For Everyone with an 08-10 D8 Please Read

squirrel chaser · Jan 9, 2011

2010 Dragon

Here is one strange problem on my 10 Dragon. Just bought it with 500 miles on it and mint condition. Love the sled, pulls great, handles great, couldn't ask for more. Put on 100 miles in Cooke, and would then start to studder at times. After trying differant things, found that if you lean it to the right like 1 cylinder would cut out. Lean to left works great. Then lower it gets on fuel the worse it gets. So thinking it a problem with fuel pickup or pump took it to dealer to have it checked. They pulled out pump and checked,all good runs fine. Try it, turn right runs fine turn left starts studdering, still a problem. They think its electrical. 5 more hours and a fuel filter fixed? try it ,same problem thinking its fuel fill it to top try it, same problem . They finally pull an ECM from an identical sled it works great. They can't find a new ECM anywhere so I have them put mine back on so I can at least limp it along to finish out my trip. Works perfect, thought maybe just a bad connection. 1 hour riding it starts again.As long as I stay on left side or flat it runs awsome lean her a little right one cylinder goes away. Now should I risk getting a new ECM our not ? I only have an engine warrenty and they say this is not covered. I have owed Polaris' since I could reach the handlebars most good some bad still love em!

PMSPOLARIS · Jan 19, 2011

"THE FIX" www.pmspolaris.com

rockinmranch said:
I had 4 800's (stock) as part of my rental fleet last year. Two burned down once, one twice and one never, sold that one with over 4000 miles. That is a 75% failure rate on four stock sleds. Polaris should have taken that sled and studied why it made it under the same conditions and the other three didn't. The guys claiming no troubles but there sleds are under 1000 miles just have not hit that critical point yet. Most of mine had problems between 1000-2000. This is the time of the year last year that the dealers started filling up with sleds. There are now enough new sleds out there with higher miles. I heard our dealer is getting a few. Are other dealers seeing the failures? I hope it's fixed. The 800 is my sled of choice. I was forced into other options for rentals until I am confident the Polaris motor issue is resolved.

The kit includes:
2 Hard Anodized/Friction Coated Forged Pistons
1 Plated Cylinder Shim
8 Longer Cylinder Base Bolts
1 Base Gasket
2 Cylinder Alignment Dowels
1 Set of Instructions
$585 plus tax and frt
our shop can install for right around $300 or you can have your local polaris dealer or local shop install it. Thanks for the interest in it. I can answer any more questions if you need.

No burn downs and we have sold alot of kits. We have a rental company using them and we even have them in turbocharged engines without failure. Yes they are wiseco forged pistons, hard anodized and friction coated.
We have been running these kits since last winter and have done teardown evaluations which we take the pistons out to inspect and they look great. It has been crazy how fast these kits are going out the door, and we are building them as fast as possible to keep up with demand, Let us know and we will get you on the list. This is a long term solution to the durabilty issues polaris 800 engines are experiencing. Everyone that has put one in and rode with it has commented on the snap the motor has in the midrange and how much quieter the engine seems. It makes the engine seem like it wants to pull harder and longer than it did before. Hope this helps and look forward to talking to you.

PMSPOLARIS · Jan 19, 2011

"THE FIX"

wysnow said:
Might be a cool thing for some power gain. Matched up with the Gizmo to stop the cold shot it might last. From what I understand if you do not stop the cold shot you will still take out your motor. Looks like a PMS mod that will void any warranty you have left. Of course if you are out of warranty it is only money.

PMS did not build this kit they are the NorthWest Distributor for MTNTK it was not built by Performance Motor Sports. But It is a great KIT!

akgiauque · Jan 30, 2011

2010 RMK

Bought a new one, hold over, 144" track all stock. All updates were done at he dealer, I assume this meant mapping. I asked and they said it was done. After the first 320 miles and it is more than I had wanted, I rode a 06 600 RMK before and loved it. Was riding on the flat all out after a 20 mile run in 12" of new powder and it goes into DET mode. I limp back to the cabin, 2 miles. I shut it down we clean up and head for the truck and all is well. No DET mode? I am thinking face-icon-small-fro is going on with the new sled. I have just started reading but is this my ECU? I did not count he flashes? Can the dealer determine the cause from the computer? any ideas are welcome.

