11-12' 800 Pro Reliability

[Super Sled]

I guess what I'm gleaning from this thread and other similar ones is an extended warranty/ service contract is a necessary add on when purchasing any new sled, especially the high powered 800's. And don't be amazed when the motor blows, as there isn't much reliability built in to any of them anymore.

 

[knifedge]

-Just take the one year factory warranty and save your money to put towards an RKT piston and head set. Gives you more HP, use ethanol fuel, and reliable pistons.

--Also turn up your oil pump to 32:1

--And do not vote for liberals

 

[knifedge]

-Cat/Suzuki probably has the best 2 stroke 800 engine for power and reliability and definetly for turbo apps

-Cat/Suzuki 4 stroke 1100T seems to be doing well so far. Yamaha has great reliability also.

--Rebuild the Polaris 800, turn up the oil pump, and it runs ok

 

[aebsledder]

Interesting poll

This poll seems like it has stayed pretty much at the 13 percent failure rate for the duration of it's existence. Wondering if it is a testament to it's accuracy? Although if you take out the sleds that have less than 1000 miles on them it is a spicy meatball. I think we can all agree that a major engine failure with less than a 1000 miles on a STOCK sled is inexcusable.

 

[Twostroke]

The failure rates don't represent what I have seen in my area. There has not been a single engine melt down here that I have heard about and I know a lot of the PRO riders here. There have been issues for sure, just like with all brands, but nothing real major that I have heard about or witnessed.

We live in the same place, late year I saw a PRO getting towed. Talked with him after and he said crank went. I've spent most of this year getting my IQR towed..

 

[knifedge]

It will be interesting to see if the failure rate goes up with mileage in the 1000-2000 range. It was a relatively low mileage season this year due to low/late snow conditions. Grenading engines with under 2k is unnacceptable also. If we see a 20-30 percent or more failure rate next season, even the most skeptical will start having doubts.

--Aftermarket is already ramping up inventory for next season.

 

[Hardass]

Kipp Nixon blew up his 2012 pro with 850 miles on it 2 weeks ago. They wanted him to wait for cases that were back ordered but he ended up with a whole new motor within 2 weeks.

 

[beamslayer]

Hardass tell me it ain't so, there is no problem with poos engines this is just a isolated incident just because one goes down does not mean there is a problem.


Sorry for the sarcasm I posted this same thing with pictures and caught quit a bit of guff over it went so far as to give me a bad post report.
This was a low snow year lets see what happen next year.

 

[Hardass]

I'm not going to argue it with any one but i have seen a few go down this year. some do some dont.

 

[harps500]

This thread should be stuck at top!

 

[Old Scud-doo]

I wonder how bad the results would be if you removed all pollsters with less than 1000 miles. If you do the math right now and assume that nobody with less than 1000 miles had a problem that's around 31% failure. Having taken two quarters of statistics in college I would believe that to be a poor sampling but what about middle ground of 22% (13%+31%/2) That's a little high in my opinion for acceptablility. Something you guys are missing is that Polaris doesn't have the highest hp or meanest motor out there that you can buy. If they were getting 170 hp and having issues, that's one thing. To de-tune a sled to try and get to down to acceptable losses in warranty and still have the lowest hp motor in the class? I find it unacceptable.

I am one of the stupid that keep buying the products they produce for lack of anything better out there but really, at some point Polaris is going to have to design a different motor. Would a 4 stroke in a pro put it equal in weight to a Scud? Just asking.

No body seems to be getting anyone from Polaris on this site to chime in. Why not? Do you know your 800 motor is inferrior? Why don't you chime in and defend you product? You have the numbers right there in front of you. 800 motors sold in sled assemblies vs. warranty work numbers. I would believe it's because they are ashamed of data. My father once told me that when you no longer believe you build the best or do the best job and you can't defend your product, it's time to get out.

I am not trying to bust any ones balls, I love my Pro chassis and even though I snowchecked a 13, I have to wonder if it's going to run when I get it and for how long it will run. Yes, I will have warranty but when you are sitting in front of Polaris West after dropping off your sled to be fixed and all your buddies are heading into the hills to ride..without you..it gets old. Warranty doesn't pay for rental sleds...maybe it should. That would bankrupt PI in less than a year! If we are just a bunch of whinny cry babies then somebody from Polaris Industries should come on here and show us the numbers to dispell our discontent with the 800 motor. Nobody and no company is perfect but you should be trying for perfection and not happy with status quo.

