New Pro: Replace pistons now or later

[pj8556]

The question I keep asking myself is should I replace my brand new perfectly fine pistons (but may not be after a season) now with the RKtek pistons that are said to be more durable, increasing reliability and produce more power with less weight and improved porting.

Or, run the stock pistons, turn up oiler, add oil to fuel. For added performance: put on an aftermarket cheater head, can and some clutching (team tied with carls clutch kit) and retain my warranty. Monitor compression and performance, check pistons and cylinders best I can through exhaust ports, and replace, if necessary, at the end of this season (all the while retaining my warranty in case something does go wrong, but also risking losing a piston and/or a cylinder and causing more secondary severe/expensive damage.

We do not know the extent of the changes to the '13 motor (thicker cylinder skirts, better crank, other changes that we may not know of, although pistons and clearances are said to be unchanged) or if they will make a difference. I am hoping they will. I do think the problems with the pistons have been blown out of proportion a bit, but that is not to say that I dont recognize there is a problem.

The question is, tear down a brand new motor under warranty without even riding it yet. Or wait it out, see what happens, risk it, save time and money now, and re-evaluate and possibly upgrade later...

Advice, ideas, comments, plans all appreciated

 

[gunnerthesnowman]

Kind of in the same spot , i have a 2012 800 pro with 700 Km on it , been seeing all the pictur and treads on this piston problem and decided to take a look , pulled it apart and do not like what i see, so been doing more reading on here trying to pick thought the bu!! sh!t in these treads , treads getting deleted , trying to see what the best thing to do to fix this problem. you have the fix it kit (MTN TK ) the RK TEC kit , i see PAR puts out a long rod kit for the crank , getting more confused about what to do than doing anything so far.

 

[Bigrock33]

Kind of in the same spot , i have a 2012 800 pro with 700 Km on it , been seeing all the pictur and treads on this piston problem and decided to take a look , pulled it apart and do not like what i see, so been doing more reading on here trying to pick thought the bu!! sh!t in these treads , treads getting deleted , trying to see what the best thing to do to fix this problem. you have the fix it kit (MTN TK ) the RK TEC kit , i see PAR puts out a long rod kit for the crank , getting more confused about what to do than doing anything so far.

My thoughts as well. Pisses me off that we have to be concerned with this with 500 miles on a new sled. Not sure anyone has a "fix it" kit that is proven over time, especially with suck an overall poor snow year last year. Would like to get a bit more HP/torque out of it at the same time as doing a "longevity/reliability" fix without breaking the bank.

 

[seth25]

It's a brand new sled with warranty. Leave it be and ride it. Who knows, the 13 changes may have fixed the issues of the 11s and 12s.

 

[just-pinch-it]

+ the "fix" kits will have a year on the snow, and then see if they work.

 

[rmscustom]

I'm gonna ride it for a year and see... If it blows the down time will suck but at least it will be covered and I have a backup sled. If you do one of the kits and it blows your screwed.

 

[jeepin270]

fixes

There has only been one fix kit that has been proven reliable for years. Mntks pms.. all the others are fairly new. U have to go by the credibility of the person who makes one of the new ones. Par an Dan have the most credibility as far as engine builders as far as I have seen. Pretty sure they are backing there's up by warranty as well. If I was u, I would run it oem. If u have a good dealer they will still warranty even if u have other mods. I had my topend replaced twice under warranty with a turbo. Good luck.

 

[harps500]

I'm waiting until I see a few more guinea pigs on the drop in pistons and start to see those motors grenade. I've got two years of riding before warranty is up then I'll look at them. Run it!

 

[revrider07]

That's why Polaris is coming down on dealers 2 top ends under warranty with turbo common. I know that pro motor has some issues but I know of no pros going down that were left stock mod them and look out. I hope polaris gets tougher with warranty claims when there is mods on the sleds.

 

[AaronBND]

I very rarely buy anything new that has to do with vehicles. I usually let someone else take the hit on the depreciation on them for the first year or two. A big reason for dropping the money on the new sled this year has a large part to do with that four year warranty and the peace of mind it brings. It's worth $3-4 of the $12K to me. I plan on just riding it and not fretting every time I read SnoWest............. A lot of guys have 2500 or more trouble-free miles.

