First Ride of the year! Late but full of new issues!

[Frostbite]

Well I'm ashamed to say that today was my first ride of the season. The snow was pretty crappy below 5,000 feet but, above it was ok.

I had a couple issues today I'd like to share to maybe save a few of you some heartaches.

1. I ran my the track on my sled in front of my shop for 20+ minutes with the track elevated to check for any leaks after reinstalling the cylinders and head after the SLP performance Edition package. I saw no leaks so off I went this morning. There was no anti freeze in the bed of my truck when I unloaded it this morning (I hauled it in the back of truck this time).

Two hours after we started riding, I stopped on a hillside and saw a bunch of antifreeze running out of the nose of my sled. I tried refilling it with water and immediately watched it run right back out. WTF? It didn't leak at all at home and now it's leaking all over the mountain? I ended up getting towed home because the fluid was leaking out almost as fast as I put it in. I have to wonder how long it was leaking before I noticed it and if I damaged anything?

The only thing I can think of is: When I was mounting the Cat heavy duty skid plate, two of the screws were too short to reach the sled frame. So, I substituted slightled longer screws (just long enough to reach). Maybe I hit a coolant line under the motor? Could the coolant line be closing off when cold and leaking like crazy when it's hot?

Now, the entire front of my sled is full of snow from getting towed out. I have it melting in the shop. I'll report more later.

The other item that made me mad today was: after I saw the coolant leak, I opened the hood and I heard a loud crack. I later found the mount for the left cable that holds the hood open, cracked right through to the front of the hood. What the heck? The hood is so thin that it cracked right through from just opening the hood (on a very slight slope). Dang! Now I have a big crack right through my hood to fix that too! Do you guys have any repair tips for the hood?

The sled seemed to run fine but I was suprised I was only pulling 7,800 during my climbs (there was setup snow a foot or so under the powder), Maybe in fluff it would be higher? I have SLP clutching with MTX weights.

Sorry for the snivelling but, I guess today just wasn't my day.

 

[iluv2fly]

One thing is for sure you need another 300 rpm to be in the power band of the ported motor. What elevation were you riding today and how are your MTX weights setup, how many gram rivets do you have installed? What primary spring are you running. If you nailed the coolant hose with a bolt it would have leaked right from the get go. After it melts out it should be pretty easy to see where all the antifreeze is coming from. Let me know on the clutching and I will help you out. Mine is running 8000-8100 rpm in a climb at 9000ft with the slp performance package. By the way your coolant leak does sound like a blown hose to me especially if that much was coming out. Were you getting a hot temp flash on your gauge? If not it is probably ok.

 

[F7arcticcat]

One thing is for sure you need another 300 rpm to be in the power band of the ported motor. What elevation were you riding today and how are your MTX weights setup, how many gram rivets do you have installed? What primary spring are you running. If you nailed the coolant hose with a bolt it would have leaked right from the get go. After it melts out it should be pretty easy to see where all the antifreeze is coming from. Let me know on the clutching and I will help you out. Mine is running 8000-8100 rpm in a climb at 9000ft with the slp performance package. By the way your coolant leak does sound like a blown hose to me especially if that much was coming out. Were you getting a hot temp flash on your gauge? If not it is probably ok.

What gram weights are you running...I had Jeff at Dakota port my M8 with the slp pipe and he set me up with 71 mtx weights and with no rivits installed for 8k plus elevation. Seemed light to me, but he said thats what works.

 

[iluv2fly]

What gram weights are you running...I had Jeff at Dakota port my M8 with the slp pipe and he set me up with 71 mtx weights and with no rivits installed for 8k plus elevation. Seemed light to me, but he said thats what works.

That seems really light especially for an 09 M8. I am running 74G MTX with no rivets at 9K and turning 8100 rpm.

 

[WyoBoy1000]

forget to tighten a hose clamp. I'll bet the hose on the back of the motor is off. try that other spring you have. does it have new pistons or rings, might need to seat. the clutching is setup for the slp radius helix and from what I remember your running a progressive. does your rpm climb just past that and then come down.

 

[garciava]

if you dont find a lose hose or a hole in a hose it could be a head gasket. i pinched one last year while switching heads and it took me a ride or two to figure it out

just a thought

 

[Frostbite]

Thanks guys!