 

[Super Sled]

I wonder how bad the results would be if you removed all pollsters with less than 1000 miles. If you do the math right now and assume that nobody with less than 1000 miles had a problem that's around 31% failure. Having taken two quarters of statistics in college I would believe that to be a poor sampling but what about middle ground of 22% (13%+31%/2) That's a little high in my opinion for acceptablility. Something you guys are missing is that Polaris doesn't have the highest hp or meanest motor out there that you can buy. If they were getting 170 hp and having issues, that's one thing. To de-tune a sled to try and get to down to acceptable losses in warranty and still have the lowest hp motor in the class? I find it unacceptable.

I am one of the stupid that keep buying the products they produce for lack of anything better out there but really, at some point Polaris is going to have to design a different motor. Would a 4 stroke in a pro put it equal in weight to a Scud? Just asking.

No body seems to be getting anyone from Polaris on this site to chime in. Why not? Do you know your 800 motor is inferrior? Why don't you chime in and defend you product? You have the numbers right there in front of you. 800 motors sold in sled assemblies vs. warranty work numbers. I would believe it's because they are ashamed of data. My father once told me that when you no longer believe you build the best or do the best job and you can't defend your product, it's time to get out.

I am not trying to bust any ones balls, I love my Pro chassis and even though I snowchecked a 13, I have to wonder if it's going to run when I get it and for how long it will run. Yes, I will have warranty but when you are sitting in front of Polaris West after dropping off your sled to be fixed and all your buddies are heading into the hills to ride..without you..it gets old. Warranty doesn't pay for rental sleds...maybe it should. That would bankrupt PI in less than a year! If we are just a bunch of whinny cry babies then somebody from Polaris Industries should come on here and show us the numbers to dispell our discontent with the 800 motor. Nobody and no company is perfect but you should be trying for perfection and not happy with status quo.

Excellent points -- my thoughts exactly. We owners do this to ourselves, lol, by not demanding a better motor.

But this chassis is just sooooo fun to drive.....

 

[aebsledder]

Careful Scud, some on here may think you are on the brink of whining.

I love those comments. You spend upwards of TEN THOUSAND dollars on a machine and if it breaks down on you the comments just roll on how you may be mis-treating your machine, or that is just the nature of the beast. Nothing like settling for mediocrity. I fully recognize the fact that all of them are unreliable, and the subject has been beat to death, but I can only report what I know. I know I have owned 3 Polaris sleds and their powerplant and drivetrain systems have sucked something fierce. Why do I keep buying them then? Simple. The dealer that I use always gets me back on the snow, and my confidence in them supercedes my confidence in Polaris. One day I think it would be nice to not have that panicked feeling when you realize you forgot your tow strap though...

 

[beamslayer]

Fresh snow on the mnt yee haa going out to find some new riding area today.I wish I was taking my assault but I am still riding so all is well. No word on my friends 12 assault yet dealership must be too busy and no loner.

Time is ticking away on snow and warranty. Starting to melt only a few good riding days left here. Thank god he has a warranty other wise he would be missing out on a great ride today oh my bad he will be missing out --no sled.

You all have a great Easter I know the Polaris CEO will

 

[pura vida]

for those who are honest i think it is pretty hard to argue that polaris doesn't have some motor design issues. they have for awhile now. i didn't have a 900 but did have a dragon and now have a pro. had the dragon for 1200 miles and it ran great but that's not saying a whole lot. my pro went down around 2000 miles. i have personally seen a few pro's go down this year. but i do wonder how much of the concern is internet driven? there is issues but to me, even with what i've seen, it seems a little over hyped in the forums. although possibly justifiably so with the history of the 900 and 800 cfi-4. "supposedly" some improvements will be made in the 13. (guess they have thicker cylinder skirts which would have probably prevented mine from going down, but is that really the issue or just the symptom) but i too also continue to buy polaris because i really like their chassis (both the iq and pro) and more importantly i have an absolutely outstanding dealer. had my sled running in a week with brand new motor and was apologizing to me that it wasn't sooner. pretty impressive. with the cost of sleds these days i think the dealer is a key factor in a persons purchase

pv

 

[Hardass]

Went riding today 5 pros in our group 1 blew his motor up about 2300 miles on that sled

 

[The Fourth Wolf]

Went riding today 5 pros in our group i blew his motor up about 2300 miles on that sled

Why would you do that to a friend?

 

[Hardass]

Sorry meant 1

 

[R_8_N]

Went riding today 5 pros in our group 1 blew his motor up about 2300 miles on that sled

correction! 2 blew up yesterday....the one towing the 1st blown up one lost a piston about a mile from the truck....so they were both blown up by the time they both got to the truck! the other one had over 2000 miles as well.

 

[whittaker727]

It would be interesting to talk to Burandt about his fleet. His sleds get ridden every day all winter long, so who knows how many miles those sleds have. How many failures has he experienced? Or, Dan Adams? Either one have any personal contact with those two that could ask that question?