Whats your total on engine failures?

blueblooded

blueblooded

Member
Joined
May 16, 2003
Messages
856
Age
53
Location
Lockport ny
Hers my list of let downs:

1998 mach z......center bearing let go at 3800 miles and wrecked the crank jug and head.Parted it out.

1999 mach z......rod broke and cut the crankcase in half.Motor was junk.Parted it out.

1997 zr 580 efi.....burned down due to an unexplained efi problem,rebuilt and burned down again because the nikicil was flaking off.

1997 zr 440.....burned down because the the dealer said i cold siezed it,but i knew i let it warm up enough.After the rebuild i rode less than a mile and it siezed again....this time the dealer replaced the oil pump and it ran ok after the 3rd rebuild but never made the power it did when it was new.

2000 sxr 600.....no problems at all.

2001 srx 700.....no problems at all.

2002 srx 700....hmmm,still no problems.

2004 viper s.....ran awsome,no problems.

2001 sxr 600.....no problems,it must be good luck.

2001 srx 700 #2....no problems,runs great.

I havent had any trouble with any of my yamaha's(knock on wood).Is Yamaha reliabilty really that good or have ive been getting lucky?
 
I have owned more Yamaha's than I count count off of the top of my head, I have had ZERO engine failures. There has been some other misc problems but no engine troubs.

knock on wood :o| lol
 
Well, this 97 Venture is the first yamaha of ANY sort, unless you count the 9.9 hp $ stroke outboard that was on our small pontoon.

I have had a ton of toys though, and as far as sleds I have only had 2 sleds that died prematurely.

440 FC panther, that always had running issues, one plug always ran richer than the other, even with the single carb. that never totally seized, but a rebuild still never did discover why it ran that way. no clue ever why that happened, and we sold that thing a long time ago. It ran through stators like every 2 years, and plugs like all the time. Once the recoil somehow jammed the entire motor while going across a lake at 50+ mph. that time it skidded to a halt. Good news was I was able to get it running again by removing the recoil assembly, and pull starting it by the clutch.

the 90 Skidoo formula plus 521 LC was a good sled, heavy but good, then I started modding it to keep up with friends new at the time 94-95 EXT/ZR580's, then to match the 96 zrt6. It went ok stock, and got like 20 mpg with the little 34mm carbs.But could not keep up with the ext580
Then i sent the heads and cylinders off to FAST, had them ported/ shaved threw a 501 rotary valve in it with 40mm VM carbs. It really woke up then, and destroyed the ext580, prompting my bud to buy the 95 zr580. He wasn't smart enough, and ended up buying a sled no faster than what he had before. He then bought the ZRT, and amazingly I would beat that sled everywhere, well, up to like 100mph or so. Then he would walk by me after I took him off the line. So I found a rolled 91 mach with the 617 rave, and dropped that in with a few goodies. I then would take him evrywhere, while that 617 was running. that 617 ate pistons. and I bought my xc600sp in spring of 99 snowcheck because I was sick of rebuilding the skidoo.


then said buddy got married, and his sled sat until last year, like 7 years.

I have no doubt my xc6 can walk his zrt, since the xcr600 we had could almost keep up with his zrt, and my xc ate that xcr.


those were the good ol days, when we had guys weekend every weekend up at muy cottage. If we all can get together 2x a season now we are lucky...

Never had any burn downs on any of the 4 Polaris we have owned.
87 trail, 94 indy5 efi, 96 xcr6, 00 xc600sp VES.


oh well, 5600 miles on this 97 venture 600 twin. I hear these are bulletproof. I hope mine has been updated with the enw pistons. the guy we bought it from had another twin of this 600 venture, with like 12k of low maintenance and the original motor with no rebuild.
 
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well i can count on 1 hand the motor rebuilds at my parents house on the sleds we rode.

1975 gs338- burned a hole in the piston on pto side because dealer gave us br7es instead of the br7hs it was supposed to have.

1978 et340- guy tuned it up and leaned the carb out on it. had to put a used motor in it as the crank bearings where toast. was given to us by my grandmothers boy freind who had it tuned when he got a comet clutch put on it.

1979 et250- dad's fault on this one. lost the oil linkage peice on it on his way into camp in the spring. still had enough oil for bottom end but cyl ran dry. scuffed the piston in it. ran it home on mixed gas. 5 years later the motor blew on me running it on the stand during storage. this sled had so many miles/hours on it it is not funny and still runs great.


now one of my dad's brothers has no luck with 485 phazer motors at all. went through 3 of em and all 3 where crank problems. he has done the same with enticer motors as well.
 
My 1999 srx had 2 bad cylinders that at that time and the dealer that did the work told me rotton pulse line on one and bad fuel line on the other. Repaired both and went a couple of years with no issues. Last season I found a pto crank seal had gone bad. After I fixed that I rod over 700 miles of no issues. I dont blame yamaha for that though. my sled had seen some days and a few miles, and stuff like poor maint. and the fact that parts wear out is just part of life. You gotta stay on top of it.
 
