Engine Down! My Stage IV 800 CFI loses crank bearing, piston, cylinder, ect....

harrysmith500 · Feb 1, 2011

Sled was ripping, then I felt the engine skip for a split second and turned out of the climb, then drove back to the truck (should have towed), it couldn't make it up the trailer ramp on it's own after the 16 mile ride back to truck.

And of course it's 3 months out of warranty and Polaris denied the warranty claim. I love Polaris (more that I don't like Doo and Cat haha) and fortunately have a great dealer in Tri-City that didn't charge a dime to tear down my sled/motor in hope of Polaris warrantying at least the crank.
This sled had 800 miles and was equipped with the Stage IV kit from SLP from day 1 (Not a good idea).

The piston bearings are blued like it has been running too lean.

There was no Power Commander on this sled, and I was running Amsoil Dominator.

Tri-city claims I am the first victim of this type of failure this year, and that they saw 5 failures last year like mine.

It's just money right :face-icon-small-dis

The cylinder has small, but fatal crack. Squint to see!

V Force Reeds Fail. Kraven warned me about how crappy they are in the 800 CFI, but sled came with the Stage IV and the stock reeds will be going back in.

It also took out 1 of the SLP Power Domes... Anything else haha

skibreeze · Feb 1, 2011

Where did all the ball bearings go? What else did they get to?

harrysmith500 · Feb 1, 2011

skibreeze said:
Where did all the ball bearings go? What else did they get to?

I am not sure where they ended up, when I looked through all the parts on the mechanics bench at TCP I didn't see any, and he said he doesn't throw any away, and there was none in the clutch compartment on my sled.

Is it possible the motor ingested them and spit them out the pipe?

I'll get more better resolution pics later this week.

I'm tentatively planning on installing PMS's "The Fix" with stock cylinders and a PCV w/ Auto Tune

diamonddave · Feb 1, 2011

Harry,

sorry to hear your troubles. I've started a thread to try and keep track of the failures with the CFI. Would you mind chiming in?

BTW, do you have 2 of these sleds?

harrysmith500 · Feb 1, 2011

diamonddave said:
Harry,

sorry to hear your troubles. I've started a thread to try and keep track of the failures with the CFI. Would you mind chiming in?

BTW, do you have 2 of these sleds?

Haha 2, I wish! We actually have 3 of them. The other 2 will probably be ridden a total of 3 times each this winter.

It gets worse, I have 3 other buddies i ride with that have the exact sled. No problems for them yet and hopefully it stays that way.

Post up the link to your thread please.

skibreeze · Feb 1, 2011

harrysmith500 said:
I am not sure where they ended up, when I looked through all the parts on the mechanics bench at TCP I didn't see any, and he said he doesn't throw any away, and there was none in the clutch compartment on my sled.

Is it possible the motor ingested them and spit them out the pipe?

I'll get more better resolution pics later this week.

I'm tentatively planning on installing PMS's "The Fix" with stock cylinders and a PCV w/ Auto Tune

I can't imagine that they made their way through the motor w/o destroying the pistons and head in the process.

harrysmith500 · Feb 1, 2011

skibreeze said:
I can't imagine that they made their way through the motor w/o destroying the pistons and head in the process.

The cylinder is cracked on just one side, on that same side the head has been hamburger-ed a bit, and you don't even wanna see what the piston looks like, it'll make you cry!

DragonFreak · Feb 1, 2011

That is a good looking motor. RUN it and watch it lol. 1 burn down isnt bad

skibreeze · Feb 1, 2011

harrysmith500 said:
The cylinder is cracked on just one side, on that same side the head has been hamburger-ed a bit, and you don't even wanna see what the piston looks like, it'll make you cry!

Well, maybe that explains where those little guys went. After 9 pistons, etc, etc, it would take more than one destroyed motor to make me cry. Bending the crank as a final straw, I sure felt like crying. :face-icon-small-sad

Starting to like my new XP Etec. :focus:

harrysmith500 · Feb 1, 2011

skibreeze said:
Well, maybe that explains where those little guys went. After 9 pistons, etc, etc, it would take more than one destroyed motor to make me cry. Bending the crank as a final straw, I sure felt like crying. :face-icon-small-sad

Starting to like my new XP Etec. :focus:

You battled hard soldier, I'm sad to see you on a Doo, but at least you'll be on the snow more. Now speak of that greedy evil power plant E-tec no more!!!!

mountainhorse · Feb 2, 2011

Harry,

That sux... I hate to see a fellow sledder loose out on riding time with a failed motor.

Max and the crew at TCP are stellar to deal with and one of the absolute best mountain sled dealers in the west!

