I need everyone's help, how do we send Polaris the Message?

[tbeaton]

Message to SnoWest user TBEATON, Polaris did step up in 08 and 09 and put fresh top ends in all the Dragons at their own expense so dont go spouting off how great and all mighty Ski-Doo is. Bottom line is if their is an obvious most all manufactruers will step up to the plate. I normally will not sled bash or user bash but it does bother me when things are said without doing your homework. Lets all just ride and enjoy. If you have a gripe about Polaris sell the darn thing and buy something else.

i'm not saying doo is the greatest, yes i have owned them but was purely stateing a fact that doo is recalling them. i also never said anything about poo not doing a recall, but i'm not talking about the iq am i? i was surprised to hear it to be honest, i never thought they would have cared enough about the consumer to do it. but my point was that polaris knows about the skirt issue, so recall the thing and fix the problem on people sleds before they grenade. they did it with the dragon so why haven't they done it with the pro? and more importantly, why do they even still have issues after the 08-09 problem?

 

[Leaf27]

Message to SnoWest user TBEATON, Polaris did step up in 08 and 09 and put fresh top ends in all the Dragons at their own expense so dont go spouting off how great and all mighty Ski-Doo is. Bottom line is if their is an obvious most all manufactruers will step up to the plate. I normally will not sled bash or user bash but it does bother me when things are said without doing your homework. Lets all just ride and enjoy. If you have a gripe about Polaris sell the darn thing and buy something else.

Best post in this thread.

 

[beamslayer]

PRIDE does anyone remember what that was. I must be getting old because I do remember .Now everytime you buy something they want to sell you a extended warranty did you ever ask your self why? I always ask why do I need one.
I am sorry not all of us can afford a new sled every year and when we can afford one we want it to last.
This ordeal with broken skirts should be a recall not here is a new short block and I hope the warranty runs out before it happens again. When you get a new engine does the warranty start over? How about those peeps that have a 08 -09-or a 10 with the same problem now were talking about 11 and 12s. 5 years with the same issue.
My fault I do not have a warranty on my 11 assault I thought poo had fixed there problem now I have 1500 miles on it and wondering when the skirt is going to break off? I guess I will ride my 700 dragon untill I can tear mine down and do the RKT kit just so I can check my cylinders. Can't sell it does not have a warranty.

 

[Going West]

Why would someone not want Polaris to fix this. Right now they have the best handling sled out there IMO, if pared with a reliable engine everyone is going to be happy. If your sick of the posts were people are complaining about their engine problems don't read them, but they have every right to complain when every Polaris they have owned in the last 5+ years has lost a motor or 2. There complaints are whats going to get you a better sled, so put you blind faith aside and pull you head out of the sand. This is a problem and it should be Polaris that fixes it, not the customer.

 

[Murph]

...Why not jut be friendly to your local dealer?They suck because the customer sucks. Maybe we need to look at ourselves......From what I see here, about 90% of the issues are self inflicted. We say that our machines are stock, well except for this or that. That is not stock, so stop lying about it. We post about an issue we have, but rarely do we include ALL of the information. I hate to say it, but tunnels do not bend on trailers. They bend because they are being pounded through moguls, overloaded, and dropped off of cliffs. Between our bitching, and EPA standards, 2 stroke engines will NEVER have the reliability the old motors had, until we agree to let the manufacturers add some weight back to our rides. Suck it up kids, this is the future of the sport.

Amen!

Couldn't agree more. What really sucks is that there are still innocent customers that take care of their STOCK machine and some still fail-- as is the case with ALL mass produced products.

This is exactly why Polaris needs to photo warranty claims now.... Dumbasses that "mod" their motor and can't understand why it went boom-- then they blame the manufacturer. Same guys that start a motor in -10 temps and pin them wide open after a thirty second "warm up".

 

[TGitt]

