05 RMK 900 New to Me

[Mech Engr]

Bought it in spring with 900 miles on it. I and dealer have done a compression test and it is good at 135 psi both cyls. This damn thing smokes like a chimney though! I have never seen more smoke. It fills my 1456 square foot shop in about 3 minutes with thick white smoke. However, it doesn't foul plugs and seems to run great. One guy told me he thought it was probably the oil cable...said the pump defaults to wide open if the cable breaks and the sled will smoke bad. My wifes little trail RMK doesn't smoke at all and I use Redline in both. What do you think?

John

 

[guidoxpress]

OH YEH...sounds like the busted oiler cable...it will break and like you said default to wide open..

do a search on here for FBF throttle/oiler cable (he goes by fatboyzfrenchy on here), its the BEST thing you can do to that CRAPPY thottle and oiler cable setup, and converts it to one cable with 2 split ends..

if you replace the stock oiler cable with another stock one..you will NOT get through the season before it breaks agian...trust me...

hook it up, and RIDE ON!!

 

[knoba]

oil pump

Sometimes the oil pump does not return all the way because the stock spring was not strong enough,had my pump changed under warrenty and the new one did the same.I put a return spring off a carburetor from the arm to the chassi.

 

[mac900rmk]

Sometimes the oil pump does not return all the way because the stock spring was not strong enough,had my pump changed under warrenty and the new one did the same.I put a return spring off a carburetor from the arm to the chassi.

Can you post a pic?
thx

 

[mountainhorse]

sometimes the oil pump arm will not return unless the motor is running...then it works well.

Go figure.

 

[knoba]

oil pump

Can not post pics dont have sled anymore, my pump would sometimes stick engine running or not.Polaris changed out the first one then did not want to do any more warranty work for the same problem.

 

[Mech Engr]

RMK 900 New to me

Well I checked the oil cable out last night. Took the Y-pipe and expansion chamber off to get a good look. The cable is not broken, The marks on the pump lever and pump line up as they should and the lever doesn't seem to be sticking open or anything. It returns normally with the throttle. I did however set the expansion chamber up on end and over a 5minute period got maybe 5 tbsp of oil out of it. Could it be that simple...just oil in the expansion chamber smoking? I hope so.

Big John
My RMK 900 Scares Me!!

 

[knoba]

oil

I would say how did the oil get there in the first place? anyway the guys on this thred, guidoxpress and mountainhorse know more about the 900 than Polaris know or even care to know!

 

[94fordguy]

I have another bet


Since your oil cable is working properly, have you noticed your oil level in the tank to have gone down at all? A good test is to fill the tank to above the upper oil feed line and see if you see it going down over a period of time.

If your oil cable is not stuck and your getting way more oil through the engine than you should be, I would bet you may have a bad inner crank seal.... The water/oil pump cross shaft is an oil-bath system just like in a 4-stroke sled and is uses the oil from your tank from your upper oil hose to fill the cavity. If the seals are bad, it can cause your tank to 'leak' down to below the point of the upper oil line and will make your sled smoke like no tomorrow after it has been sitting for a while as the oil will leak from the center cavity to the lower cases

If your oil tank leaks down to the point of the upper line, and then stops right as it reaches that upper hose, then you have for sure found your problem.

 

[Mech Engr]

RMK 900 New to me

I'm pretty anal about keeping the oil tank full. It has been almost full since my first and only ride on the sled in May. It is definately well (2" to 3" maybe) above the top oil line. Is there enough room in that cavity to take that much oil (all oil in the tank above the top line)? Seems like a lot of oil.

 

[Mech Engr]

RMK 900 new to me

I don't see any inner crank seal per say on the parts diagram. I do see an oil seal associated with the pump shaft. It sits right behind the water pump impeller. Is that the one you're talking about? I would think that if that one was bad you would have water in the case too. Any way if that is the seal at least you don't have to split the cases as you would for the crank seals.

 

[diamonddave]

Did you say "white" smoke?

White smoke is from coolant. And let me tell you from a person who fought buddies' sleds and base gasket leaks all last year, it doesn't take hardly any antifreeze to make a huge amount of white smoke that will very slowly go away as the sled warms up. Could also be a bad head o ring.

