2008 D8 Voltage regulator and ECU burn up

[TSND]

Week ago, went up riding with a few buddies, everything seemed good, started my dragon, and while it was warming up, i went to check the jetting on my other sled. Came back to pull the plugs, dragon was off. Buddy said it had died...ODD...pulled it ALOT, and it seemed like it was rich....got it back to fire after a TON of pulls, and it fired...bubbled a little, so i zapped the throttle and everything was fine (note, i had the clutch side vent off to check for any obstructions of any kind). It sat there idleing like normal, and a pume of blue smoke came out from under the belt holder (ECU and all of the rest of the electronic crap bay). Killed it, and there was a littel hole that formed on top of the ECU. Basically ruined my day...

It's down at carls right now for repair, but my question is has this happened to anyone else?? Is this a common problem with these Dragons??? are the replacement voltage regulators any better??

-thanks

 

[stem]

Same thing happened to me two days after I got the sled, rode 1 mile and it had to be towed back.
I got the V.R. replaced and a new ECU (well...the dealer didn't have one in so he ripped one off his rental sleds), the sled has worked perfect since

 

[tdblakes]

Mine went out too... on the first day of my first trip with it!!! Except mine would run for a little bit, then the voltage meter would tick down, the cluster would go out, then the sled would die. Sit for about 30 seconds and fire it right back up... I had to limp it back to the trail that way so we could tow it back. Good thing it ran long enough to get out of the hole we were in!! Started it up to show the dealer, then smoked the ECU. No dealership had the parts. Drove all over until i found a dealer that was willing to pull one off a show room sled and got it all put back together pretty quick.

New stuff has been working great. (Knock on wood!!!!!!!!)

But no, the replacement parts are the same as far as I understood. So it might happen again. And yes this is a common problem with these 800s...

 

[akrevrider]

Tosted ECU

"My question is has this happened to anyone else?? Is this a common problem with these Dragons??? are the replacement voltage regulators any better??"


TSND,
This has been happening way to often and Polaris needs to step up and fix the ECU/regulator issue.

Can one of you please post up a pic of your tosted ECU? Was it covered under warranty? The replacement should be a different part #. Any idea of what caused it (shorted handwarmers etc?) Sounds like your dealer should be taking care of you. Please let us know what what Carl's finds out on your sled.

tbblakes/stem,

Please post up any further info that you find out on what may have caused the ECU to fry.

Thanks,

akrevrider

 

[crashnbash]

Alot of people have lost voltage regulators and an ecu. The new voltage regulators are susposed to be beefed up some. To my knowledge alot of them were covered under warranty.

 

[hilinerider]

have a buds that acted up but didn't kill it, he went thru the whole wirin harness and fixed 2 bad spots, major one under the airbox and where the wires come out from the ecu, had to repair the same place on mine

 

[WyoRMK]

Mine went out too... on the first day of my first trip with it!!! Except mine would run for a little bit, then the voltage meter would tick down, the cluster would go out, then the sled would die. Sit for about 30 seconds and fire it right back up... I had to limp it back to the trail that way so we could tow it back. Good thing it ran long enough to get out of the hole we were in!! Started it up to show the dealer, then smoked the ECU. No dealership had the parts. Drove all over until i found a dealer that was willing to pull one off a show room sled and got it all put back together pretty quick.

New stuff has been working great. (Knock on wood!!!!!!!!)

Mine did the same thing about 4 weeks ago. Dealer got the parts and Polaris paid all but 50$ deductable and the labor. Got out of the deal for about $100 and it was not under warranty.

 

[tdblakes]

Mine did the same thing about 4 weeks ago. Dealer got the parts and Polaris paid all but 50$ deductable and the labor. Got out of the deal for about $100 and it was not under warranty.

Same here... Polaris covered all but labor. got out for $82 (cuz i had to fix a bolt i broke in the rear suspension too that cost me $10 and we robbed it off an Edge!! Why are used bolts so expensive!!!) Nothin under warranty anymore either! Thank you Polaris, poor college kids cant afford to be buying VRs and ECUs!!

 

[tdblakes]

"My question is has this happened to anyone else?? Is this a common problem with these Dragons??? are the replacement voltage regulators any better??"


TSND,
This has been happening way to often and Polaris needs to step up and fix the ECU/regulator issue.

