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yee haa boys another POLARIS RECALL

BeartoothBaron

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Another thought.. I've read that running ethanol fuel causes fuel lines to swell. Then when you switch to non-ethanol, fuel tends to leak. I've actually seen this happen. So the new question is, are the fuel lines on these sled good enough to not swell if you run ethanol-based fuel? 'Course then there's the point made earlier about how Polaris looks for ethanol in the motors when they fail and then deny warranty. This is a catch-22 situation for sure and you KNOW Polaris will deny warranties despite this; it will take expensive lawyers to fix that.
The fuel lines should be as ethanol-compatible as they can be: they've been designing sleds around running E10 for over a decade. That doesn't change the fact that alcohol attracts moisture, and moisture is hard on everything in the fuel system. You should be ok for how long a typical sled lasts, especially if you add some fuel treatment (Sta-Bil 360 looks good, but there are several good ones to limit damage from ethanol). That said, I'd never run a sled on E10 that's not fresh, and eth-free is a better choice under all circumstances and will give you the longest life on the fuel system.

If I'm understanding what @RBalazs is saying, the issue is that pure gasoline isn't electrically conductive enough to limit static buildup when fueling. I'm pretty certain that it's not an issue on cars because the fueling receptacle is normally metal (or grounded somehow), where a sled has a plastic gas tank. That makes me wonder if a metal collar under the fuel cap - grounded to the chassis - would prevent this. That said, I would think keeping the nozzle fully in the tank until the fuel reaches it should prevent any sparking - or if it did, there'd probably be too little oxygen to ignite the fumes. Usually, a gas tank has too rich a mixture to ignite anyway - you could drop a match into a full gas tank and it'll just go out; it's a nearly empty tank that's most likely to go boom. Regardless, it just seems like too small a possibility to worry about or be worth running E10 for. Unless you're a lawyer, or like keeping them employed...
 

Rob.G

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I rarely ever gas my sled at a pump... I use a plastic fuel jug to fill it using fuel I buy a couple days before a ride. It's easier than having to climb around to get to the sled or pass nozzles through a fuel door in an enclosed trailer.

I like the idea of the grounded metal collar. I also wonder why this "recall" isn't applying to their quads and SxS's too. I know lots of people who only put Clear gas in their power toys.
 

RBalazs

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The fuel lines should be as ethanol-compatible as they can be: they've been designing sleds around running E10 for over a decade. That doesn't change the fact that alcohol attracts moisture, and moisture is hard on everything in the fuel system. You should be ok for how long a typical sled lasts, especially if you add some fuel treatment (Sta-Bil 360 looks good, but there are several good ones to limit damage from ethanol). That said, I'd never run a sled on E10 that's not fresh, and eth-free is a better choice under all circumstances and will give you the longest life on the fuel system.

If I'm understanding what @RBalazs is saying, the issue is that pure gasoline isn't electrically conductive enough to limit static buildup when fueling. I'm pretty certain that it's not an issue on cars because the fueling receptacle is normally metal (or grounded somehow), where a sled has a plastic gas tank. That makes me wonder if a metal collar under the fuel cap - grounded to the chassis - would prevent this. That said, I would think keeping the nozzle fully in the tank until the fuel reaches it should prevent any sparking - or if it did, there'd probably be too little oxygen to ignite the fumes. Usually, a gas tank has too rich a mixture to ignite anyway - you could drop a match into a full gas tank and it'll just go out; it's a nearly empty tank that's most likely to go boom. Regardless, it just seems like too small a possibility to worry about or be worth running E10 for. Unless you're a lawyer, or like keeping them employed...
Yes, that’s the way I understood it from that article. I also was curious when I was just getting ready to loading my sled up, what would load when I scanned the QR code on my sled. It was surprising to me that it states if you don’t know what fuel is in your tank, select the 87 ethanol setting on your sled. Now my sled has always gone back to that ethanol setting regardless how many times I put it to the non-ethanol setting, but it makes me wonder what the ethanol setting does that Polaris makes it think would keep your sled from building up static, if it is set to the “87 ethanol setting”

IMG_3932.jpeg
 

kanedog

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Yes, that’s the way I understood it from that article. I also was curious when I was just getting ready to loading my sled up, what would load when I scanned the QR code on my sled. It was surprising to me that it states if you don’t know what fuel is in your tank, select the 87 ethanol setting on your sled. Now my sled has always gone back to that ethanol setting regardless how many times I put it to the non-ethanol setting, but it makes me wonder what the ethanol setting does that Polaris makes it think would keep your sled from building up static, if it is set to the “87 ethanol setting”

View attachment 417026
If a service center, like Polaris, recommends runnin ethanol in a seasonal engine, it seems like a scam to get more repair work.
 
