Why are my rod tips blue ?

[powdrdaz]

I have a 2014 pro 800 with about 3500 all mountain miles.
Begining of the year did the engine check
Compression was good
Leak down about 10% time to build but nobody had Pistons ready to ship ( at the time this happened I had the kit to fix it but no time )
This was its fourth ride out for the season. We did notice it losing rpm but not to much.
This happened on Feburary 22 coming into Pilot Creek parking lot (right at the front of the trailer ) ( I have really good bad luck )
At first I thought it just when down. After taking it apart I see that I lost the locating pin that allowed the ring to rotate until it hit the exhaust port.
The rod ends are blue along with the wrist pins and bearings.
Did the heat come from the crank , no oil on the wrist pins or is that just normal
I'm sending my crank off to be looked over
Thank you for your help

 

[ez-ryder]

I've seen the same bluing on mine too.
14 800 mtntk turbo and fix kit.
I think it's from a lack of oil and the dry crankcase.
3500 miles on original pistons?

 

[powdrdaz]

Just under 3500 had 3250 in November I forgot to look
No oil on the wrist pins is what I'm thinking also. someone told me the old atvs had this problem and they made a new oiler that shot oil on the wrist pin that dripped to the crank instead of hoping it would reach the wrist pin
For got to mention it has a Bikeman pipe and can and the oiler was turned up since new.
Thanks fo the reply

 

[AdrenalineAddict]

If you got 3,500 miles on the original pistons without ring retaining pin failure I would call that a miracle. I've personally had 10 800 cc motors go down between 1,900 and 2,100 miles since 2011 because of ring retaining pin failures. Running the extreme oil instead of the VES has seemed to help overall engine longevity. Changing pistons at approx. 1,800 miles seems to be the best formula for success.

 

[BeartoothBaron]

^ The tip on the oil is worth considering. If you dig around, there's a thread by Indy_Dan recommending either OE synthetic oil or one of the ultra-thin newer oils on all his EFI motors. The gist of the thread was that with dry crankcases you need a really thin oil to be able to get to the rod bearings. He used to be an evangelist for Castrol 2t oil, which is still a great oil for carb sleds. If I remember right, he was seeing similar overheating at the wrist pin on motors coming back, and changed course as a result. I know I've seen some discussion on the ring locating pin issue too. Some guys will wear a motor out before it comes up, others have it happen like clock-work. It seemed to be related to how often the rider pulled long WOT runs, and some aftermarket pistons are particularly prone to the issue.

 

[Teth-Air]

We just replaced the crank in a 2015 RMK and the wrist pin end was blue on the side where the lower rod bearing failed. The other cylinder was fine indicating only the PTO side was getting lack of oil. This side has 2 oil lines feeding it so it should have got more oil and not less. This on a sled that the oiler was turned up from new. We drilled the oil cap now for better venting because everything else looks normal. BTW this is the second failure on the PTO side. Spinning the pump and plenty of oil is fed out.

 

[powdrdaz]

Mine also had the oiler turned up since new. I have ran the extreme oil since it came out. I have a vented oil cap on for most of the sleds life. I should mention that it has a Bikeman pipe and can on it with a fuel commander. I just pushed my luck to far. Quitting at the trailer after a two day ride is pretty good I think We have a 15 that probable has 3000 miles on it and should be done. We will see if he does it or waits for it to take out the top end like mine did.
I sent in the crank and they said it was good a little out of balance but they see the ends blued like that a lot. They balanced it and sent it back. It runs pretty smooth. I got one more ride on it before the snow got to hard. Didn't run through the tank of gas so I guess run it one more time next year with mixed fuel.
Thanks for the feed back

 

[Teth-Air]

Mine also had the oiler turned up since new. I have ran the extreme oil since it came out. I have a vented oil cap on for most of the sleds life. I should mention that it has a Bikeman pipe and can on it with a fuel commander. I just pushed my luck to far. Quitting at the trailer after a two day ride is pretty good I think We have a 15 that probable has 3000 miles on it and should be done. We will see if he does it or waits for it to take out the top end like mine did.
I sent in the crank and they said it was good a little out of balance but they see the ends blued like that a lot. They balanced it and sent it back. It runs pretty smooth. I got one more ride on it before the snow got to hard. Didn't run through the tank of gas so I guess run it one more time next year with mixed fuel.
Thanks for the feed back

I forgot to mention that I started putting 100 ml of oil in the fuel tank with each fill, since the last crank failure. It certainly can't hurt.

 

[SledEd77]

I forgot to mention that I started putting 100 ml of oil in the fuel tank with each fill, since the last crank failure. It certainly can't hurt.

The first motor I got rebuild was from an elderly fellow who is still doing rebuilds today. 20 year's ago when he rebuild my motor he told me that he put the oil pump setting wide open and to add about half a pop can or approximately 250ml of straight 0W30 directly into the gas tank and you should have no problem with the motor blowing up. It ran for 20 year's until this winter when one of the oil line's going to the Carb came off some how. The only thing that happened was the top ring fused itself and it barely did any damage to the cylinder wall. I'm assuming that because of the 0W30 oil added to the gas that it gave it enough lubricant to not have a catastrophic failure. I'm not a professional mechanic, I'm just going by what the old fellow told me. It seemed to have worked. The only downfall is that you have to change spark plugs more often.