Greg

ragincajun · Mar 6, 2011

Well I finally lost a motor and the whole thing is trash. I lost a cal skirt which in turn took out the piston skirts and then went through the bottom end. I checked the mag side which was fine and the pistons had .009" of clearance to the cyl wall....polaris says .004-.006" MAX. There was also .014" of clearance between the cyl skirt and the case which allowed a bunch of room to flex and eventually break. The pistons had so much slop they were practically rattling their way up and down and putting excessive force on the cyl skirts causing them to fail over time. All this is due to negligence during assembly at the dealer when the updates were installed and lack of quality control on Polaris’s part. I was also having problems with lack of RPM. I would only get 7800 out of it even with 59gram wieghts..we put 64s in and it didnt change 50 rpm...and the undersized piston explains it all. It would not hold compression under load but a compression test would not show it. so PMS is on the right track with their "fix" with the proper sized piston and longer skirt to stabilize it. I am sure if i get a nice tight piston it will pick up a lot of power. I called my dealer and they even admitted they did not check tolerances when they installed the update. WTF!? What kind of mechanic does not check that especially when it is listed in the service manual!? I will be raising hell with Polaris and my dealer which is BLISS CYCLE out of Conrad MT. Something needs to be done because this is just plain bs…especially when they admit they didn’t even check clearance.

Here is what I found when I dismantled my motor…

trip to cooke ruined

can anyone guess which side went down?

slightly outa specs

i shook this outa my bottom end lol

the culprit

theshadowrider · Jun 22, 2011

Thats what I found also.

Sorry to hear about your loss. You will have to let us know what happens with your warranty. I have read all these horror stories so I took some preventative action. Here is my thread.

http://www.snowestonline.com/forum/showthread.php?t=269999

zgo138 · Aug 5, 2011

No problems

Guys got a good thread going here, been a while since I've been on here.
I have had no problems with my 09 D8, In fact, I have yet to do any reflashes or modifications to my sled. It is still completely stock including the heads and i have had no warranty updates on it. 1300 miles and no problems, has never been in the shop or put any updates on it whatsoever. I only have a SLP Can and i put a little oil in the gas tank every fill that's all i have done. I feel that i am in the minority as well, is my sled just a ticking time bomb right now? should i do anything? I know i cant get the updates on it anymore, but if anyone has any ideas i would like to hear them, thanks

akrevrider · Aug 6, 2011

zgo138 said:
Guys got a good thread going here, been a while since I've been on here.
I have had no problems with my 09 D8, In fact, I have yet to do any reflashes or modifications to my sled. It is still completely stock including the heads and i have had no warranty updates on it. 1300 miles and no problems, has never been in the shop or put any updates on it whatsoever. I only have a SLP Can and i put a little oil in the gas tank every fill that's all i have done. I feel that i am in the minority as well, is my sled just a ticking time bomb right now? should i do anything? I know i cant get the updates on it anymore, but if anyone has any ideas i would like to hear them, thanks

Have you considered installing The Fix Kit? Check out the thread link below to see what other Forum Members have been installing:

http://www.snowestonline.com/forum/showthread.php?t=245510&highlight=fix+kit

akrevrider

gsled04 · Aug 12, 2011

Is it just me or does it seam like all the manufactures quit building good quality stuff around 2004, and started dumping techno wonder sleds on us in the hope that we wouldn't notice that they were really pieces of junk in an atempt to increaes the sales of parts, and next years new and improved piece of junk ?. My 04 700 rmk was bullet proof, my 04 summit x is still as solid as the day I bought it, my 08 xp was a piece of junk. Just something to think about.

rocket · Aug 21, 2011

Most of the serious issues started with the need for EPA compliant sleds. True, some of the technology needed created some problems too, but mostly it was the "screaming lean" midrange needed to meet emissions targets. You'll find that most riders have been happy with their '11 800s, which are mechanically not that different from these motors.

bradlemieux7331 · Oct 21, 2011

Great sleds

I've had all the updates done and except for the VR going out with 26 miles (which warranty covered it) It's a real ripper!!! I will be buying a pro tho and putting a turbo on it 8)

piper · Oct 22, 2011

Im working as a Polaris Mech in north Part of norway, Last session i have 74 customer sleds (08-10) total, and 6 broken.

