09 M8-->2nd time this has happened

[ICLIMB]

Well the last on seized. This time just a scuff so far. This is on my 09 M8. I would suggest that if you haven't checked yours, it might be worth your time. Only 300 miles and two pistons and one cyl. (so far). Pretty disapointed to say the least. I think they have had trouble with a bad production batch and I want a new motor out of the deal. What a waste of $10500.:face-icon-small-fro:face-icon-small-fro:face-icon-small-fro

 

[TREE_MAGNET_777]

Is this a stocker???? Look's to me like lack of oil or snow injestion taking oil film off. Are you running stock intake????Details Detail's Details Please. I have 500 miles on mine and only problem is oil pump is sticking overoiling the engine.

 

[Fatrunt]

I can answer for Climb as I was there for the first tear down. this sled is bone stock!!! The piston and cylinder scored front to back and when we tore it down the (good side) was also showing signs of scuffing. Both the old cylinder and new cylinder were honed and looked killer we took that motor and put it through the REQUIRED BREAKIN that Cat Now REQUIRES. That motor is fat pig rich on oil in fact it has spent most of its life on breakin gas. the problem is clear we could not put the new piston into the new cylinder from the top it would not go the only way it would go is from the bottom of the cylinder and it was tight most people might not know that cat rings have a top and bottom to the rings and I'm not talking a top and bottom ring the rings are the same for both grooves the rings themselves have a top and bottom.
I vote Cat needs to ponie up and ship a new motor. Who nows what stress was put on the crank the first time it stuck. Poor quality control

 

[KMMAC]

Air in the cooling system???

 

[dmkhnr]

A couple 09 M8 had bent oil shafts causing this problem. Is the sled at your dealer or are you doing the work yourself? If you put the ring on upside down you'll know it, as it will fit extremely tight without any flex.

 

[Fatrunt]

All the work was done at the dealer I made sure the oiler was working freely and no problems with binding noted. I can say with 100% those rings are on the correct way in fact the marking on the rings are nearly impossible to see and you are correct if the rings are upside down they wont compress correctly we noticed that right off the bat. Cooling system was bleed and ran for the full break in cycle. For those that dont know cat now says to run the sled on a track stand running the throttle up and down no greater than six grand until the temp light comes on then run it for I believe it was several minutes then cool it down and do it again. we put about 15 miles on that sled just on the track stand. It was crazy spraying the track with a hose to keep the hifax from melting and listing to that machine winding up and down with no load. But Cat says do it or your in trouble. Several dealers at the show had the same experince with some of there M8's. Maybe a bad batch of cylinders and pistons? Problem is where we ride a bad motor may put your life in jepordy we take great pains to make sure our equipment is well maintained and in proper working order. going out with a questionable motor makes the ride not so enjoyable.
P.S. Jake sorry for hijacking your thread?

 

[m8magicandmystery]

15 miles on my 07/m8 and she was identical to yours..i thought snow ingeation or the fact that my son had her upside down with throttle stuck wide open in the snow for 10 seconds...lol...i never persued it as i knew i was going to go bigbore..

 

[m8magicandmystery]

For those that dont know cat now says to run the sled on a track stand running the throttle up and down no greater than six grand until the temp light comes on then run it for I believe it was several minutes then cool it down and do it again. But Cat says do it or your in trouble. QUOTE]

i don;t agree with them to run past the temp light at all...and only do it on stand twice and then load her up with real running is what i would do...i know the high spots have to go...but if you let to much expansionheat at first the high spots go past even to low spots..

 

[kane13]

I don't believe in that either and if thats what they want then the dealer should do it as part of pre-delivery ins, i know my dealer checked to make sure the low oil light worked maybe thats what they are getting at if so you would think they would be able to check all warning lights from the factory, seems like a bad thing to run the motor that hot right of the bat and it should never be left up to the purchaser. Just another thought i remember someone saying that the rings would have a hard time seating properly burning so rich like these cats do and the reason why i say this is because my pistons had minor scuffing on them when it was burning rich (stock), after i put the slp pipe package on it leaned it out alot and after examining my pistons again they were perfect they looked way better no more scuffs i wish i had pictures it was a big difference. JMT

 

[sledneck_4]

i got a 09 m8 with 1317 miles and the only problems ui got are the clutches were out of alignment

 

[Arctic Thunder]

Need to check the piston/cylinder clearances. I know AC had a bad run on a few and they were really tight.

Also I believe the break in is supposed to stabilize the thermal expansion of the piston. Kind of an annealing process. Take it through a couple cycles and it will not grow as much. They don't want any hard pulls until the piston has a chance to settle in. That is the BS story I have been told.

For what it is worth. I have seen the exact same thing on my M1000. Did the break in and so far 500 miles later no problems.

