Hi Everybody
My questions to forum members –
Has anybody ever been told they need extra maintenance on their ATV at all, other than what is specified in the maintenance manual, anywhere in the world?
Is it just my bikes having this issue? It is a progressive starting problem until they just don’t start at all.
Can they be fixed?
Why Do I ask?
My name is Kim and I was running quad bike and gold prospecting tours in Western Australia until recently. I have lost too much money investing in the bikes.
I had purchased 6 Polaris Quad Bikes from Polaris Central in Perth and received them in June 2012. This cost over $60,000 AU.The bikes were never abused and maintenance was performed to specifications.We had lots of trouble with the bikes breaking down constantly.
As two of the bikes are completely broken down within hours after being sent back to Polaris to be fixed, I pursued Polaris to get answers to the constant problems and wanted to have the bikes fixed properly.
Polaris Australia response was the following:
We are aware of the very fine dust that is in the northern parts of Australia. In these extreme dust conditions additional air filter maintenance is required on any internal combustion engine. If the air filter becomes plugged with dust, the vacuum of the engine will suck in dust from an alternative location, we believe this is what has been happening with your units. We repaired 2 of your units as good will as we are certain that this issue was not caused by a defect, rather through a lack of air filter maintenance. Unfortunately this has caused the engines on your units to ingest dust which has resulted in engine damage and excessive oil consumption. Regrettably Polaris will not be able to repair these additional engines under warranty.
Firstly we are not in Northern Australia
Secondly we were not informed by word of mouth or in writing that the bikes needed “EXTRA” filter maintenance
Thirdly, I am curious to know why they are selling the bikes in Australia if they cannot handle the Australian Conditions
Lastly, the two bikes they supposedly repairedunder “GOODWILL”broke down totally within hours of use.
Any help would be great
Thanks heaps
Kim

 

If any of the machines suffered piston/engine damage from ingested dust/dirt almost all manufacturers would tell you the same,not just Polaris.. Manuals do state "recommended" service intervals,but extra service in certain climates may be needed especially if these are used as work,service related machines. I've dealt with this for years on owners of multiple machines and talked to other techs from various dealers that experienced the same thing.We sold many multiple machines to farmers and ranchers and also politely told them to have someone responsible for maintenance,even on a daily basis if need be so issues like yours wouldn't come up.

 

Hi Old Polaris Tech
Yes the engines are probably had it but one point here is why sell these bikes if they haven't got the filter systems to handle the Australian Dust?. I was never, ever advised, even after sending bikes back, to service them more regularly.
A phone conversation with Polaris Central in Perth told me that the bikes had an round sealer on an oval pipe allowing the dust to be sucked in and they fixed it with silicone, obviously didn't work because with in hours of use the bikes had broken down again.
I have had Hondas in this country for 8 years without one problem so I think that says a lot.
They know there is an issue with the bikes and myself being a girl doesn't help. I am trying to get answers on how to fix them so what do you think needs doing please?

 

If there is any blame to be passed,I would apply that to your local dealer who should know the area along with any additional info on servicing,especially air filters. Yes I agree on air filters being the first and major line of defense on any engine,plus I've never been fond of paper filters even with outer wear on them.From Polaris or anyone else. I've seen damage from neglected stock air filters,neglected filters such as K&N,etc. My own preference has always been cleanable oiled foam air filters since we sold many off road dirt bikes also. NONE of these had a paper filter,but most all had Twin Air brand dual stage foam air filters.And they needed them for what they were used for. The down fall to these is that most needed to be serviced after every race,some even having extra filters for quick change out if needed.Filters such as Twin Air,Uni,etc would keep a full time mechanic busy if you live in an extremely dusty area,but what's cheaper, filter service or the engine repair? I do give credit to Honda,Yamaha for using foam filters for the most part in their off road vehicles,but still it comes down to who is maintaining your machines and how often they do maintenance. The recommended service schedule is just that, recommended times,hours,miles for normal service.Even the schedule in the manuals mentions quicker service intervals may be needed depending on operating conditions. Just look closely at your owner/service manuals.The schedules from any make or model of machine are a guide and assumes owners should make allowances if need be. These off road machines are not like autos that are driven on nice clean streets where service schedules can usually be counted on as being sufficient enough.

 

You maybe right, the dealer should be responsible for correctly informing their customers. I even had a conversation with the dealer about the filters and there was no solution to changing them to a different type, apparently! The dealer doesn't even have the vin numbers on record so I have no confidence that Polaris Australia was fed the correct information from the dealer when I queried the whole deal.