First off, I did my best to melt off the snow from under the hood last evening. Interestingly, now once again the coolant level doesn't drop at all in the shop. I can see all the coolant lines on right (exhaust side) of the motor and everything looks fine. I suspect the problem lies right where there's no visibility under the left front side of the engine compartment behind the primary clutch. There's one skid plate bolt behind and a little forward of the primary that continually seems to have a green drip around the head. I'll role the sled on it's side and pull the skid plate and cover plate and see what I can see. The hose on the back of the engine looks just fine. I'll hopefully find the leak today before the festivities begin.

With my handlebar bag I just can't see the lower warning lights very readily so I'm not sure how long the light flashed. Yet, the engine seems to run just fine. As for not pulling my shift RPM and being right about where the power valves are supposed to open, I am wondering if my powervalves are opening correctly? I adjusted the cable measurements by the manual but, I'm not sure if the servomotor has reset itself properly. is there a better way to check them and is there supposed to be a cover over the servomotor? Mine is fully exposed.

Clutch weights - I think mine are the 74 gram MTX weights but, I can't tell you what rivets is in them until I get out in the shop.

I did not replace the rings because the sled had under 200 miles on it last Spring before the teardown for SLP.

 

[89sandman]

i open my hood everytime we stop on the first ride after doing major mods, just good insurance to keep an eye open for trouble. would check the hose that comes up to the rear of the head, easy to not get the clamp tight. if thats not your leak would pull the can and check the hose that goes under the recoil. if you haven't added anything to protect it they like to rub through on the bottom of the engine...

 

[Vern]

i dont know if the m8 is routed the same way as the m7 but on my buddies m7 we had the belly cover off one day and noticed a rear coolant hose wrapped in tape, pulled the tape off and there was a screw stuck in a hole in the hose. we got to looking and noticed that the screw in the hose was right above one of the holes the previous owner had drilled for a skid plate. so ya, if the m8 is routed similar to the m7 it could be a possibilty that you hit a hose installing your skid plate.

 

[907KB]

2006 M7 79.5gr. Mtx weights 140/305 SLP Spring @ Almost 4k Ele. 8160 RPM. Theres something not workin for ya.

 

[jpstrr]

3m panel bond is the hand down best fix for plastic repair, it stronger than steal.

 

[Frostbite]

Thanks Guys!

I found the leak, it was a pinky sized line coming from the back of the clutch side of the motor into the bottom of the left fuel injector. Somehow it had a small nick in the line where it rubbed against the bulkhead for only 190 miles (there's a big black scuff mark where it was rubbing). The small nick/hole was about an inch from the forward end. It didn't visibly leak until I moved the line and then it poured out of it. I'm not sure how it got there but, I suspect perhaps it was pierced when I was installing the V Force reeds? I was able to just cut an inch off the end of the hose and luckily I still had enough hose left to use the existing hose. I added more plastic sleeving to the hose (especially where it was rubbing) so I just need to fire it up and check for leaks again.

I was riding at about 6,000 feet when I was watching my RPMs while climbing. They were right at 7,800+ and I watched them jump to 8,000 once when I jumped over a cornice. My primary came back to me directly from SLP after being balanced with the clutch shimmed for the MTX weights installed. I looked and each weight has 2 rivets in them (The inner one looks to be a bit longer) and are 74 gram MTX weights and I mainly ride from 4-7,000 feet. However, SLPs instructions for the performance edition kit says for 3-6,000 feet the inner rivet should be 1 gram and the outer should be 3 grams. That's weird to me as I have always loaded the heel with heavier rivets than the tip in the past. It must have something to do with the profile of the MTX weights (or it's a typo?)

I went ahead and swapped out the 120/340 black/pink SLP primary spring for the 160/310 green/yellow to give that a try. The 120 of the black/pink should give me a tad bit lower engagement and the 340 should give me a few more RPMs up top. I always try to pull as much clutch weight as possible, so this will be a good experiment.

Interestingly, the green/yellow spring is about 4 1/8" long, the Cat yellow/white is about 3 13/16" long and the black/pink is a full inch shorter than the black/pink at 3 1/8" long. How is that going to effect things?

I checked the measurement on my powervalve cables and they are each at 1.377" inches so, I don't think that was a problem.

Thanks for the ideas guys.