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2019 Ascender Engine Fail

nw-sickboy

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LOL 31 pages on the motor thread in the Poo section, couple confirmed motors lost, everyone losing their minds... 8 posts on a Cat thread and 5 confirmed engine failures :juggle:

LOL- a couple confirmed? There are 6 from one dealer in Canada- 2 from the original poster and more in between. There are also guys still waiting on snow checks and two Polaris service bulletins. Every brand will have some go down but this hardly seems like your random failures that every brand will have. Keep drinking the burandt Corp Cool Aid
 

GoBigParts

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Cat didn't come out with a big ad and a bunch of videos touting the Ctec as the most reliable engine they have ever produced.

So far on the 840, i have seen(or read) over 20 engine issues. From pistons to bearings and one broken rod.(only .02% of total sales, not bad honesty)

Every brand will have some failures. I believe Polaris' new 850 will be the leader this yr, by a fair margin.........
Next yr it will probably be as good as they promised for this yr.
Then everyone will be happy.


I could care a less how the marketing was done. In the end it is how well the sled performs for you. I believe Polaris has a larger marketing budget and didn't knowingly put out a product that might have an issue. Not sure how deep this issue goes yet.
 

Big10inch

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I could care a less how the marketing was done. In the end it is how well the sled performs for you. I believe Polaris has a larger marketing budget and didn't knowingly put out a product that might have an issue. Not sure how deep this issue goes yet.



The "issue" goes WAY back unfortunately. Releasing products before they are ready for production and cost cutting in places it doesn't belong. They screwed thousands on the 900, thousands more on the 800 Dragon and again on the early Pro's. This isn't a new thing for Polaris and the simple fact is Cat and Doo do not have this scope of engine issues.
 

M8onEdge

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The "issue" goes WAY back unfortunately. Releasing products before they are ready for production and cost cutting in places it doesn't belong. They screwed thousands on the 900, thousands more on the 800 Dragon and again on the early Pro's. This isn't a new thing for Polaris and the simple fact is Cat and Doo do not have this scope of engine issues.

While you're at it might as well throw in the 800s from 2000 through 2005. Crank bearing failure was almost a certainty over 2000 miles. Axys is supposed to be better but we lost one of those to a crank failure at 500 miles as well.

Reliability means more to me than innovation. I could ride any sled post 2014 and be happy. Dragging crap out of the mountains, regardless of the color sucks pretty bad. I was glad to see Polaris focusing on "durability". Personally going to be disappointed if that doesn't pan out with this new engine. Hopefully the Ctec is the reliable replacement for the Suzuki but to be fair, the jury is still out on that.
 

kidwoo

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I don't know why anyone is surprised with regards to polaris.

The following words just do not go together:

Polaris
New Motor
New lightweight crankshaft

Anyone who's owned sleds for any length of time already knows this.


I'm actually surprised there haven't been more cat motor problems. I'm sure it's largely a market share thing but still. They'll get the alpha rail figured out just like skidoo got the wobble clutch (mostly) figured out and polaris got their 800 (mostly) figured out.

Now if cat could just figure out why so many of their sleds have starting issues.......
 

Big10inch

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While you're at it might as well throw in the 800s from 2000 through 2005. Crank bearing failure was almost a certainty over 2000 miles. Axys is supposed to be better but we lost one of those to a crank failure at 500 miles as well.

Reliability means more to me than innovation. I could ride any sled post 2014 and be happy. Dragging crap out of the mountains, regardless of the color sucks pretty bad. I was glad to see Polaris focusing on "durability". Personally going to be disappointed if that doesn't pan out with this new engine. Hopefully the Ctec is the reliable replacement for the Suzuki but to be fair, the jury is still out on that.



Completely agree, though we had some old RMKs make 3000+ miles without the crank bearing going.