I hate to jump in here because all of the arguing seems pretty pointless. Polaris is listening, but it would seem that many of us here are not. We have cried, whined, bitched and thrown tantrums for years about how much our machines weigh. There is a fine line between weight, and reliability-and we seem to be there. We cried for years to have a lighter, more nimble machine, and Polaris stepped up. I would love to hear how many on this forum would agree to add 30 pounds to our machines to get the reliability back. Or even be willing to add a few thousand dollars to the cost so the manufacturers (not just Polaris) could afford to give us what we want straight from the factory. Everything we seem to want is attainable, but at what expense? The manufacturer could, for all intents and purposes, cutout the need and/or want for any and all of the aftermarket mods we do to our sleds. Two stroke turbo-no problem, but what will it cost. We will happily spend 5-8000 dollars modding these things, but when it comes to buying one, how many threads are on here asking who has the best price? Why not jut be friendly to your local dealer? They suck because the customer sucks. Maybe we need to look at ourselves. We bitch to the dealers, the manufacturers, our buddies and everyone here about everything under the sun on our sleds, but I read through these forums and there are rarely any viable solutions that everyone will agree on. What makes you think they aren't tired of hearing it too? We all have our opinions, and maybe it is time that we suck it up a little, and realize a little humility. The manufacturers are not perfect, but neither are you. From what I see here, about 90% of the issues are self inflicted. We say that our machines are stock, well except for this or that. That is not stock, so stop lying about it. We post about an issue we have, but rarely do we include ALL of the information. I hate to say it, but tunnels do not bend on trailers. They bend because they are being pounded through moguls, overloaded, and dropped off of cliffs. Between our bitching, and EPA standards, 2 stroke engines will NEVER have the reliability the old motors had, until we agree to let the manufacturers add some weight back to our rides. Suck it up kids, this is the future of the sport.

In all honesty, I would take a 30 lb heavier pro if they could make the engine more reliable. It's a he!! Of a lot easier to drop weight than add reliability. My sled was completely STOCK when in went down. I always do a proper warm up and never really get on the throttle until it's up to temp, even after taking a break. I'm just saying, they've got the chassis, don't you think it's time they start working on an engine that lasts a season or two? But they aren't really doing anything about it! That's what ticks me off. Yeah they did a few little tweaks for the pro, two less injectors mapping etc. But we have had 3 Polaris sleds that were completely stock, not ridden that hard, good oil, proper warm up that had catastrophic engine failures. I guess the point I'm making is, there are other manufactures like cat that can and has produced a reliable 800. I know every brand will have failures, but cat sure has a lot less! my M8 has 3500 miles in two years, the biggest/only problem I had was rollers in the primary. If it were a Polaris, that's 3 maybe 4 engines for some people. Sorry, rant over.

 

[beamslayer]

A broken skirt is a broken skirt it happens to the stock sleds not just to the modded sled.
I put a head and can on my sled I guess I am one of those Dumbass . Putting a head and can on has nothing to do with the piston and skirt issue because if you notice it is happening to stock sleds some with less than a 1000 miles.It is a no brainer poo can not build a 800 engine that stays together.
I own a 2003 duramax-- chevy knows it has injector issues they do not give you a warranty they just fix it when it breaks at no charge no questions up to 180,000 miles.Mine went out at 93,000 pulling my boat with a camper on the truck they did not take pics and give me some bs that I was towing something or my tires were oversize. They pulled it in changed my injector said sorry for the inconvience.
It has been a issue since 08 nothing new here same engine just added some new bandaids.

 

[Leaf27]

A broken skirt is a broken skirt it happens to the stock sleds not just to the modded sled.
I put a head and can on my sled I guess I am one of those Dumbass . Putting a head and can on has nothing to do with the piston and skirt issue because if you notice it is happening to stock sleds some with less than a 1000 miles.It is a no brainer poo can not build a 800 engine that stays together.
I own a 2003 duramax-- chevy knows it has injector issues they do not give you a warranty they just fix it when it breaks at no charge no questions up to 180,000 miles.Mine went out at 93,000 pulling my boat with a camper on the truck they did not take pics and give me some bs that I was towing something or my tires were oversize. They pulled it in changed my injector said sorry for the inconvience.
It has been a issue since 08 nothing new here same engine just added some new bandaids.

If you had a chip in you're truck and had modified it, you bet your azz they would be telling you to pound sand.!.!

And instead of putting money into a head and can, why not get the kit that will fix the engine problem? Probably would of cost about the same and you wouldn't have a broken Skirt.

I find it interesting that most of the people on here complaining have been long time Polaris owners that have had purchased multiple Polaris machines, even though they have had engine failure after engine failure. This is my first Poo, if this sled gives me nothing but grief, well bye bye Polaris. Like, really people is it that hard to understand??

 

[TGitt]

If you had a chip in you're truck and had modified it, you bet your azz they would be telling you to pound sand.!.!

And instead of putting money into a head and can, why not get the kit that will fix the engine problem? Probably would of cost about the same and you wouldn't have a broken Skirt.

I find it interesting that most of the people on here complaining have been long time Polaris owners that have had purchased multiple Polaris machines, even though they have had engine failure after engine failure. This is my first Poo, if this sled gives me nothing but grief, well bye bye Polaris. Like, really people is it that hard to understand??

