rescuediver,

I only had 60 odd miles on it and less than 10 hours. It wasn't even broken in yet. I was about to do my first oil change when it broke. Got the kit sitting in the garage. I babied this thing up to now, carefully cleaning it after every ride. I'd inspect it while cleaning it but no I didn't check all the hoses and what not. Maybe something came apart without my knowing it.

Still, the water must of entered through the air intake, although I now doubt the engine failure was caused by water. An engine defect or the piston rod are more likely culprits.

 

Hondabuster,

I agree completely. Unless the service manager fibbed to Polaris, they would not have agreed to repair a hydrolocked bike. So either he lied to me or he is lying to them.

I would much prefer that he lied to me and that water didn't cause this problem but it was a physical problem within the engine. If not, there is a structural defect that is causing the bike to suck in water under normal driving conditions.

I'm considering dumping the bike to the highest bidder when I get it back.

Looking on the other boards, Polaris owners aren't the only ones with bike problems.

 

I hear you hondabuster on saturday we went on our annual mud run (about 40 quads ) there was no less than 4 quads totally sunk and 2 of them were polaris,all we do is just pull them out drain the airbox ,drain the carb ,pull the plug and roll it over until all the water blows out and then start them up and way they go (mind you they run pretty rough for awhile) ,there is stil a fair bit of water in the motor after this because they almost look like a steam engine when you are following them ,I am not saying this is good for them and eventually the water and mud would take it"s tole if you didn"t change the oil when you got home , but I have yet to see any so called hydrolock from it.

 

reading the highlifter thread could get you worried, but my '02 SP 700 has 2080 miles, and it does knock, but have been told on this forum that this is normal?? Anyhow it runs strong and knock on wood hopefully goes another 2000. My point is i think it's more of a quality problem at assembly, instead of a design problem. If the dealer has a good rep for rebuilds I would ride with confidence, if not, dump it.

 

Just something I thought of erading all these threads, Does anyone realize how much water in the airbox it would take to ingest it in the engine??? TONS!! You would have to fill this things aairbox half full of water and then run it hard to get it to soak through the air filter and prefilter that Polaris puts on these!!! Ask your dealer for the airfilter that was on this bike back so you can see it, if it doesn't have a waterline on it OR A paper element that is disintigrating then I would for sure call BULLSH!T on him!!!

Just my .02

Chris

 

I have seen Polaris' in water so deep they rolled over and they were running when they went over. pulled the plugs, changed the fluids and back to rideing. I have a hard time believeing it was just a little water.

 

csa,

My father was a the dealership the day the day they took the bike apart (last Friday). What he was shown was a little bit of water in the air box (he had to tilt it to see the water) and a bit of debris (likely mud) at the bottom. He didn't think of touching the filter to see how wet it was. The service manager still claims that a bit of water that splashed in caused the engine failure and that there was water inside the engine. The oil did not look normal when I checked it. I wasn't its normal green but seemed more al light greenish brown and it smelled burnt. I'm getting contradictory advice on this. Some are saying that a bit of water can cause this type of damage while most conclude that tons of water would have to be sucked in. I now believe there never was any water in the engine and it was just a mechanical failure and this guy just won't admit it.

 

well lets see,

1 tiny bit of water in air box, It would take MUCH,MUCH, more water than that to cause that problem.

2 Oil is discolored and smells burnt, I would almost bet that it was either a head gasket failure or an engine failure inside that did this.

Good luck

Chris

 

i agree with some of the others, this had to be an engine failure, a little bit of water in the air box isn't going to do it. Might have been a head gasket, somehow the coolant probably leaked in, your oil level raised and then blew out the dipstick and boom after that.
I'd let them put it back together and give it some time to break in again. It will be as good as new, you're still under warranty for 6 months, if you have anymore problems before that get rid of it. Polaris is usually pretty good about covering items as long as they are under warranty, unless it's very extreme abuse.
good luck

 

I changed my 600sp for a 500ho 2 weeks ago and last saturday we went riding and got to a puddle of water about 5 feet long by 4 feet wide in the trail went to cross it and oops it was about 4 feet deap the edges were square so i fell in completly under water for about 5 min. got pulled out drained belt,carb,and air box wich was full to the cover took the spark plug out cranked it lots of water came out then started it drove to the truck 3 min ride oil was white changed oil twice in engine,trans,diffs before it was the normal color and now it runs like new i dont want to do this again but it fine now, i only have 6 hours on it.so i dont believe that water did that to your 700 EFI.