Good morning Bill and congratulations. Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to have a kicka** good time. Be carefull out there, and watch out for MaxII's. I heard a rumor that they are out there just waiting to pounce on unsuspecting mild manored SP500's. Have fun!
Sneeky

 

Hey Bill, it’s good to know you have your wheels back! Every time I’ve seen one of your posts I’ve wondered how the whole thing was progressing. I guess we’ll have to stay tuned to see how it turns out.

I’m a little confused though. If I’m correct you stated one time that you had some wrenching experience. What confuses me is how your engine could have been “rebuilt” without fresh oil. Unless they just pinched off the oil reservoir to pull the motor for the rebuild they would have had to save the drained oil and put it back in for you to have the same dirty oil in there. Considering your engine needed to be “rebuilt”, whoever would have done something like that would have to be out to get you on purpose. And how did your drain threads get buggered up?

And why would you take a chance on aftermarket oil filters? Sure, Polaris rapes us every time we buy an oil filter (and their oil) but think about how many miles you put on and how many oil changes you do in a year. It really doesn’t add up to that much to use the “right” stuff and then there’s no question about the aftermarket stuff causing problems.

On the subject of the crankcase drain, I used to drain it at each oil change but I don’t anymore. I change my oil at 250-300 miles after the initial break-in and every 500 after that unless I think there’s a possibility of water contamination (in our terrain, it happens). With oil changes that frequently I don’t get too concerned about that last little cup in the crankcase. I guarantee you the vast majority of dealers don’t drain it. One Polaris mechanic on the old forum admitted he didn’t even know a drain plug was there. If I detect an abundance of contamination of any kind in the oil I’ll drain it though. What I usually do on an oil change is, with the reservoir plug and the oil filter removed, I’ll pull on the recoil starter a few times with the ignition switch off. That always gets more oil out than just a “static drain”. I suspect some of that “extra” oil is coming from the low point in the crankcase, but don’t quote me on that.

Speaking of drains, I’ve heard that a friend’s uncle had some real trouble from not draining his recoil housing of the water that got in there during the summer. Winter came and it froze. I don’t actually know what problems it caused but I hadn’t thought of draining mine until I heard that. Have any of you looked at how that drain plug is buried on a ’99 SP500? You can see it, and you can almost touch it, but the rear brake linkage is right in the way of getting at it. My wife’s Mag 500 is not quite as bad. Because of this, it’s still on my to-do list.

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FloodRunner, on the Wisconsin River

 

Bill... I'm glad to hear you got your machine back.... It always feels good to pick one up, but feels sickening to be dropping one off... Kinda like leaving a family member...Anyway...

I have a couple of questions... about this "screen" on the oil line... where is it and I'm thinking I might want to change these..
Another thing, the "drain" on the bottom side of the engine?.. I've never done that before either.. Maybe I should..

As for the radiator, The 99 Magnum 500 I just bought, the radiator started leaking on it too.. Come to find out it was the drain petcock.. No matter what I did, it wouldn't seal off (not the threads, the petcock seal itself.) So I went to Autozone and bought a $1.99 special and replaced it myself..
Funny that a brand new one would leak like that...
Thanks everybody...
And again, Congrads.. Bill on bringing your baby home..

 

Whered you get the horn at

 

I think he said off a Kenworth !
c-ya,

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Andrew Thomas

'99 Scrambler 400 & '99 Trailblazer, both with RCR mods.

 

WeeeeeeeDogggieeeee!!!!!! Ride um Bill.....

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Kevin Gowdy aka Kagey 1999 Polaris Magnum 500

 

Well first off I'd like to thank everyone for their nice responses.I took the Sportsman out today for about a MILD 12 miles,it was very cold outside.It ran flawlessly.The steering was tight to.I had to idle the engine up a little bit.Nice to have new tie rod ends.Floodrunner,the engine was never pulled out of the quad.The dealership installed a 10k over piston w/new rings,bored the cyclinder out 10k to.He did valves and re-did the valve seats with new seals.I guess technically thats not a complete engine rebuild.I asked the mechanic about the oil,he said he changed it and was unsure how it got that high.Last night when the engine was warm,I checked the oil.It was perfect.This morning with the engine cold,the level was to the ADD mark which would indicate it needed 8oz of oil.I warmed the engine and rechecked the level,it was fine.The mechanic told me to check the oil level with the engine cold.If I add the 8oz of oil to a cold engine,when it warms up,it will show up as being overfilled.What is everyone else going by?You guys checking the oil level cold or hot?Floodrunner,I dont worry the least bit about using a aftermarket oil filter on the Sportsman.Polaris filter cost 11 dollars,I get my aftermarket filter for 3 dollars,and it meets or exceeds all manufactures specs.It's just like their brakes,I go aftermarket on them to.As long as an aftermarket part meets or exceeds manufactures specs,the manufacture cannot legally hold you responsable for defects.The recoil drain plug?Yah I looked at it on my 99 Sportsman before,it's a real pain to get to.Mud Machine,the screen im talking about is located on the right side of the engine,opposite the drain plug.Dont worry about draining the crankcase either,as long as you've been keeping the oil changed.It only holds a cup anyways.Whiskey,my bro in law got the horn for me from where he works,it's waterproof to.Im going riding again tomorrow.So far,things are really looking good.======BILL

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Bill, that's good to hear that it works good now. Since you got it bored with a bigger piston, can you feel the extra power?

Floodrunner, Bill is exactly right with the aftermarket filters. We use them too on our '97 Sportsman. You can also get some in chrome which look cool. Polaris charges too much for their filters, so that's where the aftermarket ones save you money. They are made the same as the OEM ones, but cheaper in price. They wouldn't be made if they didn't work, right?

Mudmachine, so what exactly are you talking about when you say your radiator's "petcock"? Our Sportsman has had 4 new radiators installed, because they kept leaking, even the new ones.

 

Bill, didn't know about the screen on the engine, I'll have to look for it, I am not sure where you mean.
Here is something to check out about oil screens, that any one of us may want to check. On my Y2K SP500 I developed a tiny leak on the oil fitting at the oil resavoir. When I wiggled it, the hose broke loose from the fitting. (I took it off, hoping to pick one up at the dealer so I could ride that weekend without taking the whole thing in for "warranty work". They didn't have it in stock and I had to wait two damn weeks for it). Any way, there was a screen in the end of the fitting that screwed into the resavoir. Which means, if by chance, however unlikely, it gets plugged up, you won't have fresh cool oil circulating to the engine! This maybe a source for some unexplained overheating problems or eventually worse. Probably not likely to get plugged up, but it's there for a reason!. It should be on a periodic maintenance check and certainly checked in the event of muddy water contamination. Don't know if it is on other models, but you guys may want to check.
Sneeky

 

Rooster,
Its the drain valve on the radiator... also known as the drain petcock. (atleast in the south...lolol)
Its located on the right side of the quad, you have to remove the side shield with a phillips screwdriver and you will still barely be able to see it.. but it IS there... Mine wouldn't quit leaking, and only leaked when you ran it up to temperature, I guess the worst part was that its a 99 model and my 97 Scrambler 500 has NEVER had problems like that..
Anyway, I got it fixed the fastest and cheapest way i knew how... I did it myself..lolol..

[This message has been edited by mudmachine (edited 12-29-1999).]