condensation in the lines - is a bottle of heet enough (usu. only do a half) and would more help (or hurt - ie another bottle of heet.)

Thoughts? I hate to take her to the shop for something I should be able to do...

Thanks,

Heather

You should find a warm spot (GARAGE) for "her", if it is a liquid cooled sled, exessive idling to warm up can cause it to overheat and actually cause engine damage.
It would help to know what sled you ride, age, miles,.............

3 years old Arctic Cat Bear Cat - fan cooled, two stroke - couple hundred miles on it.

Wish I had access to a garage, but I don't. It is on the wish list. If I had a garage I'd have probably already ruled out if it was frozen lines.

Is there a way to get rid of ice in the lines without a garage or heated space? One idea I had was putting a light bulb (incandescent) (safety cage) under the hood and a blanket on top of the hood.

Heather

where do you live, can you possibly bring over to my place , you can use my garage all day tomorrow and if you need to leave it a day or two no problem. I'm no mechanic but have a few tools.
Dave

Heather you are more than welcome to bring it over to my place as well. I just got done rebuilding an 600 polaris for a buddy so I have a spot in the heated grage open. I would also be willing to look at it. All I would ask is if it needs parts you get them.

Marty

Heather did you find a garage and did you get your sled running, I have actually put a heater on my older skidoos and warmed them up and thay ran fine after that, hope you got it.
Dave and Terri

Thank you all for your offer of help! The more I thought about it, the more I'm concerned with the fact that the track locked up that first time it stalled and am taking it in for a look-see. Better safe than sorry.

I really do appreciate it!

Hope to see some of you this Saturday!

Heather

Ended up being engine related - so it looks like my snowmachining season is done early this year...

Ah well, there is always next season.

=)

Heather

What kind of engine trouble? Are you giving up already? The best riding is still ahead.

Said at least one cylinder is scratched up - need to take the engine apart to make sure there wasn't more damage. Could be anywhere from $500 (if it is just that one cylinder, which he seems to think it is) to $3000 ($3k is very very worst case.) And as much as I hate it, unfortunately I have some other higher priority items. Would be a good snow year that this happens...

This is a medioker snow year at best, But comared to last year, aint bad. We are way over due for an EPIC snow year. Hope you get her fixed, if not for this year, then for next.

This really sounds strange. Typically this happens because of lack of oil.

What size motor is that? I just got through rebuilding a 370 and it really wasn't that difficult. Parts online are about 1/3rd the price.
Depending on how scratched up the cylinders are and what they are made of, they may be able to be cleaned up or re-sleaved at a considerably lower cost.

Dealers response is replace replace replace.
Might look elsewhere.


But the real concern is why did it happen. Could it be the oil pump? Could it be a clog? Could it be a out-of-adjustment oil cable?

from what Heather describes I'm guessing that her sled ran out oil and a bearing locked up ,, the cylinders are Nic,cell and take a diamond hone to clean up, not a big deal, I'd bet that's not the problem area,,the crank is the speenndyy part, shipping it out is one option darbys charges 500$ to overhaul , and if it toasted a rod end (either end ) the price can go up a bit, having overhauled many many engines from simple 200$ piston only to out the roof 1100$ that being a complete almost new triple, the majority of the cost is labor.
the best bet would be tear it apart slowly and see were the problems lie,.. good luck
Tony

Actually, I asked them about the whole oil thing - mainly because I have _never_ run her empty (or even low enough to have the light come on.) They said it was definitly not oil, rather it was running too lean (gas.) It is possible I forgot to put stabil in the tank last spring and the gas went bad.

I don't take it to the dealer... They seem like nice people, but they refuse to talk to me rather than my husband... So I take it to Philips Recreation. They have had at least one chance to over charge me and they didn't take it. And they talk to me.

I should find out how much damage to fix the SUV this week, and if I'm very lucky there will be enough left over to fix the snowmachine.

well heather if it was a lean out condition the cost shouldnt be to bad ...hone it and a set of pistons and gasket set, for sure ,, wouldn't expect much more, the lean out thing is more of a concern though,,,, bad gas ain't going to do it,,,though contamination would if it plugged a carb. mmm
jets and/ or overheat would...if someone had it in the mountains or on a hot day and changed the jets , that would set it up to melt down...if the water pump died or it ran out'a anti frezze or my e'speciality tow something to far to slow ,,that kills them as well.. my 06 755 rmk is on its 3rd engine... the only one of my polaris fleet that has given me this much grief. first rebuild was 4500$ the second was 1700$
some of my sleds have sat for years without running and the gas has turned yellow ,... add gas haul a** and never a problem.
I would check the jets
check the anit frezze
rebuild it and try again ..
ask for the pistons back and if you can bring them to a meeting we'd all like to see them