Good Afternoon,

I recently purchased a new late model 2007 Arctic Cat H1 650 TRV. I loved it. Last weekend, I went riding with a group of friends and went through lots of water. The puddles were ok, but when I went through anything over a foot deep, the belt would slip. It would take 5-10 minutes of waiting/drying before I could move on. Somehow the water is getting into the clutch case causing belt slippage. The guys I went with had Polaris Sportsman, Yamaha Kodiak, and an 87 Suzuki 230. Although the Suzuki got stuck nearly everywhere, there were never drive problems. The other models had no issues with any of the water.

Is this just the way Arctic Cats are or is there something wrong? The vehicle is still under warranty and I just want to have adequate information before consulting the dealer. I was going to take is apart tonight and look at it to see if there was an obvious gasket or plug issue?
Thanks for your help!

 

If its getting wet in 12 inches of water, it must be getting in the CVT around the seal or in the air intake for the belt where the clamp is on the case
Those would be my guesses as there arnt any other places for it to get in I dont think

 

Thanks for all of your help. I took it apart last night. All of the clamps and drains appeared to be well in place. I took apart most of the ductwork for the intake and exhaust valves and it was in good condition. When I took the belt cover off, there were little seeds/nuts in the clutch/belt case (about 1.5 cups full). They were bigger than BBs and were very light. I assume that they were floating in the water that we went through. For these seeds/nuts to get inside, I cannot believe that it was through just a leak in the duct/drains etc. I saw that the intake and exhaust ducts route up to near the glove box. I am thinking that water splashed/waved into the large duct openings near the glovebox. From what I could tell, these things only entered through the rear ductwork (top/back of the clutch) because a few of these seeds/nuts fell out when I took the ductwork off. The front ductwork (front/bottom of the clutch) appeared not to have anything in it. However, it appears that this ductwork enters the otherside of the clutch case (meaning that by just removing the exterior cover, I could not see if there were any seeds/nuts in this area). I think that there would have been some evidence of the nuts in the ductwork if it entered through it though.

It appears that there are no apparent issues with the assembly. The issue appears to be that the ductwork openings are exposed to water/splashing. There were water areas that splashed up onto my helmet/body, so I can only assume that these splashes found there way into the ductwork. I was talking to my one of my buddies that was on the trip and he said that the water was more than a foot. He said that the water was up to the passenger footrests on his Polaris Sportsmanx2. So that would put the water at maybe 2 feet. Even at that height, the water would not go directly into the ductwork. However, splashes/waves may.

So where do I go from here? I think that this vehicle should be capable of going through water, especially if my buddies machines had no issues. First, I think I need to put some type of screening at the entrance of the ducts to make sure debris stays out. However, that will not stop the water. I guess a snorkelling kit could work, but that seems to be overkill.

Any ideas?

 

bschin,

Not sure if you have any near you but do you have any squirrels around? I just fixed a guys machine AC 500 don't remember the year but the auto tranny was making horrible noises and slipping some.

When I removed the cover one of this guys furry little friends of the squirrel kind decided to deposit some the bird seed from his feeders into the tranny through one of the tubes. Got it cleaned up and fixed up but now we are trying to figure a way to keep the little critter out. Probably going to fabricate some wire mesh and pop rivet it into place over the two vent tubes I think.

Not sure if this is what happened to you but when you mentioned the 1.5 cup full of seeds I had a good chuckle as that is about what I found in his machine. He did not ride his through water though.

Just a thought.

Swampy

 

i never had this problem, but i knew i wanted to avoid a wet belt so i installed a submarine snorkel kit. would i do it again hell yes!! i have been in water over the racks and so deep that my wheeler was floating and never got a drop of water in my engine or belt housing. just my 2 cents.

 

the factory air intake for the engine/trans is very poor. while riding thru water, the front tires will splash water up into the airbox intake and it will be transferred to the breather box/belt housing. i have an 07 500 manual and had this prob. my cousin has an 07 650 h1 and also had this prob. we fabbed snorkels for my airbox, his airbox and belt housing, and also ran gas tank and carb vent lines up the snorkels. 2200 miles of bogging with not a single problem. about to fab an exhaust snorkel to eliminate the possibility of any further issues. by the way, my cat has only had to have a water pump seal replaced (suzi motor), his is on it's 4th motor (h1), but he loves it.

 

I have an 08 A/C 650 H1 and I have had NO problems like this, my wife has an 07 A/C 400 NO problems like this, my dad has an 05 A/C 500 trv No problems like this either. We ride in a lot of mud and water and I mean we are in the slope for hrs at a time where we ride. Not sure how to tell you to fix it but here is 3 A/C's of different sizes and totally different types of riders and we havent had this type of problem.

 

Also, I forgot that there are a couple of vents in the bottom of the factory air box. you can stick pieces of glue stick in them and zip tie them with quality zip ties.

 

probably a animal for the seeds like mentioned before. recheck and make sure bolts were snug. i remember what swampy said about the seeds and i was looking at mine a couple of weeks ago thinking i should put screen mesh over mine but havent done it yet too lazy lol