I am not a brand loyal person either, I just like what WORKs consistently. We are taking my buddies new Alpha out today, hopefully it is as good as most say. I am still on the last of the Suzuki's after my Axys experience, waiting to see how the ctec does after its second season myself.
 

goridedoo

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LOL- a couple confirmed? There are 6 from one dealer in Canada- 2 from the original poster and more in between. There are also guys still waiting on snow checks and two Polaris service bulletins. Every brand will have some go down but this hardly seems like your random failures that every brand will have. Keep drinking the burandt Corp Cool Aid

Oh excuse me, 8 motors out of 10k... to the 5 kittys we already know about, out of what? 1000 sold? Keep tellin yourself that people buy sleds because of Boorandt, and I’ll continue to know that Polaris sells 10 sleds to every Cat because THEY BUILD A BETTER MACHINE.
 

summ8rmk

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We can banter as much as we want on this thread. Try to make a big scene....
It will never be as large a thread as the blown 850 thread.

Only 1,000 Arctic cat riders vs 100,000 Polaris riders......

 

goridedoo

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We can banter as much as we want on this thread. Try to make a big scene....
It will never be as large a thread as the blown 850 thread.

Only 1,000 Arctic cat riders vs 100,000 Polaris riders......

O cmon, its 10:1 not 100:1 :face-icon-small-win
 

summ8rmk

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Deep snow is fun on a Mtn Cat.
Especially when the engine is still working.
1ca5c7490f84decd33eafd4469eb2d83.jpg


 

john6719

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I don't know why anyone is surprised with regards to polaris.

The following words just do not go together:

Polaris
New Motor
New lightweight crankshaft

Anyone who's owned sleds for any length of time already knows this.


I'm actually surprised there haven't been more cat motor problems. I'm sure it's largely a market share thing but still. They'll get the alpha rail figured out just like skidoo got the wobble clutch (mostly) figured out and polaris got their 800 (mostly) figured out.

Now if cat could just figure out why so many of their sleds have starting issues.......

What’s there for cat to figure out on the Alpha rail? Only thing I can see is possibly changing the way the track clips are designed so you don’t have to run the track so tight to keep hyfax good.
 

summ8rmk

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Don't ride it down the trail in lock. Thought mine rode like crap on the trail and realized the rear shock was locked out. Might ride a tad better now.
I'm at 110lbs on #1.
This Alpha suspension is different than 18's. My 18 was 120lbs on #2 and i locked it on steep deep climbs to keep the skis down.

 

sno*jet

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Oh excuse me, 8 motors out of 10k... to the 5 kittys we already know about, out of what? 1000 sold? Keep tellin yourself that

nice internet stats there, 1000 sold :face-icon-small-dis. its the same motor released in early 2017. And its not just in the mountain sleds...
 

kidwoo

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What’s there for cat to figure out on the Alpha rail? Only thing I can see is possibly changing the way the track clips are designed so you don’t have to run the track so tight to keep hyfax good.

they's breakin'!
 

john6719

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they's breakin'!

No, they break when you hit **** just like every other part on the snowmobile.

I broke an a-arm and a shock three days ago too. Doesn’t mean there is anything wrong with the a-arm or shock, it means I hit something and it broke. I don’t want a 10,000 lbs snowmobile that will never break... two rail skids break too when you hit stuff. I’ve been in stumps, dead fall, rocks with my Alpha and have had some decent impacts...no broken or bent skid. Have had other carnage though.

As far as number of engines out there...

2017 Polaris had 33% MS and Cat has 16%. I would bet that has tightened some since 2017, but have not found any verifiable data on that. So you have roughly 2x the Polaris sleds in total. The 850 is a limited build (both 800 and 840 were built for 2019), so a general assumption would be there are similar (not suggesting exact) numbers of 2019 Cat 800 engines as there are 840 Polaris engines out there in 2019. If you consider the Cat 800 came out in 2018, there are likely “roughly” 2x as many 800 ctec engines on the market as there are 840 Polaris today.
 

d1100t

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2019 sales numbers

Oh excuse me, 8 motors out of 10k... to the 5 kittys we already know about, out of what? 1000 sold? Keep tellin yourself that people buy sleds because of Boorandt, and I’ll continue to know that Polaris sells 10 sleds to every Cat because THEY BUILD A BETTER MACHINE.

I'd like to know how many 2018 and 2019 800cc sleds cat sold?
Somebody must know??
I'd also like to know how many 800cc Alphas they delivered?
 
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