Fuel additives and blown engine's

[rmkscrambler]

Just thought id ask those who have lost an engine if they are running any fuel additives what are they. That or if you are using an additive and have had no problems let us know. I know with older oils that some fuel additives would separate the oil from the gas on two strokes and cause problems.

So which ones are Ok

And which ones arn't

 

[RockinMntKing]

I haven't blown a sled (knock on wood) but i am always careful to make sure i am useing the right octane and an oil such as blue marble or amsoil or some sort of oil that doesn't gum like polaris oils will. And Im going to also say that i am no expert but i from seeing my friends blow sleds and being around alot of blown sleds i think alot of the problem when its not mechanically related, IE bad piston clearance or poor metal qualities causing failures, that its not so much the addative but the fuel in the first place. If your are not getting a good 91 or higher octane you are at serious risk for detenation and lean running conditions. And if the fuel has ethnol in it you better compound that exponetially. Addatives should help if you are in a situation where you are unsure of the fuel, but if the fuel is really old or isnt up to par they are not a fix all. IMHO. I may totally be off on this but it has seemed to keep me running.

 

[scratley]

I haven't blown a sled (knock on wood) but i am always careful to make sure i am useing the right octane and an oil such as blue marble or amsoil or some sort of oil that doesn't gum like polaris oils will. And Im going to also say that i am no expert but i from seeing my friends blow sleds and being around alot of blown sleds i think alot of the problem when its not mechanically related, IE bad piston clearance or poor metal qualities causing failures, that its not so much the addative but the fuel in the first place. If your are not getting a good 91 or higher octane you are at serious risk for detenation and lean running conditions. And if the fuel has ethnol in it you better compound that exponetially. Addatives should help if you are in a situation where you are unsure of the fuel, but if the fuel is really old or isnt up to par they are not a fix all. IMHO. I may totally be off on this but it has seemed to keep me running.

X2

Couple gallons of race fuel in every tank will do wonders to save your motor with todays fuel. Guys i know doing this have no problems. You spend 12 grand on a sled whats another 5 or 6 bucks a tank. Spend the extra on the oil too. Riding time is very valiable. Do what you can to prevent fuel and oil issues. Has worked for me! But i do understand some blow. Just all the ones i have blown were fuel related. My 2 cents

 

[prorider]

I run a little race gas in mine about one gallon per tank. I have not had any problems with mine. also i was blowing motors in my dragon and then started to run a little race gas in that and i have not had any more problems with it. i think the fuel is just not as good as it used to be.

 

[Clarke673]

sounds like a good way to foul plugs and make the sled make even less power than stock.

 

[NapaMatt]

Hmm. Well i treat my Fuel System.. Each 500 Miles.

Just using Race Gas would be pointless waste of $$$$$$$$$

JB- Justice Brothers

Fuel Injector Cleaner It Flat out WORKS. Also add a little Octane

But always running 91 Or 93!

My .o2

 

[rmkscrambler]

I started this wondering if any one had experienced any problems with any particular fuel additive. personally I have always avoided them as much as possible and totally on snowmobiles.

However when I was getting ready to put my machine away for the year because of lousy snow conditions I used the seafoam in the fuel. Well last night we got 16"-20" of fresh so I filled it up (added seafoam to match) the fuel (8 oz) this morning and took off.

I noticed right off when we left the truck that it was only hitting 8050 on rpm and dropping back to 7950 which seemed low considering I was still at 8500 ft elevation. But I didn't pay much attention to it figured it was weather variation. Well by the time we were heading back to the truck it was only getting 7750 running down hill on the trail same area as before. The lowest I had seen in the past was 7950 topping a hill @9500-10000ft. So could the sea foam be causing less power in the fuel. Or is this still just weather variation. The temp at the truck was 32 dg F

 

[RockinMntKing]

could be the seafoam, but one other thing to check also is your top end, my buddy was riding and experienceing lower rpms thought his clutching was off, did some research on here and found guys saying that just before they lost the top end they started running lower rpms on pulls, so he pulled his power valves and sure enough the mag side piston was all scared up and thankfully he was able to just buy new pistons and go cause the cylinder was fine since he caught it in time. Yours may not be this at all but just thought i would share the knowledge with ya.

 

[rmkscrambler]

could be the seafoam, but one other thing to check also is your top end, my buddy was riding and experienceing lower rpms thought his clutching was off, did some research on here and found guys saying that just before they lost the top end they started running lower rpms on pulls, so he pulled his power valves and sure enough the mag side piston was all scared up and thankfully he was able to just buy new pistons and go cause the cylinder was fine since he caught it in time. Yours may not be this at all but just thought i would share the knowledge with ya.

Thanks for the info
I pulled the valves real quick to check and everything looked good.
I think it was probably just snow conditions.
My brother was riding a 700 dragon with the seafoam and had the same problem in the same area.
I got to thinking about it and down lower we were just trail riding although it was fresh snow it was still heavy and sticky down low which will drag one down. and up high where the snow was good I never looked at rpm I was having to much fun just riding.

 

[xc6rider]

Just keep in mind that anything added to fuel, displaces the fuel... I generally wouldn't recommend running anything. If you feel an additive is needed, something else is wrong. I do suggest sta-bil or seafoam for fuel storage etc but I'd suck as much out as possible and then refill with fresh fuel.

And for those that are using octane booster, you're just wasting your $$. Most octane boosters wont even bring an 87octane fuel to 88. They will claim to raise, for example 6 points. Points referring to tenths of an octane rating. So if you bought 87oct, it would bring you to 87.6 (pointless)

When it comes to fuels or additives, run what ya need, and know what ya run.

 

[rmkscrambler]

Just keep in mind that anything added to fuel, displaces the fuel... I generally wouldn't recommend running anything. If you feel an additive is needed, something else is wrong. I do suggest sta-bil or seafoam for fuel storage etc but I'd suck as much out as possible and then refill with fresh fuel.

And for those that are using octane booster, you're just wasting your $$. Most octane boosters wont even bring an 87octane fuel to 88. They will claim to raise, for example 6 points. Points referring to tenths of an octane rating. So if you bought 87oct, it would bring you to 87.6 (pointless)

When it comes to fuels or additives, run what ya need, and know what ya run.

I agree The only reason I had the seafoam was because I had just put it in storage because of all the warm weather and wind the snow was melting fast. I topped it off because I new the 16" fresh powder woulden't last. But it was defiantly worth the last trip.

Next time It will just get straight 91 octane ethonal free gas.