If your not wanting to dropp a lot of money into a wrench, go w/ a craftsman.

EC

 

I can appreciate your wanting to set your 2001 up for the long haul but I personally wouldn't even consider replacing a piston while it is still under warranty. As Thor said won't removing the oil injection and making the piston change, pretty well void your warranty? If the piston or oil injection do give out while you're under warranty won't it be replaced for you. If you were having your engine ported or something I could see it, but if I had a 2001 the last thing I would be doing would be tearing into the engine right off the bat. I would save those changes til it got closer to being out of warranty and you would be thinking about freshening the top end anyway.

 

I did the piston change too. I replaced it as a preventative mesure also. Sure it cost a lot...but it's peace of mind. Consider it an insurance payment. It does not void the warrenty. The injector elimination sure does void it though! It also is for peace of mind but I sure would hate mixing all the time. The family already bugs me that I take too much time with my oil, gas, chain lube, filter oil,grease zerts...

 

This reported skirt damage is an exagerrated bunch of B.S. Polaris redesigned the piston, and ports in 1996, all pre 96 Fuji engines had the dreaded piston skirt slap.

Perhaps you should consider at least waiting until the warranty is over before you tear the machine down.

 

There is one area of the 400 motor I have not heard anyone tell people to watch that I have seen an have a friend lose to lower ends to an alot of others do to. The counter balance oil in on the right side of the crank case where the dip stick is below the carb an hard to get to. From running in water they have a tendecy to get water in the oil an cause the bearings to go out an destroy the cases an lock up the motor. My friends was only 4 months old when this happend a polaris would not cover it because they said it wust have gone under water an got mud in the motor yet there was no mud in the intake or the exsuast or in the crank area.As far as the piston thing have not heard of much of that happening.
So all who go through water check the counter balace oil offten to see in water has got in will be milky we use slic50 gearoil in our now on advice from a guy who run HPD motor.

 

I think you are taking the preventive maintenance a little far. If your quad is in it's stock form, your piston will be fine. Once you start adding engine mods, pipe, clutch, etc. you should add the Wiseco. I sure wouldn't think about doing it to a brand new bike that is still under warranty.

Home Depot has a nice torque wrench for a very fair price.

 

I think you are taking the preventive maintenance a little far. If your quad is in it's stock form, your piston will be fine. Once you start adding engine mods, pipe, clutch, etc. you should add the Wiseco. I sure wouldn't think about doing it to a brand new bike that is still under warranty.

Home Depot has a nice torque wrench for a very fair price.

 

what exactly is piston slap??? How hard is it to change a piston on a trailblazer??? I hear a slight noise coming from the motor every now and then a little rattle or a little scratching noise is this what yo uare talking about? Thanks for any help

 

Walexa,
The factory Polaris 400 piston is a cast piston. When the engine is new, its pretty much OK. Problem is, when the bore gets some wear it creates excessive clearance between the skirt and wall. A small amount is good, because the piston is floating on a thin layer of oil. But, when the bore gets loose, the piston is allowed to rock in the cylinder and eventually, one side or the other of the skirt meets Mr. Cylinder wall. Thats when it gets ugly.
Two stroke engines wear on cylinder walls more rapidly because they are on compression every upstroke.
The forged design of the Wiseco piston will actually be a little looser when cold, but when it reaches operating temperature, it will provide better ring sealing and oil control.
There are cylinder wall and piston crown coatings that can provide additional protection and about 30% more power.
Any way you slice it, a Wiseco Piston will outlast and outperform a stock piston. There are two other manufacturers that you might check with, one is Pro-X and the other is J.E. What ever you decide, make sure its a forged piston and the machine shop uses the PISTON manufacturers specs to bore/hone the jug.

 

Mudmachine,

Both Rick Ritter and my friend that races stated that with as few hours as I have on the bike, I should be able to simply change the piston without boring. Rick recommended honing, but my other friend said all he would do is clean up the cylinder with a solvent, reassemble everything, and let her rip. The reason I don't want to wait for warranty to run out is that the engine will be worn to the point that it will need boring. Also, if it did go south, and broke a case, the whole engine would have to be removed. Would Polaris put a brand new engine in it??? I don't think so. They would just replace the case, bore the cylinder, and put in a new "polaris" piston. And I'd be right back where I started. When Rick sends me the wiseco piston, he'll be sending me a used stock piston, along with a used wiseco piston for comparison. He did state that their pistons are better now(post '96), but that there are still lots of skirts breaking off. And most likely, it wouldn't break off while the quad is under warranty. I like Polaris alot, but if there is a weak link, I would rather replace it now than later. Sometimes, the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" slogan is fine. How many have heard of a timing belt that would cost $150 to change breaking and costing $2000 to fix all the damage it caused.