2011 Arctic Cat purchased NEW (leftover from '11) two months ago. 133 miles on machine.




This is the intermittent noise I get when I apply my rear brake. I took my Cat to the dealership for warranty repairs on 5/21/13 to address this clunking noise as well as adjust the shift linkage that sometimes didn't fully engage the gear. The first dealer technician couldn't find the cause of the noise so they brought in some type of "specialist". Supposedly the specialist determined that the output shaft nut wasn't torqued properly at the factory and needed to be replaced. They didn't have the nut in stock (no surprise really; I tried to purchase an Arctic Cat oil filter today and that wasn't in stock, either) and had to order it in. They get it put back together and I picked up my Cat a few minutes ago (9 days later!) and brought it home to test. I ran it up and down the street a few times (constant rain the past few days; unable to hit a trail) and it wasn't making the noise. I brought it back to put it in my garage and as I slowed for the final time the same noise happened again!

Here is the dealership invoice I was given when I picked up my machine:



"DRAINED OIL INTO CLEAN CONTAINER AND INSPECTED
FOR METAL, REUSEDOIL
PER WARRANTY,
DISASSEMBLED CLUTCHES AND INSPECTEDFOR WEAR,
REMOVED ONE WA Y BEARING AND INSPECTED,
REMOVED SECONDARY ORNE GEAR BEARING
HOUSING,
SECONDARY DRIVE BEVa GEAR NUT WAS NOT TIGHT,
INSTALLED NEW NUTWfTH LOCTITEAND PRIMER,
PEA NED NUT, ADJUSTED SHIFT LINKAGE. ASSEMBLED
MACHINE AND TEST RODE"

First off, I'm completely surprised that Arctic Cat requires the dealership to reinstall the same engine oil they drained out.
Is this normal?

They invited me to bring the machine back to them so that a third technician can do exploratory surgery on it...hopefully he will get everything right or not...if he's any better than the last one I don't know why he wasn't in charge of the repair to start with...or if I choose I can trade it in on a Grizzly. They will give me a whole $5300 for the machine I just paid them nearly $8000 for just two months ago and the only reason I want to get rid of it now is because I just don't trust it.

To say I'm angry right now would be an understatement. My 2001 Arctic Cat was absolutely bullet-proof and the only reason I bought another Arctic Cat again.

What would you do at this point? Would you let the dealership continue to do exploratory surgery on it when obviously they have no idea what to do, or would you pursue other legal options at this point? Would/could it make any difference what-so-ever if I call Arctic Cat, or are they just CSRs who will try to pacify you?

I asked the dealership if they would extend my warranty period to cover the loss of time it spent at the dealership being repaired. "No".

 

Totally surprised by the conversation I had today with a CSR at Arctic Cat. They push it back to the dealership as if they have absolutely nothing to do with any of this. I asked that they view the video linked above in hopes that perhaps one of their own in house people will say "hey, I know what that is and how to fix it!". The response I got back was "we aren't allowed to go on the internet". WTF?

Any OEM can make a mistake during the assembly of a unit and so long as they make it right, that's all any of us can ask...but there's no excuse for OEM apathy and that's exactly what I feel I got from Arctic Cat.

 

Not sure how warranty works on ATVs because I always buy used. But on cars if they can not fix the problem they replace the car.

I,m sure its just a fluke or you would read many more 550 AC with the same thing.
I would not be nervous about geting a new 550 AC as a replacement.

My friend bought a new 800 Sportsman and the motor blew up. The dealer ordered a new created motor and installed it,problem gone.
If yours is a motor issue can,t AC just but in a new motor?

 

I called another dealer that is two hours away from me because his techs are "Gold Catmaster Certified" (local dealership techs aren't). He would be glad to look at my machine, but since I didn't buy the machine from him I would automatically go to the end of a very long waiting line. Essentially this means that I would drive two hours and drop my machine off. Due to the long waiting line, my machine could sit there for months (thus burning off the rest of my warranty period!) before anybody even looks at it!



I will update when anything else develops. In the meantime I've set up a dedicated page to this incident in hopes that somebody at Arctic Cat will care enough to do something to get this resolved. I'm not asking for anything special here; I just want my machine repaired properly. I don't want it to serve as a guinea pig for inexperienced technicians (non-"Gold Catmaster Certified"...its supposed to mean something according to the Arctic Cat CSRs) to explore while they learn what they should already know.



My Arctic Cat Experience

 

to me, if you get it in the shop or at least on their property before the warranty expires, the warranty should cover it as it ain't your fault they can't get to it in a timely manner. too bad they won't lemon law that sucker or prorate your warranty due to time constraints. multi-bummer....

 

I made this video today. Notice how quick the rear tires are starting to skid now; it never did this before....and there's the same noise that they supposedly fixed after having my ATV for nine days. It's like all the did was tighten up the rear brakes or something. This is really pissing me off, now.

 

On the suggestion from someone on another forum, I tried to replicate the noise after putting the rear on jack stands. With the tires left on it only pings once or twice and its not nearly as loud. In fact, if I weren't specifically listening for it I likely wouldn't notice it. With the tires removed, it doesn't do it at all; at least not loud enough for me to hear.

 

so it does this on deceleration rather than acceleration? is that right? just trying to rule out axle spline issues.

 

i got a grizzly,,,no issues whatsoever. sucks they're ripping you on trade in value! i mean trying to screw you on the value. dang stealerships.

 

yes, during braking only.