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Has Polaris issued a recall for the oil cap?

Yes, X2, how about a quick recap or link to this Geo oil cap mod? Sounds like another one of many note worthy innovations from our Canadian free thinker.
 
Dave,

So that I have this correct... after your vent mod on all of your machines... you've never seen another air bubble situation on those sleds? (sincere question).


Good Discussion BTW.



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The Geo cap mod is drilling some small holes in the underside of the cap (not all the way through just into the hollow) basically bypassing the valve that could potentially stick. I did it, haven't noticed any leaking out. Also haven't seen a increase in oil use but mine was never skimpy on oil. 35ish:1 2 turns up on the pump. I always had the mysterious bubble come back right next to the oil tank though, hasn't come back yet with the cap drilled but I don't have much time on it either.
 
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Just a thought on the air bubble. Wondering if it is caused by the routing of the oil supply line and motor heat. I have not had an air bubble in my supply line since the $28 upgrade. Same oil cap.

For comparison, the 550f had the air bubble problem that had many a motor meet its demise. Heat soak of the oil was the cause. Polaris came out with a bleed kit (2203889) to rectify the problem.

Ex-Flit, you may be onto the cause of a caps venting failure. Complete filling of the tank that submerses the caps check valve would have a negative affect on its design. Personally, I fill my oil tank to 3/4" below the bottom of the fill neck.
 
Just a thought on the air bubble. Wondering if it is caused by the routing of the oil supply line and motor heat. I have not had an air bubble in my supply line since the $28 upgrade. Same oil cap.

For comparison, the 550f had the air bubble problem that had many a motor meet its demise. Heat soak of the oil was the cause. Polaris came out with a bleed kit (2203889) to rectify the problem.

Ex-Flit, you may be onto the cause of a caps venting failure. Complete filling of the tank that submerses the caps check valve would have a negative affect on its design. Personally, I fill my oil tank to 3/4" below the bottom of the fill neck.

I think that was the cause of the 12 Cats going down... Until they fixed it with a sticker. lol
 
I added an extra vent line that I bought from PaasoRacing. My oil consumption jumped from 50:1 to 27:1. Had to turn the oiler down.

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i vented my oil cap with 1 tiny 1/16 hole in the dome on the underside.
we had a deep day with lots of stucks and rolling sled to get unstuck. when i got home i had oil all over the place.

ordered a paaso racing vented oil cap, problem solved. i don’t think extra venting could hurt
 
Just a note on the Cat fix-reason.

I never filled my tank. Top of the window only. My motor went down at 1200 miles.

First oil related failure for me since I was 14 yrs old. New to me CZ and previous owner gave me oil to throw in the bike. I found a hole and filled it to the top. It was the gearbox lol. Enough leaked past the crank seal to get in 3 rides in lol til I did a minor squeak.
I sanded things free and put it back together. Decided to fix the "leaks" in the forks too. Filled them with grease instead of oil. I was quite "smart" back then. Got 5 more rides oiling my engine through the crank seal lol.
 
Dave,

So that I have this correct... after your vent mod on all of your machines... you've never seen another air bubble situation on those sleds? (sincere question).


Good Discussion BTW.



.






That is correct Eric....never a return with an air bubble in an oil line.
 
Myth busters???

A good vid for the discussion.

And some good comments from hardcoresledder.com

The part that I was not considering is that the vent-pintle can stay "sucked shut" with vacuum behind it... even rattling the ball around vigorously.

I just tried it. I started with cap at natural angle with the vent shut, sled on level ground. I made sure the cap was good and lubed up to simulate a bit of normal oil residue in the cap/pintle.. empty tank with 4in HG. Rattle the ball around... it vents. Increased to 7 in HG.... sure enough, it stayed closed, even when I banged the the bottle.

From What DD is saying and this little test... I'll be putting a vent with valve in my bottle just for good measure now.

I'll still have my oil pump turned up for 36-40:1 overall.

