2013 pro 800 piston and rings.

[proprolaris]

I have my sled tore apart and have 1900
Miles on a stock motor with no mods. What
is a good set of rings and Pistons to put in?
Any other things I should do while I have it apart?

 

[Old Scud-doo]

MtnTek fix kit is a great kit. Has Teflon coated pistons with slightly taller piston. Adds a shim to cylinder to compensate for the added height.

Did your pistons have knifing and were your rings chipping? Mine were at 1318 miles. It was a good thing I had my dealer tear into it.

 

[Norway]

A good set of pistons and rings for you is ONE THAT FITS!

Not being a smart a$$ at all, but you need to measure the cylinder bores and get a match regarding piston/cylinder clearing and ring end-gap. Get this done by someone who knows how!!!

I had a pair of pistons held of at Fastrax Motorsports and sent them my monoblock. From Norway. Oh, and I had normal wear on 2011 pistons and replaced them with stock 2013 pistons.

They checked it out in every way they know, relying on years of experience with polaris CFI motors, and then it was good to go. There is more than one school out there; some say pistons vary in size and others say cylinder bore.
But if you match a pair of pistons to YOUR SPECIFIC MONOBLOCK and have a correct end-gap on your rings, you are more than likely going to see all these trouble free miles that many pro owners report.

From 2013 the reliability issue has pretty much come back to normal (as in no more/less than Cat/Doo). Get a fix kit if you so desire, but check above mentioned things the same way. Better yet, have the supplier of the piston kit, whose reputation is involved, check out your monoblock and set ring end-gap before you even get the kit.

Best of luck and happy riding.

RS

 

[Sage Crusher]

Just to throw it out there since I have a 2014 pro hold over
With close to 1200 miles running well
but curious about the engine warranty ( have 3 years)

Dealer told me if I touch it motor warranty and other issues could be in jeopardy

What have you guys been told / think?

Thanks
s/c

 

[proprolaris]

Yep. If you make a claim on warranty the dealer will try to find any tiny little thing to blame it on so they can decline you warranty and save money. That is what happened to me and I pretty much lost a motor and I was declined.

 

[Reg2view]

...Dealer told me if I touch it motor warranty and other issues could be in jeopardy

What have you guys been told / think?

Thanks
s/c

The dealer is really getting directed by Poo Warranty folks. Poo is requiring pictures now on most any claim, even for highly regarded dealers, then gets the parts back. It's how they are managing warranty costs.

Poo is also looking to make sure you have receipts for service you do yourself, like fuel filters. Use your manual to record cleaning VES, fogging motor, fuel filter, etc., too, if you do it yourself and you're under warranty. FWIW.

 

[Norway]

Good catch on the warranty guys!

If you have warranty left, try to use it. Get in touch with your dealer /one close by and check out what can be done.

How much for them to inspect it? Can they put in new stock pistons and check that everything fits?

Something could let go and if your motor is toast it sure sucks to be denied warranty when you are still cowered...

 

[Old Scud-doo]

I think there are a lot of schools of thought on this. I am feel that the piston skirt and cylinder skirt issues have been addressed from 13' on. You just don't see that very often anymore.

End of last season I had 1318 on my motor, 2013 Pro 8, and wanted to do preventative work to it. Told my dealer to pull it apart and look at the pistons and rings. I would make a choice after we saw what their condition was. He called me and said it needs new pistons and rings. Probably a good thing I opened it up instead of waiting. Pistons were knifing and the rings were chipping or flaking.

Before you start, I run only Polaris racing oil. Almost the same as Redline. I run 1 oz per gallon of fuel in my tank for extra precaution. I had my oil pump turned up from day one. I never start my sled and roar off. I let it warm up from cold and normalize if it's been sitting for a few minutes after shutting it off. I take care of my sleds. Almost anally.

Industry insider once told me that the Polaris fueling design sprays the fuel on the pistons and rings clearing the oil off of them. That is why the intake side is almost always the side that has issues. Bad design but what we are having to deal with. The fueling design is why V-Force had such a hard time getting reeds to work. There is no oil being added to the fuel at this point and no lubrication tears things up....reeds as well as rings and pistons to be specific. No lube on reeds pretty much means no lube on pistons and rings or at least minute amounts.

Harder you run your machine the worst the damage is and the sooner you will see it. You run trails and ride like grandpa Jones, maybe 3k miles. You ride like Keith Curtiss (sp) and you might get 1k miles. The harder your ride the more apparent the damage from lack of oil becomes.

So in my opinion, I would tear into your machine before your warranty is up. Maybe come up with a lame excuse that its not running right or fouling plugs. Something to crack it open and if they are bad, Polaris can't reject your claim because it was running fine. You know they would. "Your sled was running just fine and you took the pistons out and they were bad....but it was running fine before that. Warranty denied!"

