High idel and clutch slipping on a 2013 XM x

monsterxlr8

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So I started my XM this morning at -30. Long story short had to go round up some horses that got out. When it had warmed up it ran fine. When I shut it off when I caught up with the horses, it was running good. Later when I came back to get my sled about a half hour later it started like normal. Then when I went to go the engine bogged out twice almost to the point of stalling. Then took off like normal till I let off the throttle. Once I let off the throttle I was ideling at 3000 RPM's and wouldn't come back down to normal. So I figured that there might be some ice build up somewhere. So I took it for a fairly long rip to see what would happen once it got good and warm from working and a couple of times it felt like the clutches started to slip and the sled would lose all power and hit the rev limiter. So I headed back home to park it till it gets warmer to see what's up. Could it be ice or something on the clutches that caused the sudden slippage. Anyone ever had there eTech do this with the high idel or the clutch slipping? Any suggestion on what to look at would be greatly appreciated.
 

pistonbroke800

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How long did you leave it sit before you started riding when the slippage was happening? If the belt froze it will slip. Lots of people don't think of warming up belts but it's an important thing to do. Just cause the engine is warm dosent mean your good to go bag the crap out of it. As for the high idle check to see if you have ice build up between your throttle block and the flipper. That's a pretty common cause of idle issues.
 

monsterxlr8

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I looked for ice or anything else in between the the flipper and block. The weird part is it will idle right till you burp the throttle then it won't idle back down. Until you kill it a restart it then it idles at 1100ish till you touch the throttle again.
 
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ferniesnow

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did the frogskins on the air intake have frost or a thin layer of ice on them? That might explain the bog. If there was a little ice under the throttle flipper, it may idle a little higher. If there is too much build up under the flipper (where it closes to the throttle block), it won't start or rev very high. Also with the cold weather the snow is pretty dry and gets in everywhere, so it could be icing up.

Good luck and keep us posted as to your findings.
 

snopro

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Its definately icing up in this weather. Thaw it out, put some isopropyl in the gas and should sort itself out. Your are probably getting fine snow on your clutches getting in making your belt slip. Buy the hood screen kit for it and this will help. This is the biggest problem for sleds this time of year. Cold temps and fine snow.
 

monsterxlr8

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I have the full screen kit on my sled. So I don't think that it's snow ingestion. Thinking about it, it could be that after it was warmed up and running it heated the air up and some moisture or something frosted up the inside of the engine compartment. Then when I got going again it got into the clutches. It's just the high idle that has me concerned. Can't seem to find anything to cause that outside of the engine compartment.
 

Winter Brew

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Ice in the throttle cable or block maybe? If the cable of flipper stick or cant return all the way it may induce a bog or hesitation.
i wonder if that is what occurred rather than any belt slippage. Its takes a good shot of water or snow ingestion to get the belt to slip. I cant imagine enough moisture getting in either clutch to cause them to ice up, those clutches get warm enough to eliminate any moisture quickly....but then I dont know what happens at -30. Too cold for this guy!
 

Sask Sledder

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Iced up throttle cable is my first thought. Sounds like when i flipped mine and broke the throttle cable....last weekend
 

monsterxlr8

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Well I don't know what's going on. Put the sled in the shop and put the heat on it. Left it for two days. No snow or ice anywhere on the sled. I had left the side panels open to dry out any moister that maybe in the engine compartment. Started it up and the darn thing did the same thing. Idles fine off the start, touch the throttle and it Boggs out. Once it gets past the bog and revs up it won't idle back down. Any ideas that would cause this to continue? Might just have to make the three hour drive to the dealer. If I can get the video to up load you could see and hear exactly what it is doing.
 

Sask Sledder

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The first thing i would do is pull the throttle cable off and see if it is damaged or hung up. The cable should pull through the sheath easily with no force applied. It requires pulling the airbox and disconnecting the cable from the throttle body.
 
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Sask Sledder

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Is the flipper snapping back well? There should be 1/8" of slack. Not much, but some.
 
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monsterxlr8

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I checked the entire cable couldn't find any damage or kinks. If this was caused by a sensor malfunctioning would it not cause the check engine light it come on?
 

moonbeam

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Check out the throttle body linkage and make sure nothing is binding and can be moved easily by hand. I put my Reeds in wrong way earlier this year and was stumped for over a week before I tracked it down. Linkage was binding/catching on secondary tower.

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Sask Sledder

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Im thinking now a bound cable wouldnt explain the bogging. Off to the dealer you go! And please report back to us.
 

Sask Sledder

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If you know how, open the primary and see if anything is broken. Also this could be a leaky crank seal too.
Either way, dont mess around too much. Call the dealer
 

monsterxlr8

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Well either way it looks like I will have to cancel my trip over Christmas. The three dealers I gave called can't even look at it till the new year some time around the sixth or so of January. Or I need one of the techs to tell me if it should be ok to ride till it can get looked at. Didn't think there were that many issues with these sleds that everyone would be that far behind. I will let you all know what I find out.
 

Sask Sledder

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They are behind due to lack of labour and a huge upswing in the popularity of motorsports in the west (due to high employment.)
 

monsterxlr8

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Well a huge shout out to Martin Motorsports. They had me bring in my sled and got it running like new again. Turns out it was the calibration on the TPS sensor. They re-calibrated it, checked some other minor thing, and it's ready to pick up the next day. It sure is nice to deal with a company that will take care of there customers, not like some of the other dealers who I will never spend another cent in there dealership around central Alberta.
Way to Martin's, I will be getting the the next sleds I purchase from you guys no doubt.
 
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