I will probably regret answering this now that I am a not-so-proud doo owner but here it goes:

(2) 1978 GP 300s, no problems, when they started, ate plugs like Rosey Odenall at a breakfast buffet. I was only 4 years old when Dad bought them so I didn't quite know at that point you could tune a carb)
1981 Polaris Cutlass, no problems.
1995 XCR 600, 4000 miles complete miracle that thing didn't let go.
1999 Phazer, 2000 miles, piped, no problems.
1997 SX 700, 5000 miles, no problems.
2002 Viper, hauk pipes, 10,000+ miles no problems, still runs like a raped ape.
2002 Viper (wifes), 5000 miles, no problems.
And here we go, the drum roll please.....
2007 Powertec 800, miles? to be continued....(wish me luck here)
 
1998 ZR 600 burned down for previous owner on one cylinder - burned down at 3400 miles again - new cylinder and piston - rod bearing went away 1100 miles later on same cylinder and then put pistons, rings, honed cylinders and had crank rebuilt and the thing went for another 5,000 miles after that - ran amsoil interceptor and put a variflow on it after the rebuild. parted it out and sold the motor for $750 after that.

2003 viper 3500 miles running like new
2006 Nytro 1600 miles almost broke in
2007 Phazer FX 900 miles - still has the new car smell.
 
here's my list :95 mach1 crank
97mxz440 pistons & cyl.
98 fIII 700 stator & crank bearings
98 srx 700 x4 -crank
top end let go still stock
modified cyls& heads popped her up again
another crank
 
all sleds with miles are below...no burn downs
96 Arctic Cat Cougar Mtn. Cat 550-6400 miles...still goin
 
I had a 2001 Polaris Pro-X that loved to overheat, even with an extra radiator in the nose. second season, spun the crank, had it repaired for big $$, blew it up the next time out.
If the wife knew what I spent in repairs on this thing after 3 years of ownership, I would not be able to share this story with you now.
Now I ride Yami., not likely to change. Seriously, once you have had a Yamaha, with little or no problems, what brand can you switch to...
2datrl.
 
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Well...

I burned my '97 down. Right piston ring failure. May have been aggravated by carb icing and engine not being warm enough.

We melted down the motor in my former sled 3 or so times. A 569cc '88 Exciter. Once was from running it out of gas. Another was from a lean out condition took out both pistons. Another time was I think rebuild or mechanic related. Also I cannot tell you if the carbs were ever cleaned. This was before we saw the light.

My Brother melted down a 600 Polaris triple with the all-in-one jug block. He ended up giving the sled to another family member who had the time to try and rebuild it.


None of our other half dozen or so sleds ever had motor issues.
'76 340 exciter, '79 440 exciter, '85 480 Phazer, nor either of our '86 480 Phazers had engine issues except one Phazer shredded a fan from a broken belt.

My Mom's 500 Polaris Classic is harder than hell to start because it floods real easy. And the '04 700 Viper S -ER runs great at nearly 7k miles.
 
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93 JagZ 440 ( 431cc suzuki) dual carb- 5900miles when i sold it sled NEVER skipped a beat

01 zrt 600- no problems what so ever

01 Zr 600 Le- i think theres 1800-2400 on it now, and my uncle figures hell change the original belt and plugs this year haha

05 Rev gsx 600 sdi- 2500km no problems

1982 SRV 540... wisecos, ported polished, aaen pipe absolute rocketship sled, has had lots of carb issues but motor runs good

2000 SRX- perfect so far


Knock on wood, we havent had any motor issues with any of our sleds, however they are all very well taken care of.
 
340s:Indy sport, Jag, Puma- all ran like champs, ton of miles on 'em too

Bravo 250- only had it 2 years, always ran well

580s: 2 ZLs and a ZR- Zls had constant efi problems, one burned down, ZR had a couple rebuilds before it was sold

550s:1 panther 2 ZLs- no problems, one had over 6k, very cold blooded though

Venture 6 twin- burned down one cylinder then the other within 300 miles of each other, I swear that thing had over 10k on it

ZL 6- Runs good no problems

VMax 6 triple- had 5k with no problems before that incident with the bridge

2 vipers- 8 and 5 thousand miles, 0 problems, have yet to foul a plug

RX Warrior- over 6k with no problems

Yamaha seems to be the pinnacle of reliability but the Cats have been pretty good too.
 
Never heard of them, don't know what you are talking about . . .

I am not admitting to any of them . . .
 
85 Indy 440 F/C- No problems-8800Mi
91 Indy 400 L/C- No problems-9000+ Mi
97 XC 440 L/C- No problems- 4400 Mi
97 XCR 440 L/C- Spent 1700 last fall, new cylinders, pistons, rings, powervalves, etc...
Put about 400 Mi afterwards, no problems since. Selling it...
97 V-max 700- No problems- 9400 Mi- Runs like its new...

Selling the XCR- buying another Yamaha...
 
About 10 I think. Some of those were in the era of free air sleds. I once thought I should have kept all the pistons I replaced.
 
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