That's why I went away from Polaris and bought cats. The pro is a sled built for my type of riding, that's why I bought one (after I swore I would never own another as long as they keep putting tin foil under the hood) and that's why I'm even considering snowchecking another one. This pro was my first Polaris since 05, turns out nothing has changed.

 

[Matte Murder]

Whole first page was pretty civil, 2nd page and it's going Snowest(attack each other and other brands). I totally agree that the Pro engine is the most failure prone of the bunch. I don't think making the sled 30lbs heavier will make the engine last. Seems changing the rod length, beefing up the cylinder skirt, and rings that wouldn't flake would go a long ways to getting the engine to last a lot longer. I still stand by my comment that with these known problems this is probably not the sled to mod. Is 5-15 more HP(pipe and can to stage 3 mods) really worth accepting the financial responsibility of this engines poor design. I forgot that the warranty is financed by someone else. Maybe that company will sue Polaris when there claims start to spike. Maybe they will go bankrupt and leave us all in the dark. So add one more thing to do to this sled, sell it at 2 years or use. Sad... Not everyone can buy a new sled ever year or two and the poor bastards that end up them sucks too.

 

[CHIA_PET74]

Drop a Ski Doo motor in Pro Chassis.

 

[Old Scud-doo]

I find it interesting that most of the people on here complaining have been long time Polaris owners that have had purchased multiple Polaris machines, even though they have had engine failure after engine failure. This is my first Poo, if this sled gives me nothing but grief, well bye bye Polaris. Like, really people is it that hard to understand??

It's like that cheating girlfriend...you just keep hoping that some day she'll pull her head out of the sand and realize how great you are. Polaris faithful keep thinking and saying, "Well it's been 5 years now that we've had this 800 motor and if we hold out just a little longer...she won't be in tool shed with the gardner sharpening his tools. We are blind loyalists but when you spend that kind of $, you get to complain.

I see it like this, you don't vote? Don't complain about the President. You don't own a Pro, don't complain about it. If you shelled out 11k+ for a sled and the motor goes down I think you have the right to complain. I understand these sleds are light because we asked for it. How many of you have asked for a motor that lasts 1 year at best? I didn't it.

Hell I built a 2002 Edge 800 with full SLP "everything" kit, twins, head, reeds, the whole shmear in 2004. Damn sled is turning 4000 miles and around 165 hp and never gone down in 8 years. At 515# estimate at the time I didn't know that the engine only holds up if the chassis weighs over 100#'s more than the pro. I always thought they were independent.

I have some homework for anybody that wants to do some. I have talked to people in the aftermarket industry and asked them questions about the poo 8. I was told to plan on rebuilding it about every year whether or not it has been modified. When I complained about that, they told me "Why do you think I ride XXXX, XXXX being a brand other than Polaris. It's not because the Pro sucks, it's because the motor does. Once again, why can RKT come up with a suposed fix and Polaris can't? If it's a problem with rings and/or lubrication, why can't they come out with a better ring? I would be all over the "It's modified so shut up" theory if it wasn't happening to even the stock ones. So when Ski-doo issued a recall on piston and rings back in the early 2003 or so, did they exclude any sled that had head, pipe, can, unsanctioned Pamela Anderson sticker? I would guess even if there is a recall type action, Polaris would try to skip those without warranty.

In parting, sometimes people just want to bi+ch. I get in trouble all the time for trying to fix problems when my wife tells me I just want to vent so shut up and listen. Thats all most people want....just that in this case we want Polaris to listen.

 

[tbeaton]

A broken skirt is a broken skirt it happens to the stock sleds not just to the modded sled.
I put a head and can on my sled I guess I am one of those Dumbass . Putting a head and can on has nothing to do with the piston and skirt issue because if you notice it is happening to stock sleds some with less than a 1000 miles.It is a no brainer poo can not build a 800 engine that stays together.
I own a 2003 duramax-- chevy knows it has injector issues they do not give you a warranty they just fix it when it breaks at no charge no questions up to 180,000 miles.Mine went out at 93,000 pulling my boat with a camper on the truck they did not take pics and give me some bs that I was towing something or my tires were oversize. They pulled it in changed my injector said sorry for the inconvience.
It has been a issue since 08 nothing new here same engine just added some new bandaids.

but chevy will fix it no questions asked even out of warranty, if you bust a skirt in year 2 with only a 1 year warranty they tell you to pound sand. if they told me they would fix it no matter the year or mileage within reason i would be happy. wait till it goes? fine, as long as i get fixed on thier dime and not mine.


i was thinking of doing the "fix" from the 2 companies offering them, but what will that get me? i talked to rktek and he said that you can still have a failure and when/if you do your not going to get that fixed under any warranty. so should i get another year of warranty or get the so called "fix". both are similar in price, but which one will actually help me stay on the snow? i hate to start tearing into my motor at 1100 miles.