With this being a full mod motor... with a re-flashed ECU, high compression head and full cylinder porting... Did Max think that Polaris should have warrantied the motor?

What elevation, oil, octane etc?

Did you have the Ethanol wires plugged in?

155Assault · Feb 2, 2011

D8 burn down

Mine went 2200 miles. I am going with 2010 case, cylinders, crank, PMS piston kit. My dealer said he hasn't lost any 2010 motors, he knows others that have, but Polaris beefed up the tabs on the cylinders on the 10's. Hopefully I will get 3-4K out of this build. The only thing I haven't decided is if I should put an SLP pipe and power commander on it.

Please let me know what your planned fix is...

harrysmith500 · Feb 2, 2011

mountainhorse said:
Harry,

That sux... I hate to see a fellow sledder loose out on riding time with a failed motor.

Max and the crew at TCP are stellar to deal with and one of the absolute best mountain sled dealers in the west!

With this being a full mod motor... with a re-flashed ECU, high compression head and full cylinder porting... Did Max think that Polaris should have warrantied the motor?

What elevation, oil, octane etc?

Did you have the Ethanol wires plugged in?

Thanks for the condolences MH, Max knew there was no way the cylinder and piston/ head would be warrantied, which I also knew. Max was pretty optimistic about the crank and somewhat surprised when they declined it. I'm pretty sure max only submitted the crank for warranty.

soooo.. I am actually pretty excited about rebuilding the engine with some nice mods!

Here's the engine rebuild agenda.

My mechanic, who's name is Eric, his shop is called Totally Tricked Toys located in North Salt Lake UT, has found me a 2008 cylinder. It has a few scratches in it. He is going to hone it and make a decision whether it will work or not. I think it was $200 (refundable).

Today I got on the list @ PMS Polaris for "The Fix", they should have the back ordered parts in by saturday.

I think I'll leave the SLP Head on, but NO PORTING ON THE CYLINDER AND NO V FORCE III REEDS.

As for the crank, were looking at about $650 for a rebuild or $975 for new (gotta make that decision soon).

Need to order a PC V for this sled, I already have the Auto Tune.

I'll plan on running DynoTech Jim's 162 HP Map.

I'm switching to a mineral oil and will be adding 1 pint of oil in the gas tank, per tank, as per IndyDan's suggestion. I'm hoping to find Polaris Blue, but it's semi synthetic now so I'll probably go to Injex.

Any other questions fellers? Thanks for the input.

harrysmith500 · Feb 2, 2011

oh and I had the wires plugged together, the SLP Stage IV is backwards of a stock sled. SO I was running the "no Ethanol" setting.

Riding 7000 to 10,000'.

Amsoil Dominator. I am switching because my buddy's 900 RMK went down the same time, with a crank bearing issue. I don't know if it's the oils fault, but Indy Dan would probably say that it is a contributing factor.

DragonSlayer1 · Feb 2, 2011

x2

My went out also. Broke the skirt off the piston which broke the skirt off the cylinder which broke holes in the case which broke the crank. Trash sled.:face-icon-small-sad

harrysmith500 · Feb 2, 2011

DragonSlayer1 said:
My went out also. Broke the skirt off the piston which broke the skirt off the cylinder which broke holes in the case which broke the crank. Trash sled.:face-icon-small-sad

thats just unlucky. sorry to hear man.

snow1barta · Feb 2, 2011

800 dragon down

Almost same thing happened to mine , but it was total locked up, made a horrible metal noise then died . Took to dealer in caldwell, they pulled apart ,said cyl skirt broke off and totaly aborted clutch side cyl ,case and crank . unit was only about month and a half out of warranty. polaris declined due to out of warr, but serv manager went to bat for me with polaris, got polaris to cover parts only . The service dept. at grizzly was great, got me back on the snow :face-icon-small-coo

harrysmith500 · Feb 2, 2011

Stock may break again!!
Be careful. Glad to hear your guy stuck his neck out there for you

snow1barta · Feb 3, 2011

harrysmith500 said:
Stock may break again!!
Be careful. Glad to hear your guy stuck his neck out there for you

Dealer installed 2010 short block asm , stated cyl skirt thicker les prone to breakage hope thats true . either way I am going to get new pro next year with 4 year warr. :face-icon-small-hap

cascadesnowjunky · Feb 3, 2011

Sorry to hear about the catostophic failure, those are never good. As for the bearing there is probably no balls missing its just that the cage that seperates them is gone. Either way hope you get it back on the snow soon, good luck.

Engine Down! My Stage IV 800 CFI loses crank bearing, piston, cylinder, ect....

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