New to me Dragon 800 bog and electrical problem

[seanpistol]

I bought an 08 Dragon 800 163 last Tuesday. Chassis has 2500 miles on it and apparently the "dragon fix it kit" was done 500 miles ago and it has an updated voltage regulator. Took it out Thursday in 3' of new snow and it ripped. Took it out again Saturday and ran into some issues.

In deep snow in a meadow it started to bog. It seemed intermittent, but the guys I was riding with said the headlight was flickering. A little later, the dash completely went out and the headlight was on, but very dim. The bogging remains when first starting out, then seems to get past it, but has some intermittent bog through all throttle positions.

I got the sled home and threw a compression tester on it. 85 and 95. Pulled the power valves and see a little burning on one of the piston skirts from blowby, and a little scoring on the other piston. Not horrible, but it's there. Sounds like I will need to order pistons, rings, and wrist pins.

After reading a little here, I checked every wire and electrical connector I could find on the sled. Wiggling wires does not make the dash even so much as flicker while running. I should also note that revving the throttle does not make the headlight any brighter. I swapped the voltage regulator with my buddies from his 10 Dragon 800 163 that I know works, and it did absolutely nothing for my sled.

Any advice on where to look next?

 

[Dazzler]

It could be the capacitor? Sounds similar to issues I had with my 09.. try unplugging hand warmers? If sled has issues going into reverse, that's a good sign of low compression.

 

[seanpistol]

I’ll check the capacitor. No issues whatsoever going into reverse. I’ll try unplugging the handwarmers. I noticed at the begining of the day while the dash was still working fine that the handwarmers seemed like they didn’t work at all, not sure if that’s relevant or not.

 

[seanpistol]

Swapped the capacitor that sits on top of the VR with my buddies that I know works - no results whatsoever.

 

[daytripper]

I found a bare hot wire causing my electrical problem. Look for modifications/repairs to the harness might help.

 

[Utah Powder Bound]

I seem to be having exactly the same issue. 2009 dragon 800 with 1300 miles. Installed new voltage regulator. Went through Ves. Investigated wires, connectors, etc. Not sure where to go next. TPS? ETS? Reeds? Any ideas?

 

[retiredpop]

I bought an 08 Dragon 800 163 last Tuesday. Chassis has 2500 miles on it and apparently the "dragon fix it kit" was done 500 miles ago and it has an updated voltage regulator. Took it out Thursday in 3' of new snow and it ripped. Took it out again Saturday and ran into some issues.

In deep snow in a meadow it started to bog. It seemed intermittent, but the guys I was riding with said the headlight was flickering. A little later, the dash completely went out and the headlight was on, but very dim. The bogging remains when first starting out, then seems to get past it, but has some intermittent bog through all throttle positions.

I got the sled home and threw a compression tester on it. 85 and 95. Pulled the power valves and see a little burning on one of the piston skirts from blowby, and a little scoring on the other piston. Not horrible, but it's there. Sounds like I will need to order pistons, rings, and wrist pins.

After reading a little here, I checked every wire and electrical connector I could find on the sled. Wiggling wires does not make the dash even so much as flicker while running. I should also note that revving the throttle does not make the headlight any brighter. I swapped the voltage regulator with my buddies from his 10 Dragon 800 163 that I know works, and it did absolutely nothing for my sled.

Any advice on where to look next?

Yeah, compression is definitely low.