Still, Polaris has a responsibility to make sure their products have been sold with correct instruction and a clear maintenance guide. I couldn't find the information you referred to in my service manual, are you able to recall exactly where I should locate it? Or is it something that needs interpretation?


The bikes were sold to me knowing exactly what they were going to be used for, the dealer doesn't care and neither do Polaris, sad really.
I lost over $20,000 AU in just a matter of the air filters and I closed down the tours because the bikes just become so unreliable, not good when you have to take a customer off a bike. One bike has 4,172 km's and 249 hours and the other 314 hours and 5349 km's, you don't get much for $20,000 AU


Could you tell me where I can source the parts to fix the bikes and what I would need to do so?


Thanks for your help
Cheers
Kim

 

Maintenance guides/schedules are in the first section of any owners/service manual! Shipping from the US might be expensive,but several places online such as Dirt Cheap Yamaha & Polaris OEM Parts & Accessories – Cycle Parts Warehouse as this is one of the cheaper ones I've found. Plus a google search on Polaris atv parts can bring in many more. Just compare prices and shipping costs. Plus your mechanic needs to have service manuals for the machines you own,not just owners manuals. Here's one site you can download manuals.Polaris ATV Service Manuals PDF Download Plus here's a general maintenance guide. Note the air filter section!

 

I checked my owner's manual to see what the maintenance schedule was for the air filter. It says, "Inspect; clean often; replace as needed" and doesn't say how many hours or miles. I don't ride very much so an air filter will typically last me a year with a couple of cleanings in the summer.

 

I'm not surprised that yet another Polaris rider or buyer ,has been mislead in believing they are buying a reliable 4 wheeler. I have been on numerous Polaris forums since I bought a 2001 about 5 yrs ago and have read a more than normal amount of horror stories just like yours. It should be against the law to sell a 4 wheeler that can't handle driving in DUST! Give me a break! ....
I think OPT brought up a real good point about you bringing them to get serviced by a so called "technician" , he should have informed you of the proper maintenance these bikes apparently need.
When I look back on all the other bikes I've been around , that were constantly abused in the mud , dirt , dust, water, that rarely to never had their air filters serviced and they just kept going and going, then I read about Polaris trying to blame the buyers for not keeping their air filter cleaned as a reason why their engines are failing ,should be criminal.
I hope you do get some help from Polaris, keep pushing them to take action for you. I like my old 2001 sportsman 500 and for the most part , it has treated me good , but my next purchase will not be a Polaris.....
OPT is a great source of knowledge on here so you can hopefully get your bikes up and running again so maybe you can sell them.....

 

The service schedule I posted was just a "generic" type that a lot of machines have. On the Polaris maintenance schedule in your owners/service manuals you will notice a > mark along side the services to be performed. Down at the bottom of the maintenance schedule these codes are explained. > explains "perform these procedures more often for vehicles subjected to severe use" Granted this is often overlooked by a lot of people and kind of misleading. I've never been fond of paper element filters especially when they got away from the foam pre filters used on the early atvs and Rangers and went to the thin cloth type pre filter. Just my I wish they all had an Uni type filter from the factory and quit using these pleated paper ones. If they get dirty enough,the engine will let you know real quick by running crappy,but at least they're not passing fine dirt straight into the engine to eat up pistons/cylinders.

 

Thanks everybody for your response
The penny has dropped, I will explain.


When these two bikes went back to Polaris in August 2013 and were return in January 2014 they were supposed to be fixed. "Goodwill" Polaris called it. But when I spoke to the mechanic over the phone he said the dust was being sucked into the lower part of the engine through a seal. The seal is round on an oval pipe, so they silicone it to stop it sucking in dust.


So the bikes come back supposedly fixed and they were fine for a few hours then the problem started again.


I think the email suggests exactly this problem, but there were brand new filters on the bikes when they come back??




We are aware of the very fine dust that is in the northern parts of Australia. In these extreme dust conditions additional air filter maintenance is required on any internal combustion engine. If the air filter becomes plugged with dust, the vacuum of the engine will suck in dust from an alternative location, we believe this is what has been happening with your units. We repaired 2 of your units as good will as we are certain that this issue was not caused by a defect, rather through a lack of air filter maintenance. Unfortunately this has caused the engines on your units to ingest dust which has resulted in engine damage and excessive oil consumption. Regrettably Polaris will not be able to repair these additional engines under warranty.
Should it be able to suck in dust from another location?? I wouldn't think so.
I would think it is a defective seal?
What do you think?


Thanks heaps
Kim