Melting Side Panel

[Skeld]

Today I was breaking trail for a little ways, not pushing the sled too hard. Turning maybe 6800 RPM but traveling perhaps 5-10 miles without stopping. At one point I smelled burning plastic. Took me a bit to figure it out but it was the bottom corner of the side panel down by the muffler. Also some of the body piece that the side panel attaches to was melted as well. Is this a common problem? I haven't seen anything on here about this. I have 1000 miles on the sled and this hasn't happened before so the only thing I can think of that caused this is that I was running the non-ethanol resistor. Maybe the EGT was getting a little high. So I switched back to the ethanol plug, but meanwhile it still seemed like the side panel was getting hot. Hot enough that if I flop the side panel open when it's hot it doesn't have the strength to hold itself up.

I bought a mountain sled for just this reason, it should be overkill for what I"m doing, but I am still having problems. I am pleased that I am still on the original belt and I like the sled a lot. My buddy just took out a belt this weekend on his XF High Country but I'm still going.

Another small issue, I seem to be getting some seepage from the jackshaft on the chaincase side. Not enough that it's puddling up, but I can see a film on the chaincase. Sign that the bearing is going or normal?

 

[skibreeze]

pic?

 

[Skeld]

I don't have the sled here, I'll have to get one for you tomorrow.

 

[Flygti32]

We saw a brand new 600 pro come in the shop last monday( sold the friday before) The chaincase side all burnt up, no one can seem to explain why but i have a theory for riders out in the prairies. The fields out here contain cattail ponds that trap large amounts of snow, perfect for blasting through or catwalking out of. All the stalks and fluff off the tops can get into the belly pan, and! from personal experience have seen large amounts of cattail reeds accumalte around the base of the pipe. I always vaccum my sled out after it has sat overnight and dried up, but i am willing to guess this might have been the owners problem because we found some reeds and junk in the front bulkhead.

 

[Yamahog]

Damn that's nuts

 

[Sunvang]

Damn! Even with my 800 pro silber turbo sled, the panel dont get near that hot! And im riding alot of trails to and from riding spots.

 

[Skeld]

Hmm, you could be on to something there. I run through a lot of alders and tree growth and I have noticed pieces of branch, leaves etc. down in the belly pan. It's possible that that could have done it.

 

[Super Sled]

Those melted panels are crazy!

 

[coolx2]

Is the heat shield still on your side panel?

 

[Skeld]

It is, but the affected area is down in the front corner of the panel where there is not foam. Actually the foam was taken off the panel at one time because mice attacked my sled after I brought it home this fall. I couldn't believe the luck when that happened, but anyway, I bought the foam piece for that side and put it on myself. I could have got it in the wrong place and that might be part of the problem but I don't think so. I'll put some pictures up shortly.

 

[AndrettiDog]

I'd heat tape it up until you figure out what is wrong.

 

[Skeld]

A few pictures. Keep in mind the damage is nothing compared to the 600 pictures above, but I don't want to have to be concerned I'm catching on fire all the time. I will try heat tape, in the mean time I made the thread to see if anyone else was having this issue, and if so, what they did to deal with it.

 

[Woodsrider]

I wonder if your can is not damaged inside. I suggest taking it off to see if it rattles.

 

[Old Scud-doo]

Heat tape everything! I bought a second set of panels in the color I wanted back in 2011. I contacted SLP and bought a bunch of their heat tape and did the entire panel. Also did every vent that Holz Racing made. Sided panels, front of panels, console,...everything. These sleds are really tight inside.