By the way, I haven't looked at this new 800 H.O. motor but if it is injected the same way as the old motor there is still going to be issues with pistons and rings.

 

[geo]

A good set of pistons and rings for you is ONE THAT FITS!

Not being a smart a$$ at all, but you need to measure the cylinder bores and get a match regarding piston/cylinder clearing and ring end-gap. Get this done by someone who knows how!!!

I had a pair of pistons held of at Fastrax Motorsports and sent them my monoblock. From Norway. Oh, and I had normal wear on 2011 pistons and replaced them with stock 2013 pistons.

They checked it out in every way they know, relying on years of experience with polaris CFI motors, and then it was good to go. There is more than one school out there; some say pistons vary in size and others say cylinder bore.
But if you match a pair of pistons to YOUR SPECIFIC MONOBLOCK and have a correct end-gap on your rings, you are more than likely going to see all these trouble free miles that many pro owners report.

From 2013 the reliability issue has pretty much come back to normal (as in no more/less than Cat/Doo). Get a fix kit if you so desire, but check above mentioned things the same way. Better yet, have the supplier of the piston kit, whose reputation is involved, check out your monoblock and set ring end-gap before you even get the kit.

Best of luck and happy riding.

RS

No point in being logical and offering good advice with this question.

Please stop that!

 

[rmk727]

Guys I'm just not seeing the warranty rejections that you speak of. Perhaps it's a dealer issue, I don't know or perhaps a forum issue. If I have a good explanation and seem to know of what I speak the claim flys threw but if I wrote ( this POS broke) I really wouldn't expect them to cover it either, they are looking for patterns and problems to address.

 

[Old Scud-doo]

Was speaking more of a tear it apart before warranty up to see if it needs piston and rings. Polaris won't pay if you tore it down and you d something unless it was acting up.

My dealer won't stand behind anything. Just told me that a bearing failure due to lack of oil is just an uncovered failure...they rebuilt top end 250 miles ago and there was air in oil line. Matters not. Not his fault and not covered.

 

[Norway]

No point in being logical and offering good advice with this question.

Please stop that!

Not sure I got that one?

 

[geo]

Not sure I got that one?

Sorry. Sarcastic without the symbol.

Good post with sound advice.

 

[snopromod]

Old Scud doo, correct me if I'm wrong, but if your theory on piston wash on side of pistons is true, wouldn't the 600 motors be going down the same way being they inject fuel the same way? Maybe I'm wrong on that...

Also the new 800 HO motor injects the same way, but didn't they do a cut out in the piston on the new HO motor?

 

[mtncat1]

you could do a fix kit or if you just want a set of good pistons do the rktech direct replacement set . ive done a lot of them mountain tech or rkt both have worked fine for me.

 

[SHAWNBRO]

I would personally stick with OEM pistons. I was in your shoes at the beginning of this season, 2100 miles on my bone stock 13 pro. I heard great things about the rk tek direct replacement pistons, so i put a set in my sled to hopefully make it last the rest of the season. 400 miles later it seized. I believe, along with other people i have talked to, that it was a piston clearance problem, so I called RK Tek to see if they would do any sort of a warranty. Was very disappointing how they handled the situation and after frustrating hours on the phone with RK, i put OEM pistons back in and it runs great.

 

[Old Scud-doo]

Old Scud doo, correct me if I'm wrong, but if your theory on piston wash on side of pistons is true, wouldn't the 600 motors be going down the same way being they inject fuel the same way? Maybe I'm wrong on that...

Also the new 800 HO motor injects the same way, but didn't they do a cut out in the piston on the new HO motor?

Never seen a 6 have piston or ring problems. Maybe they do though. I do know that each 8 I have had has had it though. Guy that told me almost lost his job. Polaris was asking for his head. Don't ask. Long story. ��

As far as the new motors...I won't be testing one, I mean buying one. They need some major hard miles on them and show little wear for me to want to try it.

 

[BC_mtn_rider]

Funny my 13 pro has 1900 hard miles on it & I just got my first few engine bogs when I pin it...that was the calm before the storm with my 10 Dragon before she died on me. Last thing I wanna do before my big trip on Monday to Revy is trying to break in a top end in 4ft of pow for 3 days straight!!!! I'll take my chances!!!
Ill be using the MTNTK Kit when I'm back.

 

[snopromod]

Never seen a 6 have piston or ring problems. Maybe they do though. I do know that each 8 I have had has had it though. Guy that told me almost lost his job. Polaris was asking he his head. Don't ask. Long story. ?

As far as the new motors...I won't be testing one, I mean buying one. They need some major hard miles on them and dhow little wear for me to want to try it.

Haha fair enough, we as backcountry riders do take our chances with this motor to ride the best chassis and geometry on a sled by a large margin in my opinion. So with that said I'll keep riding my Pro RMK! : )