M
I picked up a used 2018 850 this year with about 1000 miles. It seemed fine on a 5 min test ride but didn't make it a couple of miles when I took it riding before it started running badly, topping out around 6k rpm--no check engine. A set of plugs seemed to make everything better for 500 amazing miles, what a machine!
Then the problem seemed to come back suddenly. The local dealer was over a week out so time to throw parts at it. Another set of plugs and new rave gasket (pita) and rave seals and it worked for 50 miles. It would run great then just drop off, coming back online and off, getting progressively worse. Check engine light was coming on but would come off at idle. With some more riding I finally got the code P0264--mag side injector fault. You can read the code by holding down the mode button and flipping the hi/low beam lever a bunch of times. I found that it was running on one cylinder--mag side only. The PTO injector was clearly the issue (based on unplugging each injector and running it). I finally isolated the issue to the plug/wires on the harness side of the plug and upon digging in found the wires each had failed inside the insulation back in the wiring harness about 2.5-3" back from the plug.
BTW, trouble shooting was pretty straight forward considering how much I loath electrical issues. According to the local parts guy the injector needed to have resistance below .27 ohms (as I recall, and both of mine read .24-.25) and the harness side of the plugs keep some voltage even after turning off the machine for an hour or two making testing easy with a multimeter. While riding I had taken off the hood when the error arose and, on manipulating the plugs and wires, had narrowed down where the issue was coming from. The plug contacts showed voltage until the problem had advanced and finally I was able to identify a fault on one of the feeds. After fixing it and testing I found the second wire (ground) also had an intermittent fault and cut the insulation away at the same location where the first had broken and found the conductor was burned away at the same spot. I do not know what could have caused both of these to fail at the same location or in this manner--there was no evidence on the insulation of a short, cut, or break. None. The hot wire had pulled out while I was cutting away the tape wrap.
My search on the P0264 code showed that others have had a similar issue but with more obvious failures in the wiring. Also of note, the code was for the mag side but the failure was on the PTO side. I think the machine had been suffering from a partial failure occasionally that would lead to plug fouling due to it burning too much oil without fuel.
I would like to bump into the guy who designed the hood system in a dark alley some time. What a pos. How could the same machine with the ingenious SHOT system be straddled with such a ridiculously sad design? Try pulling that absurdity off a few times to trouble shoot while out on the snow...
Then the problem seemed to come back suddenly. The local dealer was over a week out so time to throw parts at it. Another set of plugs and new rave gasket (pita) and rave seals and it worked for 50 miles. It would run great then just drop off, coming back online and off, getting progressively worse. Check engine light was coming on but would come off at idle. With some more riding I finally got the code P0264--mag side injector fault. You can read the code by holding down the mode button and flipping the hi/low beam lever a bunch of times. I found that it was running on one cylinder--mag side only. The PTO injector was clearly the issue (based on unplugging each injector and running it). I finally isolated the issue to the plug/wires on the harness side of the plug and upon digging in found the wires each had failed inside the insulation back in the wiring harness about 2.5-3" back from the plug.
BTW, trouble shooting was pretty straight forward considering how much I loath electrical issues. According to the local parts guy the injector needed to have resistance below .27 ohms (as I recall, and both of mine read .24-.25) and the harness side of the plugs keep some voltage even after turning off the machine for an hour or two making testing easy with a multimeter. While riding I had taken off the hood when the error arose and, on manipulating the plugs and wires, had narrowed down where the issue was coming from. The plug contacts showed voltage until the problem had advanced and finally I was able to identify a fault on one of the feeds. After fixing it and testing I found the second wire (ground) also had an intermittent fault and cut the insulation away at the same location where the first had broken and found the conductor was burned away at the same spot. I do not know what could have caused both of these to fail at the same location or in this manner--there was no evidence on the insulation of a short, cut, or break. None. The hot wire had pulled out while I was cutting away the tape wrap.
My search on the P0264 code showed that others have had a similar issue but with more obvious failures in the wiring. Also of note, the code was for the mag side but the failure was on the PTO side. I think the machine had been suffering from a partial failure occasionally that would lead to plug fouling due to it burning too much oil without fuel.
I would like to bump into the guy who designed the hood system in a dark alley some time. What a pos. How could the same machine with the ingenious SHOT system be straddled with such a ridiculously sad design? Try pulling that absurdity off a few times to trouble shoot while out on the snow...