 

[Matte Murder]

Looking at 2013 snowcheck page. The 4 year warranty is from Polaristar. At least Polaris will have to pay for their disaster themselves.

 

[beamslayer]

CRFfred I purchaced the head and can in the fall before I heard of the skirt issue.I bought my sled last spring when everyone was saying how poo had nailed it with the pro now more and more peeps are talking about skirt issues.This issue has nothing to do with mods it has to do with bad engineering.Polaris is just copying Harley Davidson after all of us gear heads modded their bikes and made them more reliably and better looking than they would come out with it on stock bikes.
Yes polaris is listening,better boards,carbon fiber,belt drives,and lighter skids these were not thought up by poo enginers they are copyed from guys that modded their sleds now they are setting back waiting for someone to improve the poor engine design and they will copy that too. So the next time you want to criticize one of us for mods take a long hard look at your sled it is not cutting edge tech it some poor slob in his garage that was not happy with what he had and could see out side the box . Thanks polaris for bringing it to the market place but a BIGGER thanks goes to all those that were not satisfied with stock.

 

[Murph]

Beamslayer-- to be clear, you or anyone else who modifies a sled is not a dumbass.

My problem is guys who modify sleds--break them-- then expect Polaris to pick up the tab. Because of modded sled failures, Polaris has to scrutinize every warranty claim--- making it harder for guys who have LEGITIMATE stock sleds to get fixed.

I love horsepower, but if I mod my sled and it breaks, it's on me. This is not meant as a defense of Polaris.

I have to imagine that Polaris is already working (testing a CFi 2) replacement. Don't think they don't know the general consensus about their motors.

Can you imagine the sled sales they would see if they picked up the Suzuki 800 motors when AC's contract runs out? How many Pro's would they sell then?

Terrain and sales floor DOMINATION.

 

[Going West]

Beamslayer-- to be clear, you or anyone else who modifies a sled is not a dumbass.

My problem is guys who modify sleds--break them-- then expect Polaris to pick up the tab. Because of modded sled failures, Polaris has to scrutinize every warranty claim--- making it harder for guys who have LEGITIMATE stock sleds to get fixed.

I love horsepower, but if I mod my sled and it breaks, it's on me. This is not meant as a defense of Polaris.

I have to imagine that Polaris is already working (testing a CFi 2) replacement. Don't think they don't know the general consensus about their motors.

Can you imagine the sled sales they would see if they picked up the Suzuki 800 motors when AC's contract runs out? How many Pro's would they sell then?

Terrain and sales floor DOMINATION.

I agree with you to a point. If the mod you did resulted in the failure then it should come out of your pocket. But just because you mod your engine does not mean the factory is not responsible for engine failure. The known issues do not just go away. If you can explain to me how a head, pipe or even a turbo will cause a cylinder skirt to fail then you might have a point. Fact is that these are problems that are happening on bone stock units with low miles. I would not feel wrong in bring in a modded sled with a busted skirt for warranty, but a lean burn down or det, is another story, thats on my dollar. By law they have to prove the mod you did caused the issue, and the only reason that they get away with denying warranty on these issues is because their lawyers are better funded then yours.

 

[Matte Murder]

Polaris must have really beat their dealers down on this too. It seems like the dealers are all about helping Polaris deny claims rather than being your advocate in the matter. I asked my dealer about a pipe and can we put on my Doo and asked how that effected the warranty. He told me that there was no way he would let the pipe/can effect the warranty. He put it on and he would stand behind it. He told me he would surely let me know if we did any mods that would kill the warranty and make sure I knew that was happening.

 

[Old Scud-doo]

Your non-sanctioned Pamela Anderson sticker caused your skirt to fall off. Hahaha! Tell me how an HPS can causes major engine failure/damage!? That's how picky they have gotten on warranty. It's getting to the point where you better take off your bar riser or motor won't be covered.

I am all for denied claims if you can prove the mod caused the failure.

 

[beamslayer]

No offense Murph trust me That is nice compared to what I have been called.I have a real problem with leaving things stock kind of like Tim The Tool Man.The only thing I havn't tried to mod is my bride well thats a lie thats only because she has a say in the matter good thing my assault can not talk.
I am a little PO this week all my riding chums are headed to McCall and I do not trust my engine 1500 miles that is sad my 2000 600 had 3500miles when I sold it and they are still riding it 7yrs later.and the guy I bought it from grass dragged all summer of 2000 right off the show room floor. They shaved the head and clutched it and went racing. The 600 and 700 great engines what happened to the 800?