Hey guys, I've got a '97 Polaris Sport 400. Whenever I splash around in the water, or drive through the water, the belt slips and the machine won't go anywhere until it dries out. Is there anything I can do to prevent this? It's kind of a pain because it doesn't take that much water to take me out of the running.

 

Have you ever taking the drive belt cover off? If so did you replace the gasket? Check all the joints in the vent tubes running from the belt cover. From the factory Polaris uses slip ties at the joints, replace them with good hoseclamps, or something similar. This should fix the problem.

P.S. don't forget about the exhuast vent for the tranny! I think that's the normal place that the water comes in anyway.

 

Jeff, you definitely are pulling water in somewhere. Rincon had a good point when asking about the clutch cover gasket. These machine should be able to go through water up to the bottom of the seat without any problems.Bubba

 

i've drive more then one polaris and it's one of their major weak point. if you go slowly in the water ther's no problem but if you go in it fast , the water splash into the strap vent... i tryed to avoid it by putting a air filter in the vent... it worked.... but only for a while... the dust packed in the filter made the clutch overheat and everythin under that cover that was '' blowable'' blew up... $$$$$$$$


so don't try anything and avoid the water at fast speed...

that's the only disadvantage i see in polaris quads.

 

Most of the people in my area ride Polaris ATV's. I bought a brand new Scrambler 400 in 1999 and had the same problems. The first thing my friends asked me was if I had siliconed the belt cover, which I was unaware of. I removed the entire outter cover, which on that model required taking some of the plastic fender mounting off to get it off the machine, and removed and discarded the cheap foam gasket that was used. I'm not sure if they are still using the same one but I would take it off anyway. Buy some RTV Silicone(I used CLEAR) and goop it up extremely well, don't forget to seal up the breather tube on the top and don't be afraid to make a little mess. I never had another problem with it again and we hit water holes wide open! I'm talking 2-3 feet deep water holes! Hope it helps you as much as it helped me!

 

Polaris claims that when hitting deep water you should keep a steady thumb on the throtle, if the bike is going too slow water will find its way in the exhaust tranny vent tube, when throtle is applied the exhaust vent will have a constant flow of air coming out of it, therefor not allowing water to come in. They said "just don't get carried away-with the throtle!)