Do you have a borescope by chance?

Do you have a real good sense of smell? Don't laugh! I can smell coolant coming out of the exhaust when starting the affected sled in a closed area at first. Say an enclosed trailer???

 

[94fordguy]

Did you say "white" smoke?

White smoke is from coolant. And let me tell you from a person who fought buddies' sleds and base gasket leaks all last year, it doesn't take hardly any antifreeze to make a huge amount of white smoke that will very slowly go away as the sled warms up. Could also be a bad head o ring.

Do you have a borescope by chance?

Do you have a real good sense of smell? Don't laugh! I can smell coolant coming out of the exhaust when starting the affected sled in a closed area at first. Say an enclosed trailer???

DOH!

Good catch Dave... missed the white part.

 

[Mech Engr]

RMK 900 New to me

I thought about the coolant but the level in the tank seems to be staying put for now. Also, coolant has a very distinct smell (yes my sense of smell is good) and it doesn't have that brown sugar smell of coolant going through the combustion chamber. It simply smells like Redline. How would a boroscope help? I have the y-pipe off right now and can see the pistons, rings and cyls. Everything looks good including the piston wash. Also, in my experience if there is coolant going through the combustion chamber the pistons are usually spotless on top and mine have the normal bit of carbon etc. I'm still thinking it was all the accumulated oil in the expansion chamber but we will see. After cleaning all that up, when I restart it there should be no smoke if it was the oil in the expansion chamber. If it still smokes then I'll move on to some of the other suggestions. Great suggestions guys! I'll keep working at it. I still have a couple of months before Little Truckee opens!!

 

[diamonddave]

I tried

 

[Mech Engr]

RMK 900 new to me

Didn't mean to offend you diamonddave. I really appreciate any help I can get. It's just that my approach has always been to try one thing at a time so you know what has really fixed a problem. I am to damn forgetfull to try and remember and keep up with multiple fixes at once! Seriously though I thought it had a coolant leak at one time and when I had it at the dealer (told them it may have a leak and it smoked) they said they didn't think so. But that will be the next thing I check if it still smokes when I start it up. Maybe my sniffer is going bad becuase I know wnat burnt coolant smells like. Maybe I should ask my wife to smell it next time if it smokes...you know most women have that extra sensative super bat smell and my wife is no different!

 

[Mech Engr]

RMK 900 new to me

I am getting ready to work on this thing this weekend. I will try reassembly of y-pipe and exp chamber to see if it still smokes. If it does still smoke I have already preapred for top end teardown for coolant leak (per diamonddave's reccomendation) by buying the top end gasket set (figured I would need it sooner or later anyway). Two questions:

1. The dealer (he has steered me wrong before) told me that to get the cylinders off the engine must be tilted forward toward the front of the sled. I look and look at it and just can't see why. It looks as though I would just need to remove some water and oil lines for the most part. I searched this site and couldn't find any info on this.
2. What is the best method for removing just enough coolant to get the head and jugs off without dumping a bunch into the crankcase? If I do get it in the crankcase can I just use a wet/dry vac to get it out?

Thanks, John

 

[guidoxpress]

You don't have to tilt the engine..the 05 cylinders can be removed while engine is in stock location...but u have to pull the tank off and unplug some stuff from that area like the coolant hose off the back of the head and det sensor and cylinder bolts of coarse...

As for the coolant in the engine..I use a shop vac and pull it all out anyways..suck from coolant bottle,running board,behind thermostat and you'll be good..theres drain plugs on bottom of case but can't get to them with engine in sled...so pull reeds and suck case empty with shop vac again

Good luck

 

[mountainhorse]

IMO.... If you are going to work on the engine to this level... Pull it out and take the opportunity to clean the engine bay...check the motormounts and give yourself the ability to understand how the whole thing goes together on a clean, well-lit bench.

 

[Mech Engr]

RMK 900 new to me

Well...

Put the expansion chamber back on (cleaned) and started it up: very little smoke and almost none after a few minutes. So I guess changing out the base and head gaskets will have to wait! Also cleaned the VES valves per the maintenance chart. It was pretty easy! Worst part was using Easy off to get the carbon off the guiotines. I installed my ice scratchers too. Only a few more things need to be done before the season starts.