I know the 05 800 EFI's had problems with heat and melted plastic....
I may be able to help you out also....
Private Message me if you can.... there may be a way to get the new 06 update?

Jon

 

I am going to give you the background story... It's long and winded....
I purchased an 05 Sportsman 800 EFI new to add to my collection of ATV's....
I mow about 2 Acres with a pull mower, plow snow, spray weeds, dethatch, and a number of other things...
I spent about an hour mowing on a Hot Afternoon right after I purchased the 800.... and found that the exhaust gives off considerably more heat than my 04.5 700 EFI...
When I say considerably more heat... I mean to the point I have to keep my leg up on that side, and my son can no longer sit with me while I mow. I informed the dealer and Polaris of the heat issue and tried to explain I had purchased an ATV for recreational use... and burning our legs wasn't very recreational... Polaris told me to sell it and take a loss, and my dealer said he would give me a very fair trade-in price....

I continued to use the ATV for mowing late one night and parked it in the garage when I was done.... When I returned I found that th removable panel on the right side had actually melted a hole clean through the plastic... the rear cab had also melted and the front cab had signs of beginning to melt....

I returned the unit to the dealer... and he simply replaced the front and rear cabs and the side panel and added a heat shield tape to the back...

Meantime... a friend of mine, my father, and my fathers girlfriend had noticed the heat issues... but not noticed the melting until reviewing the issue and knowing about mine... They have also had their plastics replaced with the tape and bracket added.

After recieving my wheeler back from the shop ... and I tried to just return the unit due to me use of the machine... but they didn't want to hear about that....

I then began to use it as normal... thinking the tape would help with the heat issues...
It Did Not!
It melted the rear cab and warped the side panel again!
Now a little on the angry side... I wanted answers... They replaced the rear cab again and the side panel with more tape and added a bracket to hold the rear cab a little further from the exhaust.... I picked up the machine again... and before the warranty ran out.. I traded the machine in on a 2006 800 EFI LE that seems to have the same problem... along with the water pump failing me already too.

My unit is still in the shop awaiting the arrival of the water pump and all new plastic along with Polaris new fix to the problem... in which they have stated they would add to the new 06 and probably not the 05... A better heat shield for the exhaust...

My dealer has informed me that this time he would install the heat shield and give me the plastic to keep and change out when I either trade or sell the machine...

Summary: If you have not had issues with the 800 yet... more than likely you will... If you have warranty great, but if you do not have a history of the heat at Polaris, when it does decide to fail you they will brush you off. I would recommend the new exhaust shield if it works, but I have not seen it yet.

I don't know if you have warranty anymore, but if you do... your best if you make sure your local dealer is informed of the heat issue and makes sure he adds it to the computer system... or you will be hung out to dry. If you still have warranty I can try and help you get new panels if interested...

Jon

 

I do agree that the exhaust is on the hot side. When me and my 6 yr old boy were out abusing my quad, by running over sapplings, I had to have him keep his foot up on the front fender and my leg as far out to the right as possible. I've been checking the inside of the plastics after every ride while I abuse the mud with a pressure washer!

 

Polaris recently came out with an updated heat-shield that covers more of the exhaust. I haven't seen it on any production machines yet but I have seen it used on machines where they were melting plastic.

I think the problem is that the Sportsman 800 was built to be the Ford Lightning of ATV's. Yea, it's a utlity machine, but it's really a hot-rod. Most of the guys riding 800's are riding high speed... It's unortunate, but I'm guessing it wasn't tested extensively at low speeds which is when it gets hot.

It is very few of the 800's that have the problem, but there is still a problem. Problems always arise... what's pathetic though is that Polaris won't always take responsibilty for the problem. I have had Polaris go above and beyond in many MANY cases; more often that not. But with the 800 melting issue, they just act like it's not their fault.

 

hey MYWAYOUT i PM'ed you ineed info o the melting plastic bad, my back front and side panel is melting, but polaris only wants to replace the rear plastic!!!! any suggestions?????????

 

I guess the bottom line is an atv really needs to be moving at a min speed to cool the radiator and engine in general, so using it to tow a mowing machine is not "best practice" although of course the manufacturer will never say that and miss a sale

I see this on my old atv via the temp gauge I added, ie I can drive 10 km down the beach and it sits at "normal" sort of temp but if I sort of stop or slow right down lookin for crocks or crabs whatever the temp quickly rises even though fan is on but just as quickly drops as soon as I get it back to a "decent" speed

as for heat on [bare] legs I tend to put feet up onto front rack [kind like easyrider!!!] - not very safe maybe but nuthin to hit on the beach and I dont drive super fast

 

I have the 800 pipe on my 700,it has cracked twice. I also just got the new "updated " heat shield, its much larger.However,it turns rusty in about 1/4 block! and it rattles on the shift linkage. Good luck on that.... any got a muffler with sound they like? I dont care for the White Bros/Pure Polaris with 5 baffles.

 

I have the 800 system from Breeze with the white bors can and I'm sending my header pipe and Heat sheild off for ceramic heat sheilding inside and out. I'll post the results once I get it back and get it on. THe Stock 700 system chaps my a$$ with heat. I do mostly technical riding which is low speed. I added a temp guage and see ~200 on a reg basis while moving slowly. Once I get over 5 mph it drops to ~170. I'm trying a high preformance coolant but ha not had time to get the swap done. I'll post my results. I guess I'll invest in a laser temp guage to get some before nad after temps. I also think Greg from Quadavator is doing some testing so you may want to look him up to see if he'll share his results.

 

Hi,

Im pretty new to the forum, but have you tried water wetter? My friend races his bullet bike, and they wont let you run antifreeze on the track. He took out the freeze and mixed up Mineral water and water wetter, and has dropped his temp from 268 to 220, says he has more power too. Come winter you would have to change back to the freeze.

 

I added a temp guage and see ~200 on a reg basis while moving slowly. Once I get over 5 mph it drops to ~170
---------------------------

same as what I reported here somewhere

not sure if engineering improved after 1994 but design is good INTO rad as mine has side baffles so give a "ram effect" once you are moving

but there is no cowling around the fan on the OUT side [downstream] so the fan has a hard job to "suck" the air through the rad so it just short circuits [this exactly same as playing a speaker out of its enclosure, ie no low end at all because not "loaded"]