Aaron

 

[Going West]

Just ride and enjoy. If you want you cant check them over at the end of the year.

 

[skibreeze]

The 13 motors have a 1.3mm thicker skirt as well as some other changes, so you should be good for a season, maybe 2. I wish that I would have pulled mine down at 1,000 miles instead of 2,000 and it would have saved having a cracked block.

 

[Snodawg]

Percentage wise, there isn't that many of the Pro engines going down. Just happens that with forums all you hear is the doom & gloom. Look at the one "belt failure" and how many posts/threads it has. You would think that the Pro is the biggest piece of junk out there. Truth is just the opposite.
BTW, do you think that some of this "failure hype" is actually sales pitch from the aftermarket??? Just wondering.

 

[Going West]

Friend of mine runs a rental company that has 15 pros every year, they have a average of about 2000 miles on them when he sells them, he has not had one engine failure.

 

[Oregonsledder]

Percentage wise, there isn't that many of the Pro engines going down. Just happens that with forums all you hear is the doom & gloom. Look at the one "belt failure" and how many posts/threads it has. You would think that the Pro is the biggest piece of junk out there. Truth is just the opposite.
BTW, do you think that some of this "failure hype" is actually sales pitch from the aftermarket??? Just wondering.

I agree with you. I think there is a real business opportunity here. Feed the hysteria with your buddies help and create a new aftermarket fix for a problem that really doesn’t warrant a fix.
The interwebs can really get guys fretting over stuff. I do realize that every time a guy has a serious failure it’s a real failure to them, but the actual failure rate for the PRO engine is grossly overstated on the web. I know a pretty good number of guys riding PRO’s and not 1 has had a failure worse than a broken primary spring.

 

[skibreeze]

Friend of mine runs a rental company that has 15 pros every year, they have a average of about 2000 miles on them when he sells them, he has not had one engine failure.

Mine didn't have an engine failure at 2,000 miles either if I would have just sold it.

 

[beamslayer]

Sorry but my engine is not hype less than 1500 miles and the cylinder is cracked and the pistons are collapsed and this did not happen because I ran a aftermarket head,Bone stock 12 pro with 1200 miles hole in the bottom end and there are alot more than these two .
Has anyone came on here that has torn there engine down and not had the pistons collapsed ?
It was appalling to here that we need stricter warranty ,tell that to all the guys and gals who have dropped their hard earned cash on the pos 800 dragon that poo has left stranded .
Run it till it blows and let polaris fix it , sell before the warranty runs out , Or install one of the many kits that are on the market ( Because their is no problem ) and hope for the best .

 

[knifedge]

--probably see 2x failures this season than last but time will tell

--.008 - .009 clearance in the cylinder is not hype, it is fact

--based on that fact, decide what you want to do( you can pull head to verify)

 

[boondocker163]

mtn tek

I put a mtn tek fix kit from pms in idaho in my dragon last year and put a lot of miles on it. I could not have been happier! i got a couple hundred rpms out of it and it got a little snappier. For 580 bucks i think it is worth it for sure. I am going to ride my pro this year and play it by ear but i would do the pms kit again for suer . Loved that kit! My buddy put in the rk tek kit this year so we'll see how that one works out...

 

[Oregonsledder]

Sorry but my engine is not hype less than 1500 miles and the cylinder is cracked and the pistons are collapsed and this did not happen because I ran a aftermarket head,Bone stock 12 pro with 1200 miles hole in the bottom end and there are alot more than these two .
Has anyone came on here that has torn there engine down and not had the pistons collapsed ?
It was appalling to here that we need stricter warranty ,tell that to all the guys and gals who have dropped their hard earned cash on the pos 800 dragon that poo has left stranded .
Run it till it blows and let polaris fix it , sell before the warranty runs out , Or install one of the many kits that are on the market ( Because their is no problem ) and hope for the best .

Beam, my point is, that if a proportionate number of guys who have not had a serious problem posted at the same time a failure post came up, it would make the failures seem like a rare occurrence and thus more representative of reality. I’m sure you don't care how many guys have never had a problem because you are dealing with one, but the causal reader will often leave this site with a distorted view of how many PRO’s have serious engine failures. That is the point I’m trying to make. Good luck.