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turboless terry

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I don't really care if my polaris's blow up at the moment. Brakes still suck. Swapped 22 master cylinder onto 9r. 9r still sucks. 22 went back to awesome. Boost can get brake with gloves. 9r you can't. Put rail caps on. Green powder coat rails had to grind way more than powder coat. Black rails just popped right on. Really sick of polaris.
 

hamlin

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I don't really care if my polaris's blow up at the moment. Brakes still suck. Swapped 22 master cylinder onto 9r. 9r still sucks. 22 went back to awesome. Boost can get brake with gloves. 9r you can't. Put rail caps on. Green powder coat rails had to grind way more than powder coat. Black rails just popped right on. Really sick of polaris.

I think it’s the caliper. I thought they have a “high retraction “ caliper they went to so the people that drag brakes don’t catch fire. My guess is the caliper needs more fluid moved to engage it so you end up with longer stroke. Need the 22 caliper
 

turboless terry

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I think it’s the caliper. I thought they have a “high retraction “ caliper they went to so the people that drag brakes don’t catch fire. My guess is the caliper needs more fluid moved to engage it so you end up with longer stroke. Need the 22 caliper
I do too. They say the only part that is different is the master cylinder. You can see more play in brake pucks between rotor on 24 compared to 22 amd 23..you cant get the old parts anymore. They replaced them with this reengineered part, they made a few thousandths different, and are calling it the same part number.
 

mountaincat 800

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Question here. Do Arctic Cat and Doo have two fuel mode settings? Why in the world don't they have the same nonsense recall? They both have plastic tanks and run the same type of fuels.
 
K
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Question here. Do Arctic Cat and Doo have two fuel mode settings? Why in the world don't they have the same nonsense recall? They both have plastic tanks and run the same type of fuels.
Cats DO NOT have fuel mode settings. Always ran 91 eth in my Ctec 800 with no issues. Until I bought the 9R, didn't even know about different fuel settings
 

line8

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Question here. Do Arctic Cat and Doo have two fuel mode settings? Why in the world don't they have the same nonsense recall? They both have plastic tanks and run the same type of fuels.

I have never had the option to switch fuel until polaris. Arctic Cat you put in the fuel you choose and go. Ran the same with whatever fuel was in it.


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K
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Reno, NV
I have never had the option to switch fuel until polaris. Arctic Cat you put in the fuel you choose and go. Ran the same with whatever fuel was in it.


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I agree it runs the same regardless of eth or non eth 91 is in the Ctec 800.

The Polaris guys swear it makes a difference, yet I still haven't heard a clear explanation of what the Liberty engine does differently in ethanol mode to limit its performance. Let's hear it explained by the guys who swear they only run non ethanol.
 

BeartoothBaron

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I've only owned Polaris, but the fuel settings go back so far (my '02 600 has regular and premium settings) that I just assumed it was universal. The Pro doesn't drop off too bad in E10 mode, but the 600 gets super doggy. The 600 (carbs) is timing only; I think most EFI Polaris sleds add some fuel, but my service manual doesn't say. You could look at it two different ways: it's either a band-aid for an ECU that isn't sophisticated enough to adjust on the fly, or it's a feature that gets you the best performance possible on the assumption that you're running good gas.

Some cars (like ecoboosts) recommend, but don't require, premium; I'd only be guessing as to how it works, but the ECU is sophisticated enough to figure out how knock resistant the fuel is and adjust on the fly. Without a fuel setting, Doo and Cat must do something similar; you'd be leaving a noticeable amount of power on the table if the fuel/spark tables were set around the worst case fuel scenario (85 octane E10). Adding more octane makes no difference unless the timing and fueling is aggressive enough to take advantage of it, which Polaris handles with the fuel setting - but I bet at some point that goes away and they make it automatic.
 
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