Bullet Proof 2010 M8 H.O. took at bullet!!!!

cat4ever72 · Feb 9, 2012

Been planning a trip for 6 days of riding in Wyoming for the last 6 months. Finally the time has come for riding heaven. First day in my 2010 M8 H.O. is going up a hill and whammo, makes a wierd sound and loses power. This can't be good. I limp it about a 100 yards and let off the trottle and DEAD. I pull the clutch cover off and try to turn the motor over, locked up tight. Turn it backwards and it turns 3/4 turn. Decide to pull the pipe off and there are little beads of aluminum in the Y-Pipe. This can't be good. Pull the PTO plug out and everything looks fine. Pull the Mag side and what do you know full of melted aluminum. Well she's blown up!!
Ride the following 4 days on a SKI-DOO without a problem. Turns out my warrantee ran out 6 weeks prior. My dealer is trying to get cat to do something to help me out but it's not looking good. I am supposed to be going on another trip in two weeks. I either need a new motor which will cost upwards of $2500-3000 to fix or something.
Anyone have any suggestions?
I have been a loyal Cat Rider for 25 years and this really rubs me raw.

JRider · Feb 9, 2012

Bad gas? Dont think that being on the other side of the fence (crank bearing eating skidoos) would be any better. 7000mi on my last cat and never left me stranded...even with mods. Dont think you need to buy a whole motor either. So you spayed a piston out of it...get a new one and new cylinder if necessary.

Griff · Feb 9, 2012

Tear down ASAP. Find the problem. Fix or order new motor. You can't replace lost riding time so that is the greatest expense. Get it back on the snow. These mountain sleds are basically a race machine. So, failures will happen. Hopefully you will find the cause to be a mechanical defect and get some help from AC. Otherwise, charge on and get back on the snow.

CatRyder88 · Feb 9, 2012

The exact same thing happened to me on my 2010. Same amount of miles too. Except it happened with 10 days of warranty left. Sorry about your luck.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk when I should be checkin wells!

WyoBoy1000 · Feb 9, 2012

Was it 100% stock.

tatorsalad · Feb 9, 2012

how many miles?

Demo250 · Feb 9, 2012

If you tear it down yourself you will save a lot of money. I payed a mechanic once... never again. These motors are pretty basic, you'll have no trouble pulling it apart. If you aren't sure what all you will need after it is torn down you could always bring it in and have the dealer re-assemble it. Then you could install it yourself again after.

cat4ever72 · Feb 9, 2012

I am very mechanically inclined and spoke with my dealer. He tore it apart and apparrently the skirt broke off the piston and raised holy hell inside the case and with the crankshaft. I am afraid if I throw new pistons and all in it and don't get the crank checked out I will be in the same boat again down the road. Getting pulled out of the mountains 20 miles once is bad enough. I just hope Cat will step up and at least try to help me out.

cat4ever72 · Feb 9, 2012

totally stock!!

cat4ever72 · Feb 9, 2012

approximately 1600 miles

cat4ever72 · Feb 9, 2012

JRider said:
Bad gas? Dont think that being on the other side of the fence (crank bearing eating skidoos) would be any better. 7000mi on my last cat and never left me stranded...even with mods. Dont think you need to buy a whole motor either. So you spayed a piston out of it...get a new one and new cylinder if necessary.

I put in 91 octane, shouldn't have been a problem. Piston skirt broke off.

WyoBoy1000 · Feb 9, 2012

Any sign of deto, if not its prob just from to much heat, like in that 6200 rpm range or from the coolant getting to hot.

Its hard one to call, but I would be happy if they would even pick up half the bill.

JRider · Feb 10, 2012

cat4ever72 said:
I put in 91 octane, shouldn't have been a problem. Piston skirt broke off.

Yeah, that sucks! On my F7 I had a cracked ypipe, pulled it off to replace it and found a cracked piston. Pulled it down and the piston was cracked all the way across the top and past the ring lands on the other side. I had a cat mechanic tell me the piston heat cycled so many times it oblonged an hit the exhaust valve. Another hundred miles I may have been in the same boat.

Blk88GT · Feb 10, 2012

Call FreeAgent.

cat4ever72 · Feb 10, 2012

Blk88GT said:
Call FreeAgent.

whats the number?

skibreeze · Feb 10, 2012

541 523-3500 Michelle

CO 2.0 · Feb 10, 2012

I had the same exact failure at 2000 miles on my 2010 M8. Stock. I have extra parts if you need them depending on what parts are bad on yours. Probably need to send the crank out to put new bearings in and true it, cases are probably gouged bad, one cylinder/piston/rod. Might as well replace the other piston as well now, but the other cylinder and rod are probably okay.

scrfce · Feb 10, 2012

That reeeally sux but in all honesty i wouldnt have a hate on for cat, these things can, will and do happen. If they fixed everything after warranty where would the line be drawn? I could see if it was a day or two after, but six weeks... i highly doubt any company could stay in biz doin good deeds like that

cat4ever72 · Feb 14, 2012

TTT - Anyone else?

snowdingo · Feb 14, 2012

cat4ever72 said:
I am very mechanically inclined and spoke with my dealer. He tore it apart and apparrently the skirt broke off the piston and raised holy hell inside the case and with the crankshaft. I am afraid if I throw new pistons and all in it and don't get the crank checked out I will be in the same boat again down the road. Getting pulled out of the mountains 20 miles once is bad enough. I just hope Cat will step up and at least try to help me out.

This sucks, sorry to hear about your sled.

The bonus side to this is you have diagnosed the problem-a piston skirt broke away. You're not trying to chase down a lean out, air leak, oiler problem, etc.

My luck with having metal bouncing around inside the crank has been iffy though-make sure you go through the bottom end and make sure the crank is still good before rebuilding.

Don't worry about brand loyalty-this happens to all of them. A friend just had his Rev XP blow up for the THIRD time in 12 months, this time with the crank wiped out. He is a die hard skidoo guy, and will likely replace it with another one.

Good luck. I hope your crank can be saved, and I hope cat helps out a bit with your expenses as well.

Bullet Proof 2010 M8 H.O. took at bullet!!!!

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