voltage regulator

[miralas]

i know there's alot of threads on this but i've got vicodin in my veins and i'm getting ready to go back to the hospital. after my huge sled catastrophe on saturday, my friends had to ride my sled out for me while i was being evac'd to the hospital, they said that they let it run to warm up( i told them not to pull-and-go since i got the MTNTK kit in it) and it just shut off. normally from reading these forums i would diagnose that as a voltage regulator but i wanted to check. it took a pretty solid nose dive off a cornice and rolled over somebody else s sled, but the only visible damage is a sway bar link that got torn off. it smells pretty bad of an electrical burn. u guys think it could be more than my VR? when i went to unload it from my trailer this week, it ran for about 30 secs before it died, and i haven't tried to start it since. thanks guys for ur help. hoping this next hospital visit is short and sweet...

 

[akrevrider]

Bad regulator?

Does your sled have the newer style regulator? Polaris was replacing them under a goodwill exchange if the original regulator went bad.

An easy way to check the ECU is to pull it off and look on the back to see if it is blistered and smells burnt. Another option is to take it to the dealer to have them check it and replace the regulator.

Good luck with your rehab. Hope your back to riding soon.

akrevrider

 

[miralas]

So I finally got off my butt and checked out what it could be and I found that my voltage regulator looks good. So I started my sled and saw smoke pouring out of my ECU. Now I'm curious if it just happened to go out after my wreck by coincidence or when my sled landing on my friends and landing nose first could have some how pinched a wire somewhere and made it go out. My VR does have the old serial number 4011731 so this has me curious also if this could have been part of the reason for my ECU to go down.

On an other note, did Polaris come out with a replacement ECU? I tried to do a part number search for mine and it didn't come up. What I have is 4012541 and what I see in the parts catalog is 4011518. Mine also says blue injectors on it, is this going to matter with that different part number? Sorry if my writings bad, trying to do all this on my girlfriends phone.

 

[diamonddave]

Hope you're feeling better. I've been laid up for the past couple months also.

Considering what your sled went through, you are definately going to want to check ALL the wiring in the sled as close as possible. It could be coincidental, coincidence happens all the time, but ECM's are too expensive to take a chance.

Verify the chassis ground wire on the electronic bracket. Many of these sleds are loosing the ground circuit through this plate to the steering hoop and through the rest of the chassis. That's why I have been recommending an additional ground strap from this location to the driver side (left rear) motor mount.

I would definately replace the VR with the ECM. 731 VR's have been problematic.

Since a dealer will have to upload a map into the replacement ECM, you would be far better off just taking the sled to the dealer and pay the labor (which isn't $hit in this case) to install and map the new ECM than to take a chance on saving a couple $ and replacing it your self and still be required to have a map installed.

 

[miralas]

I'm feeling a lot better, but I still have orthoscopic surgery for my right miniscus this coming october( because the military likes to take there sweet time for these kind of things). Glad u told me about having to get the map uploaded because I never would have thought of that. I'll take it in to get the ECU problem resolved, I just hate having the stealership workin on my stuff because they don't care about it as much as I do. But this should be pretty brainless for them. Will do a thorough electrical trace, just because I like having a reason to hang out in my garage, if girlfriends could only understand...

 

[jim9006]

FYI - There are 3 versions of the VR (that I know of).

Orginial 4011731 (08 - early 09)
First upgrade 4012476 (late 09 early 10's)
Second upgrade 4012930 (late 10 and pro)

Sorry guys but thats all I know about them.

 

[Flange509]

Looks like the Pro has two VR's, why couldn't that be retrofitted to the D8

 

[diamonddave]

FYI - There are 3 versions of the VR (that I know of).

Orginial 4011731 (08 - early 09)
First upgrade 4012476 (late 09 early 10's)
Second upgrade 4012930 (late 10 and pro)
Sorry guys but thats all I know about them.

Second upgrade 4012930 (late 10 and pro)


The Pro runs a completely different VR (DC-CFI-2) as does the CFI-2 injector 600's in the IQ and Pro Chassis.

I still haven't seen an actual 930 VR. I purchased another one last month and it was still the same 4012476 with identical markings as the old VR being replaced and a new 4012930 sticker over the old 476 sticker.

It was identical to the one I purchased in Jan 2011. A 4012476 with identical markings and a new sticker on the box (4012930) over the original 476 sticker.


But I guess this was all just a "Conspiracy Theory"

 

[BB454]

Reg

08 and 09s for sure had reg problems which would burn up the ecu. Reg looks good but in actuallity it goes south and sends too much voltage to the ecu burning them up. You will need to replace both. I built a protection circuit for mine to try to protect it after watching an 08 smoke in my driveway. ECU need to match injector color. Not sure but I think 10s had same issue. I heard that Polaris had several Reg upgrades but still didn't have it solved.

 

[akrevrider]

Protecting the ECU

08 and 09s for sure had reg problems which would burn up the ecu. Reg looks good but in actuallity it goes south and sends too much voltage to the ecu burning them up. You will need to replace both. I built a protection circuit for mine to try to protect it after watching an 08 smoke in my driveway. ECU need to match injector color. Not sure but I think 10s had same issue. I heard that Polaris had several Reg upgrades but still didn't have it solved.

Can you please elaborate on how you built/designed the protection circuit?

I added grounding straps to the ECU mounting plate and engine to chassis ground as a precaution.

Thank you

akrevrider

 

[BB454]

Protection

I bought a small plastic box and a circuit project board that would fit inside of it. In that box I have 3 circuits. Each contains a 10 amp ATO fuse followed by a Zener diode and a shottkey diode. The zener diode will bleed off excess voltage to ground and the shottkey protects against reverse current because this is a AC circuit. The fuse is there for power spikes but it also puts some resistance in the line so the Zener will work correctly. I cut the 3 small orange lines coming out of the reg and added connectors. Then I spliced the connector that I cut off to the box so it will plug into the ECU. A fourth wire goes from the ground leg on the zener diode to chassis ground.

As a additional protection, I moved the large capacitor (black square thing) off the top of the reg and added a small AC fan to the Plastic cover that goes over all the electrical stuff. This is mounted directly over the reg and pushes about 30 CFM of air accross the reg while the engine is running. Obviously heat must be an issue due to all the cooling fins on that reg.

I don't have much time on this set up so I can't say if it will help but I am into it a lot less than the cost of the reg or ECU so if it saves them then it will be worth the time and money.

I still need to address the other output of the reg. They power the speedo and accessories but for now I think I have the ECU protected.

I will carry a couple of extra fuses and if one blowes I can replace it and see if it will run to get off the mountain. I also figure if it blows, that's a sign that the reg has failed but $150.00 for a reg is a lot cheaper than $150.00 plus $299.00 for a ECU.

I am no electrical engineer but I work with several and they are the ones that walked me through this. Again not much testing done but it ran after I put this in.

Due to lack of space, I made the wires pretty long so I could Velcro this box over out of the way and get the hood closed. Fan is the same way so you can plug it in before you put the electrical cover back on.