Thunder

 

[TREE_MAGNET_777]

Point Number 1- These cyl. are nicasilled? and should NOT Be honed when new, The used one may be LIGHTLY honed to remove any glazing and then cleaned cleaned cleaned.
Point Number 2- Piston SHould fit into cly. and have at least a .003-.004 clearance (arctic cat spec's)
Point number 3-All rings (that have a "up") have a dot or letter on the up side
and cats are very hard for these OLD eyes to see
if your Dealer 1-did not check piston to cly clearance,2-Hones your brand new cly.,3-did not dissasemble the cases to check for forein matter that could of gotten into your main or lower connecting rod bearings. RUN don't walk to a better Dealer. Also remember oil dumped into the tank takes the place of fuel that the motor also uses to cool the piston so more is NOT better.
As far as your hyfaxs burning are you sure the hose wasn't for engine cooling??With no load on the sled (on a stand) the track doesn't touch the hyfax????

 

[ICLIMB]

I aslo don't agree with the break in process cat recomends. Running the engine on a stand until the temp light comes on and then going 2 min. longer is a joke. I don't care what they say its not good to get that motor that hot

I'm a seasoned rider and I can assure you that my break in procedures are not the cause of this. Most of my miles on that sled have been on break in fuel, what a pain.

The Dealer has been great and this IS AN ARCTIC CAT ISSUE. It was put back together correctly.

The first one seized at 150 miles running down the trail on a warm motor. It is a STOCK sled! No snow ingestion. Water pump is working. Oiler is working. This one was scuffed during the break in procedure arctic cat recomends. I know because I checked it when I got it back. It has gotten worse since the first time I checked it.

The point of this post was to let people know that this is an issue and if they haven't checked their sled they should! I would definitely bring it to your dealers attention. Cat needs to be aware of this.

The first time it seized it stuck pretty hard going down the trail. They can't tell me that it didn't reduce the life of this motor. I wanted a new one the first time but I settled on cyl. and piston replacement. Now A Second Time I want a new motor and I really hope cat steps up to the plate.

I buy a new sled every 2 or 3 years and this is the second new cat I've owned. Also I know of 6 others who have converted to cat and new sleds after watching my M7 run. (sorry Polaris)
I spent $10,500 on this sled in bad times and it has shot most of my season to $hit with this. I hope its not the last new cat I ever own but its not looking good. For the kind of money we spend on new sleds they need to take some responsibility and fix their factory issues!! Especially since they know they have issues with piston scuffing.

The fact plain and simple is that it wasn't right from the factory and after a replacement it still isn't right!! This needs to be fixed!!! isn't that what a warranty is for?

BTW its for sale, tell your friends.

 

[WyoBoy1000]

my 09 m1000 same thing 57miles and I was on the trail for 6 miles riding with the dealer, sled just died like it ran out of fuel but fired right back up. I kept riding hoping it would wipe the whole motor out, one day even round tripped a steep hill about 7 times in a row trying to blow it but gave up had the one scuffed piston and jug replace and its been ripping ever since.

 

[Arctic Thunder]

3-did not dissasemble the cases to check for forein matter that could of gotten into your main or lower connecting rod bearings.

Good luck finding any dealer that will split the cases after a top end burn down. I know for a fact Arctic cat won't pay a dime on that. So the dealer isn't going to do it on his nickle. Not disagreeing with you but I would like to see a dealer split cases on an arctic cat warrenty top end job and not bill the customer.

The other thing. ICLIMB. Do you have any guages on your sled? A/F or EGT's. If you don't you need to. Even stock. I have been down this road a couple times myself. Bottom line the stock sled, stock fuel pressure, etc. Runs very lean in the mid around 5800 rpm. It will burn down if left there. Now not all of them are the same. But until I put on some guages to watch it I couldn't keep it together. Now I have a BD box to cool down the mid. No problems since. Knock on wood.

I know the story. "This thing is bone stock" "Why would I need guages". Well do you want to ride the season or keep bringing it back to AC for repairs.



Thunder

 

[ICLIMB]

Thunder---> No guages on the sled. Good point though I think they do run lean in the mid. I had an insane amount of wash though (but honestly haven't checked the 6k range). One thing I will say is I never linger at any range, my thumb gets a work out every time out

Factoid: Cat paid for two hours shop time for the repair. Thats cuttin' it pretty thin in my opinion

 

[torchred04]

We have just had the same problem with 3 09 M8 Sno Pro's.

I own one, my dad and my brothers. All three of us have scored pistons. Mine and my fathers were on the left hand side and my brother is on the right side.

Bone stock except for the 2 cool vents with prefilters.

So add 3 more sleds to the list with this problem

 

[blindman]

09 m8 162 sp slp pipe set amsoil dominator bd box

bored today so took my pipe off to have a look.

my pistons look perfect 800 miles ridin pretty hard
sled was broke in by me.
never ran it after i picked it up till i went out first time, warmed it up then wide open for a few seconds then off the gas till slowed down then wide open again.did this for about 20-minutes. let it cool off with the hood open for a good hour then did it again.

am relieved mine looks good, good to you guys with problems.