Sled Problem.

[threatready]

This is my first post here and wanted to say I am getting into riding again. Don't know too much about sleds but i am learning.
Anyhow I picked up a 2005 mxz renegade 800 x and i took it out for a spin today and the sled started stalling after about 20 mins of riding. When it stalled i would start it up again but the pull cord seemed harder. It stalled a final time and i cant even pull the pull cord now. My buddy noticed a valve (red) on the left side that was in the off postion too. He knows sleds pretty well but know the newer ski-doos. Any advise would be great.
-Thanks
Joe

 

[slabm7]

I would go over to the Snowest Forums and look around or post the question, alot more guys over there with alot of knowledge. They'll be able to help you out.

SnoWest Forum

 

[threatready]

Thanks, but the forums are down right now.

 

[2003Summit]

If it's the red valve in the black 1/4" ID line that seams to go from the head to the cabs, this is for the carb heat - it cycles warm engine coolent through the carbs to melt ice that can form in high humidity situations and cause the throttle to stick open. We rarely use them around here but there has been the odd time when I have. You would leave this off unless the carbs were icing up. Leaving it on when it's not needed would give you bad fuel milage and poor performance, but would not make the sled stall or hurt the motor.

If the rope got harder to pull each time, this is not good. It could be a sign the motor is seizing up/got tight.

This could be from overheating (failed pump, low coolent, poor snow), no oil getting to engine, working the sled hard too fast, bad fuel mixture, rusty cylinders and a few other things.

How long did you let it warm up before you took it out?
Did the overheat light come on at any time? Is the over heat light working?
Was there enough snow for cooling where you were riding?
What type of inidial riding did you do?
What type of fuel is in there, now long has it been sitting with that fuel?
Is there oil in the oil tank?
Did the previous owner fog the engine last season?
What does the coolant look like?

At this point, if you cannot turn the engine over with the rope, I would not try to run it untill you find out exactly what went wrong.

Can you turn the engine over by hand with the clutch (make sure to pull teather off first)? It it turns over normally with the clutch side but not the rope, I would take the rewind starter apart and repair it. Then when you can get it pulling over by the rope do a compression test, it should be 135 to 155lbs depending on model-look it up). However, the rewind failing would not explain the stalling. I'm guessing it will not turn easily by hand. It should turn over quite easy by hand unless it's real cold out. Listen/feel for noise/scratching when you turn it over. You can also pull the plugs and use a light and mirror to look in there, but this does not always tell you much.

You will likely need to take it in to a mechanic. You may be able to fix it yourself but you need some small engine experience and good advice. There are a lot of things that need checking at this point. Maybe answer some of the questions and ask for more help. Some tearing into the engine may be necessary. Even if it pulls over easy now, I would not run it untill you found/fixed the problem.

 

[4extreme]

That red valve is for your heated carb. Maybe it was just too warm out and you should have had it turned off. Pointing it inline with the hose is on and across the hose is off. As for why it was harder to start I`m not sure but creck your plug and see what they tell you. If you see any silver/white flakes that could mean piston damage. Lets hope it just something simple like a recoil problem.

I see someone beat me to the answer for the heated carb valve,lol.

 

[threatready]

Thanks for the response.

How long did you let it warm up before you took it out? A good while 5 mins.

Did the overheat light come on at any time? Is the over heat light working? Lights do work and none of them came on. The engine did not seem abnormally hot.

Was there enough snow for cooling where you were riding? Plenty of snow.

What type of inidial riding did you do? We drove through a field.

What type of fuel is in there, now long has it been sitting with that fuel? fuel was just filled up. When i bought it it was almost emptied and i was told there was stabilizer put in it.

Is there oil in the oil tank? Yes.

Did the previous owner fog the engine last season? Yes, bought from a dealer who will be contacted tomorrow.

What does the coolant look like? Clean bluish green.

I tried to turn the clutch it did not move but when we pushed the sled the track moved.

 

[Rucky]

The track should move but that doesnt mean the primary would be moved because the clutches weren't engaged. So, the belt would just be slipping past the primary.

 

[2003Summit]

If you could not turn the engine over by hand (ie. using the clutch), you will need to take the engine apart to find out what went wrong. I think with the rev you must remove the engine from the chassis (no small deal with a rev if you have not done it before) not to bad if you have some idea what to do (takes about 4 hours to get it out).

If you *just* bought it from a dealer and this was your first ride, I would for sure be having a sit down with them. Other than abusing the sled, I don't think there was much you could have done to cause this yourself. I would think the dealer should help. This could be a bit expensive.

If the coolent level is fine and you were in good snow I don't think there was anything you could have done to cause this. If the engine got too hot it would sieze up. But the overheat light should have some on, and it would have probably boiled over. You would probably notice that.

The other thing could be the oil pump was not working for some reason. No oil to the engine and things get tight pretty fast (20 minutes could be enough).

Other problems like twisted rings, or running too lean (leading to a melted piston) usually result in a sudden no run, and you can't restart the sled, or if you do it sounds really horrible, the plugs or a plug will usually have little bits of metal on them (looks like small gains of sand, or some times larger chunks).

I can't think of what else would make it run tight, but run normal otherwise. Maybe somebody else? I'm not sure what happens if the rave valves do not open, this might also make it hot and seize too.

In any case, if you can't turn the pto (clutch) by hand, sorry to say but there is some serous damange in there. Let us know how it turns out.

 

[threatready]

Thanks again, I will keep you posted to what happened. My buddy and my dad are pretty sled knowledgeable and they are not quite sure at this point but my dad will rebuild it for me if need be.

 

[pano-dude]

sounds to me like it over heated and a piston siezed, when you let it cool down the piston loosened up and started again but damage was done already.
Could be a bad thermostat, bad water pump, air lock???
Sounds very familiar to what happened to me. Different sled but same symptoms.

 

[summitx]

I had an 03 550f, same issue. Was riding it and it stalled. Got off pulled it over it started and rode about another KM. It stalled again pulled it over, very hard to pull over but got it started and turned around. Rode about another KM and another stall. This time no go on the pull cord. It was -25 and I was a long way from home riding alone. Hence put my body weight into it and broke it loose. Drove it home on one cylinder and pounded the pi$$ out of it. Ended up that it burned a hole through the piston and that was the reason for the seize. It was month out of warranty and BRP stepped up and paid the parts I paid the labour. Mechanic couldn't figure out what caused the burn down. Wasn't running lean and lots of oil and I wasn't running it hard. Not a cheap fix though labour alone was $700.00 bones

 

[Murminator]

Almost sound like it has been "squeaked" if it didn't come to a grinding halt more like a hit the kill switch stall you should be an easy rebuild, 04-05 800's were notorius for this my nephew is on his 5th in his 04 only 1 was warranty