Passo racing has reasonable priced replacement caps with inline valves for reasonable prices too, if you don't want to drill your tank.


vtboonedocker I see your points, but really? Our sleds are always bucking around and the ball im sure just doesnt stay put for how the slow the reservoir empties.imho
Switchbackenvy This all makes good sense but wouldn't you think that the ball will always be bouncing around hitting the stem and venting all the time?
northstarrick In a perfect world yes. but what I believe is happening is this. oil gets in there, with moisture,ice etc. it has a very small vent hole in the cap.and the angle of the tank is on the boarded line of venting at idle anyway. if your sled is tipped to the left a little or the trailer isn't level then its not going to vent anyway. if the pump draws more then 10"water column of vacuum it will never vent until the cap is opened. I have already tested this. with a empty tank with a mity vac. I banged the tank off the work bench and shook it as hard as I could. did not open the vent. and the ball was rattling the whole time. granted this takes a lot of things in combination to cause this. but do you want to gamble with your $12,000 sled? it can happen under the right conditions. the other thing is its causing erratic oil consumption from no venting then venting then not again. if your out west pulling a long shoot at wot the cap is not venting. and its using the most oil at this throttle position. it wouldn't take long to draw a fatal vacuum. maybe all the sleds in the west going down was due to this and nothing else?




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Interesting to say the least. I drilled my cap with 3 holes and noticed my oil consumption went up.
 
This might be a dumb point....but are those who are noticing increase consumption from extra venting drilling. OR those who are noticing tanks imploding with the stock cap;

Are your oil pumps set to well above stock levels?

Maybe the factory venting keeps up fine with how much the pump draws stock. But maybe not so much with it cranked up? Just a thought.
 
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It seems the vent may (in best conditions) keep up adequately with the stock pump setting but that setting is a rather low amount of oil. (60-70:1). The question is are more engines failing at stock pump settings or turned up settings? It is proven that 2S engines make more power with more oil than what the stock setting is.


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Geez ,i have been screaming to vent your tanks since january ,the horse finally woke up!!Turned up oiler doesn't make any diff on whether it vents or not. Some caps vent without the ball even moving,but for how long.Polaris puts a factory vent on a few new sleds,for 10 dollars you can order the parts. Drilling cap works great also,just get a small amount of oil leaking when upside down.
 
Showing up a little late to this party... couple things I have noticed in regards to venting the oil tanks/caps/etc...

First: The air bubble shows up regardless of how well the oil bottle or cap is vented. I actually have TWO vents on the oil tank on my XC race sled(2013 Indy 600) and it still gets a bubble. My 2013 SBA gets a bubble with a vented cap, but also eats a full tank of oil in 300mi with a STOCK un-adjusted oil pump.

Second: For whatever reason when venting the bottle with a check valve and still using the OEM oil cap, the OEM oil cap will puke oil when the bottle is filled and the sled is ridden on rough trails. This was experienced by myself and a number of customers who vented the tank, and not the cap.

Third: Oil usage is VERY dependent on throttle input. I have installed vented caps on some sleds and found no oil pump adjustment is needed, other sleds still required the oil pump to be turned up to get usage into the 55-1 area. I can honestly say the sleds who's pumps were turned up were ridden slower on trails, and saw limited(if any) off trail situations with lots of varying throttle.

Fourth: Drilling or burning holes in the OEM cap WILL result in leaks if the sled is used for anything other than flat trail cruising. I will put a link to that video on here...

I am sure I forgot some stuff...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzt9WL02x7E
 
Tried to find that thread about geo's oil cap mod but couldn't find it. So with the 3 holes, it doesn't leak?

Yes, X2, how about a quick recap or link to this Geo oil cap mod? Sounds like another one of many note worthy innovations from our Canadian free thinker.


Geo's mod consists of drilling 3 holes in bottom side of the oil cap using the smallest bit in a drill type torch tip cleaning set(.020" - ish). The holes are drilled through the cap from the underside on the tapered portion. As the cap is constructed with a cavity between the portion in which the holes are drilled and the actual top, the holes are not visibly exposed to the engine compartment.

I haven't rolled my machine on it's lid for any length of time yet to know whether leakage will be an issue but if it is I'll simply "melt" the holes on the lid shut & go the more elaborate route with a dedicated vent line & check valve.
 
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