1 Because of no service on oil Pump wire

1 because of no cleaning of the Ex vent channel in cylinder, also wrong type of oil

And 4 Because the Customer had put the Pto spark cap on mag side, the orange wire with the coils should go to the Pto coil ( On 2011-2012 its red)

Thats some of the most important thing on this Engine, like if the knock sensor feel signals from the pto cyl it will take down ignition timing on Mag side if its wrong.

I know this sled wery good, last winter i was testing software in desember/january for Polaris Ind, that People got in March

With the Right setup my 14 test sleds worked Amasing with the new software

Kristian

www.Motor-senteret.com

JakeR · Nov 17, 2011

What do you hve to service on the oil pump wire

^dragon700^ · Dec 4, 2011

The only way that you are ever going to have a 08 d8 and not have any problems is if you keep it stock. We put ours back to stock and didnt have any problems after that. And all it had on it was a pipe and can. So we sold it and bought a bad *** asault.

milehighassassin · Dec 23, 2011

I disagree that you have to keep it stock. There have been plenty of stock sleds go down. Seems like the turbo's have the fewest issues.

Get a set of proper fitting pistons in the motor, fuel controller and you'll be fine.

I'm running the above with a high comp head and modded pipe. I produce more heat and I think that helps the pistons stay tight.

skibreeze · Jan 27, 2012

^dragon700^ said:
The only way that you are ever going to have a 08 d8 and not have any problems is if you keep it stock. We put ours back to stock and didnt have any problems after that. And all it had on it was a pipe and can. So we sold it and bought a bad *** asault.

The hole in the bottom of my 08 case says differently. :whip:

augerin · Jan 30, 2012

skibreeze said:
The hole in the bottom of my 08 case says differently. :whip:

Mine too!:director:

Tellyman · Jan 30, 2012

augerin said:
Mine too!:director:

Same here! Parted out and bought a good ol 7 hundy! Kind of sucked because after 11 years of being absent from snowmobiling due to kids and such, I thought the sled of the year, the Polaris Dragon 800, was gonna be one of the last I buy. NOT

Hawkster · Oct 5, 2012

Nothing like beating a dead horse , but I'm one of the lucky few that caught hers before it went down , the cylinder skirt had a two inch crack in it . As far as I'm concerned it's a stock 800 2010 pile of crap and after the spring ride this year when the brain box cooked I've come to the point that the only way to fix it is to put either a 600 or 700 in it when it goes down this time .Kind of really sucks because when any one asks about picking up any of these 800s' I'd tell them to stay away from it with a ten foot pole . Does me a lot of good doesn't it ? when I bye a toy I'm in it for the long run 1995 XLT SP modified unknown mileage , 2004 600 SDI 9000 plus , 2005 Hawk 14000 plus , 2010 Assault 4000 plus . All of these where snow checked and keep me plenty busy . Riding is my life .

AndyL · Nov 14, 2012

I will agree polaris has issues with the IQ in general but, there's a lot of sleds out there that are running strong. Not all hope is lost...

For Everyone with an 08-10 D8 Please Read

General Feelings on 08-10 Polaris D8

I’ve had nothing but good fortune with this sled.

I’ve Had Minor Issues Such as Hyfax.

I Checked Number Two But I Ride a Mountain Sled at 70 on HardPacked Trails...

One Engine Failure (i.e. crank, pistons, block, cylinder walls, etc…)

Two to Three Engine Failures

Three or More Engine Failures

One VR/ECU Failure

Two to Three VR/ECU Failures

Three or More VR/ECU Failures

If Numbers Four through Nine Were Checked Was it Covered Under Warranty?

If Numbers Four through Nine Were Checked Was it Not Covered Under Warranty?

I’ve Had Issues with a Mid-Range Stumble/Lean Condition.

I’ve Had It, One Thing After Another, Somebody Please Buy This Thing…

I’m Looking Forward to March so I Can Snow Check the New Pro RMK.

$30 For 3 Years of Enjoying the Benefits of SnoWest is Money Well Spent!

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