SRX heavy hesitation in powder + service+handwarmers

[kimoaj]

Hi guys !

I`ve ridden about 600 kilometers on the SRX since I got it, and now I want to fix a few annoying things and maintain it a little.

Problems:

Handwarmers doesn`t work. Thumb works, but no heat in grips.

It hesitates when I ride in powder snow. I know that this is caused by snow buildup in the exhaust outlet, but most of my friends sais I`m stupid to think so. I ordered a deflector from a MMax but it didn`t fit, so I will make one on my own instead.

On Saturday I went riding, had been snowing earlier that day. We crossed a lake, we had to ride really slow due to fog/wind. It was alot of powder on that lake. A few times the engine seemed to be totally choked, it only gurgled and I had to stop and let it idle for a while and then it was OK. Guess the snow buildup in the pipe melted when I stood still?.
Oh by the way I have a pre filter installed, so I don`t think snow is getting into the air filter.

In some situations the bogging can be dangerous/un-suiting, because I often climb pretty steep hills and if it starts hesitating then I might not make it to the top.

But, as long as I keep it pinned so that the front is somewhat high, it goes smoothly.

Another thing that is bothering me is that when I ride on one ski, it starts hesitating, wount rew over 7500rpm. When I ride with the right ski up in the air, the pipe should be free of the ground-snow so it shouldn`t hesitate due to snow in the pipe?.

When I let her down and pin her, she rews up to about 8500rpm, guess that`s the way it should be.

I`m also going to clean the powervalves, I have new gaskets for the valves and the exhaust manifoil so that I can check that they are adjusted properly.


When we were up riding in the mountains, I sometimes heard some noises from the clutches, I didn`t bother to pop the hood for some reason.

One kilometer from my house (when we got back) I acclerated hard (had a friend as a passenger), then suddenly the engine rewed like hell and the forward movement stopped. I was thinking "gees, I snapped the chain" , typicl chain snapping sound.

I popped the hood and was glad to find this:

Been a while since the last time I snapped a belt like this.

 

[kimoaj]

I removed the secondary in order to remove all the belt pieces.
I was amazed by how easy it was to take apart and reassemble.

On of the wear screws, I don`t have any belt squeel or anything but the screw did look worn?.


Well well guys!.

Tomorrow I will try to make a deflector, I`m planning to make it out of 1mm thick iron plates, hope it will turn out ok.

 

[norwegian]

My guess is that the end of the cord (the "rope") in your v-belt, worked through the rubber of the belt and caught on your primary.

 

[bluewho]

try blocking the vents under your bumper they let snow in cooling down your pipes and spraying the clutch in deep powder.

 

[kimoaj]

Hi guys thanks for the replys! .

Yes norwegian that is probably what happened, however, I have forgotten to turn off the parking brake a few times, once I rode probably 500 meters before I noticed it. Guess that ain`t good for the belt.. .

Bluewho:
Are the vents under the bumber standard?. I think they looked somewhate home-made, like, the cut in the plastic wasn`t even.

Can I just block them and let them be blocked forever?.

I was thinking that snow maybe hit the sparkplugs/boots and that this could make it run wierd?. Could it be it ?.

Is it possible the snow hitting the primary could make the rews go down from 8500 to 7500 while riding on one ski?.
If any snow gets under the hood, it`s likely to fall down on the clutch side because I only (almost) ride on one ski to the left. (left ski on the ground).

Today I went out to wrench, but I got distracted and didn`t get to do as much as I wanted. Then the fuse went out so I didn`t have light in the garage, had to go to the store to buy new ones etc.

Anyway, I modified the exhaust deflector that I got (from MMax) and I will try to make it fit. Will post pics.
Was going to mount it today but my pop riveting plier didn`t suit the rivets. Have to borrow one from a friend.

Oh by the way, when I bought the sled the seller said that a few of the exhaust springs was loose. They weren`t loose, a gasket was missing! (one of the round ones).

So today I ordered a new V belt, a set of Powermadd handguards and a new gasket from our dear Rich.

Let me tell you something sick guys. I payed just as much for the V belt, handguards and gasket, as I would have had to pay for ONLY the V belt here in Norway.. .
Insane price differances.

Wellwell

 

[GETZY]

When I had a 2000 SRX in powder when all the vents were covered with snow it would choke for air, I installed a Bender Cold Air Kit and it solved the problem, Then it sucks air like a SX or Mtn Max.

 

[kimoaj]

Hi folks!.

Thanks for the reply GETZY. Aha, what vent are you talking about?. The ones that are below the 700Triple decal?.
I noticed that snow was packing up in them.. .

How much does a Bender Cold Air kit cost?.
By the way, there are three holes under my speedometer cluster, guess the previous owner did this to increase air flow.

Today I polished the aluminium rear-end (behind the seat), gees it`s hard to polish by hand.

On Thurday I`m going to clean the powervalves, I really wonder how they look. Looking forward to it.

