Has anyone ever experienced cold seizure? Can you help me? What is it? Why does it happen? How can it be prevented? Is there any permanent damage?[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-confused.gif[/img]

 

Yes I have experienced cold seizure, but not on my quadracer. It has happened to me with my snowmobiles. There is a lot to do with it but its hard for me to explain (It has to do with the law of physics). If you want more info on cold seizure, ask.<u>Plain and simple, its when you don't let your engine warm up correctly when its cold.</u>

 

On a cold seizure, it is when the thinner piston warms up and expands quicker than the thicker cylinder. You should warm up your engine for a few minutes til your cylinder becomes warm to the touch. If you just start it up and take off full bore, the piston will heat up and expand at a rate too quick for the cylinder and seizure occurs.

 

Yo WP, I couldn't have said it better myself.

 

Is there any permanent damage that can occur? The quad still pulls like a freight train. The engine started up right away with NO hint that it had ever stoped. I should have let it warm up a little longer. I could do a comp. test. How much comp. should I be getting? This is a new piston and new over size.

 

Norm,

Yes, permanent damage does occur. Typically if you look at the sides of the piston, you'll see scuffing on the piston in each of the four quadrants. If it was severe enough, you could be losing compression, and have damaged the piston/bore beyond reasonable limits.

It's imperative that the motor is at operating temp. before you ride it.

I 'think' stock compression is around 120-130 (Depending on your elevation)