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Cold Seized

Think I might have cold seized my engine but not to sure... Unloded it off truck on weekend, made sure temp was about 100-110 degrees F before I moved it. Opened garage door while the sled was idling when it stalls, go to re-start it and pull rope wont move rotated the enginge with the clutch little difficult but not to bad, pulled the plugs out and it pulled over really smooth and easily no metal on metal noise, started it and it ran fine while I parked it. Should I pull the motor and do a top end or will it be ok to ride it for awhile?

Thanks
 
Make sure its not the primary clutch sticking (a bushing goes out). I had a 900 and the clutch went out causing it to kill the motor at low rpms.
 
Ok, first off... if it was "stuck" and wouldn't rotate then something is wrong... ignoring it won't make it better.

I don't think you cold seized it... cold seize happens when the piston expands faster than the surrounding cylinder walls. That requires some hard throttle like jumping on it hard right out of the parking lot. Pulling it out of the garage would not be sufficient to do that.

You could pull the plugs and get a bore light and look down in and see if you see scoring on the cylinder walls, that will tell you if you have a piston dragging funny.

Do you keep your sled clean under the hood or does it look like a grease pit? I'm not being an azz, I've seen both sides of it. If you don't keep it clean, you could actually have had something get down in the pull starter and bind up the flywheel. I think this is remote.

Now for the ugly propositions... I've seen this happen on other sleds like you describe. Motor is running, then stops, won't pull over. You fiddle with the clutch and it spins free, starts and runs. The cause every time was a main bearing on the crank coming apart. The ball bearings in the individual bearings are spaced apart with a little spacer ring with fingers on it. Those fingers break off, allowing the ball bearings to move closer to each other... they will bind up and stick the crank. You wiggle the clutch and then free up.

How many miles on the motor?

I'd start by inspecting the cylinders, either via bore light or even lifting the head and taking a look. Then I would look and make sure nothing was binding on the pull starter side. If I found nothing obvious, I'd be pulling the motor down and checking the crank.

Give this post a day or two, the 900 guys will jump in with some additional advice I'm betting.

sled_guy
 
exactly what my Indy 650 did when it lost a crank bearing now that you mention it. Engine seized and after I mess with the clutch it loosened up. Mine never ran again though and I parted out the sled,
 
I have one more question for you.

Was this the first time the sled was run after being stored all summer?

If it was then you probably got rust on the crank bearings over the summer and your engine is toast. Do not run it anymore or you risk doing more damage.
 
Miles and yr of sled???

Had the same thing happen to me and it was the crank, but I was haulin azz and almost went end over end. Hope its something else, maybe a mouse nest got sucked through the motor, lol.
 
Do you keep your sled clean under the hood or does it look like a grease pit? Just replaced the engine so it's very clean.

How many miles on the motor? Off the top of my head I'd say around 400ish
 
No its not the first time the sled was run rode it for 3 days prior to this event.

Where the heck are you riding? are in you Colorado?


How long was it rode? I rode mine three times for a mile or two setting up the clutch, then rode it 10 miles before the crank went out.
 
One day at quartz creek in Golden BC and 2 day at frisby ridge in Revelstoke BC. Rode it all day long for 3 days I'd say 5 hours a day

Hard to say for certain than but I would be leaning toward that it was the crank and that you now have a bearing spinning inside the engine cases instead of turning.
 
Anyway to tell without pulling the engine?

Crank, NO, unless you can actually feel it grinding when you pull plugs and turn over engine by hand.

Pistons, Yes, Pull pipe and look into exhaust ports.

If it is the crank and you run it, it won't be long till the whole engine seizes up.
 
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