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Blown RMK 700 Motor. Why?

B
Dec 19, 2007
9
0
1
Vernon BC
I just blew the motor in my 1997 rmk 700. It only had 1700 original miles. I bought it because other sledders had very good luck with this motor.
Any ideas why it might of pre-maturely stacked? It was -16c at about 2000ft. It had been running for 10 minutes before. We were climbing the trail out of the valley so gained some elevation quickly. Oil and coolant were good. Used 91 octane. The main rattling noises were coming from the bottem end.


What do you think?
 
D

DragonFreak

Well-known member
Nov 29, 2007
1,543
254
83
Heber Ut
Hvae u owned that sled since new. It is possible that previous owner un hooked that speedo cable and then hooked it back up to sell it and that sled has lots more miles. I hope there is no one out there that would be careless enough to do that but it is very possible.
 

polar765

New member
Lifetime Membership
Dec 3, 2007
61
3
8
Yakima Wa
check the thrust washer on the crank for the rods ,I had one come apart ,part of it was sucked up the port and took out the piston ,its hard to find if only part of the washer breaks off
 

rocket

Well-known member
Premium Member
Jul 20, 2001
319
67
28
Wisconsin
That is a pretty old sled to only have that many miles. I use 500 miles per season as a guideline. Any less than that is a "red flag" that either the sled spent all its time in storage (far worse than being used) or that someone ran the sled with the speedo disconnected. As far as the question about what might be wrong, I too have seen a broken thrust washer on a connecting rod show up in a relatively low-mile 700 motor about the same age. I've also seen rust (from storage) destroy con rods and bearings, causing failure abnormally soon. Don't run the motor until it can be torn down and checked over. Those cranks can be serviced (even though Polaris considers them non-rebuildable), so if it really is a bottom end problem, you may not be into it for big $$. Yes, I'm sure you'd rather not have to work on it, but if you have the work done, you'll know exactly what condition the motor is in. Normally, they do run for a lot of miles needing only normal maintenance.
 
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