Muskoka buys 858...

[Rob.G]

Well this isn't looking good.



It looks like he's having exhaust valve problems. ingenious temporary fix though. I'm gonna call the local dealer on Tuesday to see about the new ECU reflash and have them look at the exhaust valve issue too.

 

[live2beel]

Video validates all of the problems everyone is having. It's primarily an exhaust valve problem. Not " your breaking it in incorrectly". Good news is ,it looks like an easy fix. It willl be a great sled in 2026 if, Cat can stay alive.

 

[Rob.G]

A big upside is a LOT of people will see that video and it should motivate Cat to get things taken care of. Cat is now in the spotlight.

 

[Pinchecharlie]

I agree , Matt has a big social media influence. I’d be very surprised if all the issues weren’t being fixed allready. I THINK…he will rip that sled in the steep trees once it’s fixed and the suspension is set up for him AND he adjusts his riding style/technique! You could tell he was about to dial and that the sled has crazy traction. He will (if he rides it) go to ugly places on it that most normal guys could never ever think about going (myself included) cat won’t fail unless textron gets greedy (big multi national corporation greedy? No…) . If the new administration does do tariffs it will probably hurt all snowmobiles just due to parts being made overseas? . We shall see. I allways route for the underdog but that means iam used to losing too lol!

 

[joshkoltes]

Of all the sleds that left the dealer. Holy crap.

They should of put a couple miles on that one before delivery with all the bad rumblings.

Nothing was learned from the exploding clutch affair

Looks like the exhaust valve is stuck in the cylinder. At min a new cylinder, or die grind the bad spot out.
I bet they change the engine, I bet they won't ship it for a month. Their warranty dept is not good from my experience. Took me a year to get clutches

 

[Rob.G]

Did you see how he was talking about he has to ride Neutral more of the time? That's one of the problems I had.. besides being massively out of shape. It tips SO easily that it's hard to keep up with. GOOD riders will absolutely love it. Mediocre riders like me will require time to figure it out.

 

[tuneman]

Here's my guess on the exhaust valve issue, and I really hope I'm right: Ibexx was claiming 20hp gains in the mid range and I'm sure that was before the latest ECM update. Assuming Matt didn't have the update either, it seems there may have been a delay in correctly opening the valves. That could over pressurize the engine and certainly cause valve damage. Crossing fingers that's all it is.

 

[favoritos]

I wonder if the sled had been reflashed?

 

[Vern]

Did you see how he was talking about he has to ride Neutral more of the time? That's one of the problems I had.. besides being massively out of shape. It tips SO easily that it's hard to keep up with. GOOD riders will absolutely love it. Mediocre riders like me will require time to figure it out.

Even on the ascender alpha you could ride neutral majority of the time. I only go wrong foot forward when absolutely necessary. That’s where a lot of hate for the alpha came from. People would hop on and try to ride them like a dual rail and get tossed or wash out. They’re pretty easy to override if you try and ride them as hard as you need to on a dual rail.

 

[Rob.G]

I'm not a fan of wrong foot forward because, well for one I'm very out of shape, but two, my knees aren't real good.. so if I can ride neutral 90+ percent of the time, that'd make me very happy. Still though, I have my '23 Khaos because I'd lose my ass on it to sell it, so I guess I'll have to learn to do that eventually. Good thing I'm doing the gym thing now (with a personal trainer).

 

[MTN_VIPER]

It's a good idea to check your power valve actuator for binding like they show them doing in the video. I just checked mine and there was a noticeable bind at the half way point as the actuator cycled through its radius. I adjusted my bracket using a big Cresent wrench and all it took was a slight tweak. You don't want to bend it to far as this could cause a bind at the ends of the stroke. There was a noticeable difference in smoothness and effort as you manually cycle the power valves open/close after the bracket adjustment.

Before the bracket adjustment the servo motor would cycle through OK, but with the binding I could see how it may disrupt the timing of how quickly the power valves open/close as the RPM changes.
A before and after pic

 

[Chewy22]

I have not watched the video. What happened with his power valves?

 

[Pinchecharlie]

The cable bracket binds the cable and they don’t open and close properly

 

[Chewy22]

The cable bracket binds the cable and they don’t open and close properly

Is that it? A lot of comments on Facebook and Instagram are making it sound like a lot bigger deal. People are really ragging on his cat like something more is wrong with it.

 

[Vern]

Is that it? A lot of comments on Facebook and Instagram are making it sound like a lot bigger deal. People are really ragging on his cat like something more is wrong with it.

Initially he thought it was the cable issue so they tweaked the bracket on the trail ride in. The sled ran fine for a while then started acting up again so they disconnected the cable and found that one of his power valves was locked up and wouldn’t move

 

[Pinchecharlie]

They also said they thought the binding caused the damage to become like that? They made it seem like by running it that way is what caused the damage to be worse and if they’d have just fixed it first it would not have gotten so bad? It’s all in that video and o won’t lie iam not a very good mechanic. If I had one I would ask the dealer to deal with it before I took it home. Lol

 

[Rob.G]

Yeah that's why I'm not gonna touch mine; I'm gonna call the local Cat dealer on Monday and see if they'll fit me in for that and the ECU reflash. Hopefully so... I didn't buy the sled from them so we'll see what their attitude is.

 

[GSX97]

With the alignment issue and how easy it is to correct, I am surprised that wouldn't be something they would have every dealer inspect before a sled goes out the door to a customer.
First impressions of a sled can only happen once.

 

[Pinchecharlie]

After reading all the comments in the video…it seems there are two things unrelated that are happening. One is the bracket and the binding of the valves. The other is to tight a tolerance of the valves and in conjunction with the binding it hits the piston and then it gets really bound. The comments make it seem like the most common issue is the bracket and when it’s fixed it’s fixed and what happened to Matt’s was more of a fluke and not the norm. Of course we will find out because there are over 500 comments on you tube and then there’s instagram and so he will definitely tell us when he knows . Another poster did a break down of the architecture of the engine and said it was just an over site on the tolerance . Now I want to k ow too lol. I’ll call my dealer tomorrow for fun lol

 

[Vern]

They also said they thought the binding caused the damage to become like that? They made it seem like by running it that way is what caused the damage to be worse and if they’d have just fixed it first it would not have gotten so bad? It’s all in that video and o won’t lie iam not a very good mechanic. If I had one I would ask the dealer to deal with it before I took it home. Lol

I think he was thinking that the metal rattling noise he was hearing the whole ride was the cause of the valve failure. Not so much the cable binding. From what I’ve read in regards to the rattling noise on other posts, it is most likely the brake disc or an exhaust spring rattling against the steering post, so good possibility it’s not related either.