A while ago I bought an exhaust deflector for a Mountain Max, however this doesnt fit "like a glove" on an SRX. But, I made up my mind and decided that I would try to fit it anyway. I`m going to install the "bracket" that came with the deflector, on the existing "deflector" (the plastic thing) , and the fit the deflector.

As you can see I removed a little piece in each corner, I then hammered the "flap" down, so that the deflector wouldn`t "stick" too much down. (took pic before I hammered it down).

Right now I`m in the need of a bigger rivet plier because my old one didn`t handle the large rivets that came with the deflector.

I also removed the pipes, took me a few minutes. Will probably spend half a day getting them back on. Of course I forgot to stop the engine by choking it, should have done it that way since I`m going to clean the valves, so I guess I`ll have to re-fit the pipes, fire it up and then stop it by using the choke.

Wellwell, oh, my handwarmers aren`t working. I checked the connections under the bar pad, all seemed OK. What should I check?.

Wellwell

 

[norwegian]

The first thing you should check is if the previous owner had handlebar hooks on it and cut the end of the hand grip. When doing this, he could have cut too far and short circuited the handwarmers.

 

[kimoaj]

Thanks for the tip norwegian!.

No he didn`t have hooks, but he had these "knobs" that were mounted on the same way as the hooks.

Can I ohm`e grip warmers?. How many ohms should they be?.

I did a search on the forum and it seems like many guys have trouble with the grip warmers and it`s often the ECU (or what it`s called) that is the problem, and I guess this is very expensive.

However, if the grip warmers themselves are OK, is it possible to hotwire them ?. Like get the power from somewhere else but still use the heat adjuster button?. (might not be a good idea?.)

I guess I will freeze less when I get the handguards, so I might just leave the grips the way they are unless it`s an easy fix.

Wellwell

 

[kimoaj]

Hi guys!.

Today I finally removed the power valves for cleaning.
I was expecting that the umbracko key would slip inside the screw heads (I`ve heard about several guys that had this problem) and that the valves were stuck.
Hehe, I was totally wrong. (I tend to expect the worst).

First I started the sled, let it idle for a little while, and I then choked it by using the choke, in order to get the rpms so low that the valves went into "cleaning" mode, were they are fully opened (just as if you had your thump to the bar) .
All valves came out easily. First I thought they looked really clean, but as I started to remove carbon I realized that they were dirtier then I first thought.

First a picture of the servo motor.

All of them looked like this.

Here are the valves after cleaning.

I used a broken blade from a "carpet/cardboard-knife) and scraped the dirt off them.
I then carefully sanded them with 1200 grit with oil, so that the surfaces became really smooth.

I then re-installed them.
As I mounted the valves, I rotated the servo motor in order to get the proper amount of slack on the cables so that I could mount the valves on the cables. While doing this, some of the cables accidently snapped out of their holes in the servo motor. Luckily I took a pic of it before I deassembled it and from what I can see on the pic, cable number 2 is supposed to be mounted in "slot number 2 " if you see what I mean.

However, I removed the exhaust manifoils and put my hand inside the port to feel if the valves were flush with the port. The valve on cyl nr. 1 was almost 100% even, nr. 2. was out of adjustment, I`m guessing it was about 2-3mm further down then valve nr. 2. Valve number 3 was even more out of adjustment, it was way off, I`m guessing around 7-8mm.

So, now I wonder, is it possible that I mounted the cables wrong on the servo motor, or could they really be that much out of adjustment??. I guess it`s possible. For all I know the previous owner probably never checked the the adjustment.. .

Should I just loosen the "set" nuts on the cables and adjust the cables out until they are all flush in the ports?.

Oh by the way, when I took the cover off the servo motor, I made a little notch in it so that I would be able to turn it back to where it was in the beginning.

Wellwell that`s all for today.

 

[Ola]

That bog, as you explain it, was exactly the same as i had.. The engine almost died out, while pulling hard through the powder.. It sucked air into the carbs, and made me stop and idle for a while before the power came back!

As you probably read in my bog thread, i solved it by easy mods on my viper..

The deflector, helps the most when you are stopping / getting stuck i think..

 

[kimoaj]

Ok Ola thanks for the reply!.

Sometimes if I ride on the trail, and then go just a few meters on the side of the trail, it will start bogging, and snow isn`t coming over the hood.. . But this bog is only "minor" compared to the one I got one day when I crossed a lake with about 40cm powder, that time the snow came up over the hood and startet gathering in the air vents, suddenly the sled just wouldnt go forward, so that was some heavy bogging.

Today I noticedt hat the previous owner had made some air vents just above the lift-bar in the front, cut out with a knife.. I`ll take some pics of it tomorrow.

You say "It sucked air into the carbs" , did you mean snow?.

I have a PRE filter so that shouldn`t happen to me.

Gees today we got some snow so now it`s enough to ride up to the mountains, but I`m waiting for parts .

I remember when I had an RX-1, wish the pipes were like that on my SRX .

 

[Ola]

Ok Ola thanks for the reply!.