Can one of you please post up a pic of your tosted ECU? Was it covered under warranty? The replacement should be a different part #. Any idea of what caused it (shorted handwarmers etc?) Sounds like your dealer should be taking care of you. Please let us know what what Carl's finds out on your sled.

tbblakes/stem,

Please post up any further info that you find out on what may have caused the ECU to fry.

Thanks,

akrevrider

Sorry no pics of this stuff... they kept it all at the dealership and i'm sure its gone by now. The one I smoked (literally and it smoked alot) was on an 09 Assault and I know there were two different part number VRs out there. I was told that they are exactly the same internals, but just have different part numbers, no idea why they would do that... but either way I got the same part number put back on I believe because they robbed it off of an 09. The one I smoked was PN 4012476 because we swaped it with my dad's off his 800 to see if that was the issue when it started to go out. It was.

We looked for the cause, couldnt find any loose or bare wires or shorted wiring, messed with the hand warmers and everything. The only thing I can remember is that my front left headlight had been dimming. We took the plug out and saw that it had been loose and arching. There was a small hole burnt thru the plastic plug. We fixed it and everything worked great. Then about a week later went on the trip and the VR went out which smoked the ECU. So not sure if its related to the headlight issue because we fixed the dim headlight as soon as I noticed it, but I spose it doesnt take long. You would think they would have a fuse somewhere before the ECU to protect against this...?

But Polaris covered all but labor. They said it was a good will thing because I was out of warranty and only had the 2nd year engine warranty from the recall, which they said only covers mechanical parts, no electronics. But they did it anyway and made me very happy.

Everything seems to be working good now. Sorry I don't know more about what caused it tho!

 

[akrevrider]

We looked for the cause, couldnt find any loose or bare wires or shorted wiring, messed with the hand warmers and everything. The only thing I can remember is that my front left headlight had been dimming. We took the plug out and saw that it had been loose and arching. There was a small hole burnt thru the plastic plug. We fixed it and everything worked great. Then about a week later went on the trip and the VR went out which smoked the ECU. So not sure if its related to the headlight issue because we fixed the dim headlight as soon as I noticed it, but I spose it doesnt take long. You would think they would have a fuse somewhere before the ECU to protect against this...?

But Polaris covered all but labor. They said it was a good will thing because I was out of warranty and only had the 2nd year engine warranty from the recall, which they said only covers mechanical parts, no electronics. But they did it anyway and made me very happy.
QUOTE]

If the headlight grounded out and then arched/ burning a hole thru the plastic; that is enough to fry the ECU. Good post with details.

Bottom line: Polaris covered it and your riding now. Keep us posted on how it runs.

akrevrider

 

[tdblakes]

If the headlight grounded out and then arched/ burning a hole thru the plastic; that is enough to fry the ECU. Good post with details.

Bottom line: Polaris covered it and your riding now. Keep us posted on how it runs.

akrevrider

Right but what I didn't get is why it took so long to do it. The VR definately went out first. the ECU was ok (as far as I know) until I kept starting it to get it back to the trail, then to show the dealer. it fried in the parking lot with the dealer staring at it... smoke and all.

So if the headlight shorted it out, I would have thought that it would have went right away?

 

[TSND]

"My question is has this happened to anyone else?? Is this a common problem with these Dragons??? are the replacement voltage regulators any better??"


TSND,
This has been happening way to often and Polaris needs to step up and fix the ECU/regulator issue.

Can one of you please post up a pic of your tosted ECU? Was it covered under warranty? The replacement should be a different part #. Any idea of what caused it (shorted handwarmers etc?) Sounds like your dealer should be taking care of you. Please let us know what what Carl's finds out on your sled.

tbblakes/stem,

Please post up any further info that you find out on what may have caused the ECU to fry.

Thanks,

akrevrider

Carl's replaced it and they covered it under warrenty...thank god...i was told that if this problem happened again, then to turn your sled's brights on and hand/thumb warmers all they way up, but I told them that that's how i ALWAYS ride my sled. I never have it on low beam. They were stumped after that...but I know that Polaris hasn't warrentied all sleds that have had this problem...which makes me believe that this may not (in their minds) be as big of a problem as it is made out to be...do i agree with that..HELL now...Especially if people have toasted these things on their first ride.

 

[thefullmonte]

Very common problem. Here is a thread on Protection the ECU. I ended up just adding a ground strap from the common ground on the electronics cover to the steel cross brace next to it.

 

[akrevrider]

Monte,

Can you post a pic of how you mounted the grounding strap?

Thanks,

akrev