Sometimes if I ride on the trail, and then go just a few meters on the side of the trail, it will start bogging, and snow isn`t coming over the hood.. . But this bog is only "minor" compared to the one I got one day when I crossed a lake with about 40cm powder, that time the snow came up over the hood and startet gathering in the air vents, suddenly the sled just wouldnt go forward, so that was some heavy bogging.

Today I noticedt hat the previous owner had made some air vents just above the lift-bar in the front, cut out with a knife.. I`ll take some pics of it tomorrow.

You say "It sucked air into the carbs" , did you mean snow?.

I have a PRE filter so that shouldn`t happen to me.

Gees today we got some snow so now it`s enough to ride up to the mountains, but I`m waiting for parts .

I remember when I had an RX-1, wish the pipes were like that on my SRX .

Snow ofcourse, was writing faster than my brain worked i suppose

What kind of prefilter would that be? Mountain perf. cover, to pull over the box?

Strange that it is so sensitive to powder under the exhaust outlet.. But try the deflector anyway.. Thinking about making a deflector myself, just to get it perfect..

 

[BoRnWiThBlUeBlOoD]

Yea i had the same problem with my 99 sx 700 the thumb warmer worked wicked!!! it melted one of my gloves onto it once, but the hand grips never worked, i went through 3 sets of grips before i realized that i was cutting the little wire in the hand grip everytime i put my bar hooks in again!!! DUHHHHHH

 

[BoRnWiThBlUeBlOoD]

Another thing is now on my viper i have handguards and what a difference!!! i usualy ride with out my hand warmers even on... the hand guards help alot when it comes to cold hands, wind, and snow from other sleds... goooooooood investment i think.

 

[kimoaj]

Hi guys ! Thanks for the replys!.

Ola, the PRE filter I have is "Outerwears" , the kind you pull over the airbox, I think it works great. The other day when I opened the hood, water was lying on top of the prefilter, so it works.

Bornwiththeblueblood: I can`t wait to get those handguards installed, maybe I won`t have to swop sled with my friend (he has an RS Vector MTN) , often we swop sleds because my hands are so cold, the SRX has a very little windscreen and no handwarmers so.. .

Today I ohmed the handwarmers, 17ohms. There were 4 wires coming out of the handlebar. To of them were connected to eachother, and the other to was connected to the electrical harness of the sled. I disconnected the two that were connected to the sled and ohmed it.

I also checked that there was contact between the to wires that came from the electrical harness, by setting the multimeter to beep mode and then I tried switching the ignition to "heater on" area, and it beeped.

Might have something to do with my bar hooks.. however the handwarmers didn`t work before either, but the previous owner has installed some bare end knobs that were mounted just as the hooks are.

Well today I adjusted the powervalves.

This is how the cables looked after adjusting them.

If they were that much out of adjustment as I think they were, I might be getting a crisper SRX now (smiley).

A picture of the holes behind the instrument cluster.

The holes I mentioned in the hood, cut by hand I think. Doesn`t look stock.. ?.

And, gees I`m still waiting for my v. belt and one exhaust gasket (and the handguards), and then this happened.. it started snowing.. damnit.. .

Wellwell.

Have a nice weekend everybody.

 

[BoRnWiThBlUeBlOoD]

that one up front behind your front bumper (the one you thoguht was cut out) comes on the sled stock... but your right it does look like somone maybe made it a little bigger or cut it somehow, looking at the jagged edges.

 

[kimoaj]

Okey hmm thanks for letting me know Bornwiththeblueblood.

Can I put duct tape on those air holes to prevent snow from coming in, or will it make the engine run hotter?.

It`s about 50-60cm powder up in the mountains now and I`d really like to play alittle .

Goodnight

 

[Ola]

kimoaj: The hole in the front cool down the pipes, but i doubt it has anything to do with youre problem.. Take my example, i havent sealed off ANY holes on the hood or in the front, and didnt notice any problems at all.. At least nothing other than lots of damp/smoke when stopping..

Seal the air filter box from underneeth the hood, letting it only suck air through the holes that you have on top! If there are any snow under youre hood that can enter the top of the airbox, then it can be laying on top of youre pre filter, not letting air in..

 

[kimoaj]

Hi everyone!
Ola, someone mentioned that the holes in the front (below the bumber) may let snow in and that it could hit the primary and that it might make the sled act wierd when I ride on one ski to the left (right ski in the air).

I will try to seal the airfilter from the engine compartment if it doesn`t get any better.

I put duct tape on the lower air vents beneith the bumber, and on the ones above the bumber, didn`t cover them 100% so that some air can pass through. I also noticed the cover that was mounted under the hood, the one that you can put on one of the holes, I`ve never noticed before so today I put it on the left hole.

I also mounted the exhaust deflector, here are some pics:


Today I took it for a little ride in some powder and it didn`t bog at all, so I really wonder how it will work tomorrow when we hit the deep shit.

The vents, let me know if this is stupid (thinking of hot pipes/cyls).

Wellwell time to go to bed.

Goodnight.