2008 Crossfire 6: Melted Belly Pan

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02zr600

New member
My dad rides the mentioned above sled. It has close to 2100 miles on it (i think). We were changing skags tonight and found this issue. The location of the hole is close to the exhaust outlet and right under the silencer. The sled is 100% stock. What could have caused this and how is it fixable/ prevent more damage? Has this ever happened to anybody else? Sorry if the pictures are a little blurry, as they were taken close up.
 

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02zr600

New member
One more pic.

This one here shows where the exhaust outlet is, in the upper right hand corner. Would that have something to do with it?
 

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scott_l

Member
One question has your dad hit anything that would push the belly pan up?

If not I would say not your problem take it to your dealer and have them contact CAT to see what they are going to do. If everything is stock (like you said) CAT should stand behind it and fix it for you even if it is out of warranty after all it's only a few years old. That is not a “normal problem”, something is messed up that is out of your control. If your dealer won't help you contact the CAT consumer line and talk to them (be nice to them……the old saying a little sugar goes further than vinegar, is true with those ladies) . I would also find out who your local CAT territory rep is and send him a nice/pleasant email explain your problem and ask him for a recommendations how to get the problem fixed.

Keep us updated
 
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maj16

Member
A buddy had this happen to his '08 800 Cross, noticed when he had around 1000 miles. Dealer told him it was from being in deep snow idling...problem is,the sled had NEVER seen anything other than trails. Cat bought him a new belly pan, never gave a real good explanation. Looks like a design flaw.
 
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02zr600

New member
scott_i: we are pretty sure nothing has been hit. the belly pan looks to be in perfect shape except for the melt hole.

maj16: same thing with this one, almost always trail ridden. never seen any kind of deep snow in its life.

We will be contacting the dealer, and maybe the cat line if we have to. thanks for the quick reply.
 
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raceinsnow

New member
This happened to my buddys sled (08 cross 800) and it was warranted and they had an update kit they put around the exhaust outlet.The problem that I saw was that the exhaust blowies from the outlet right on the sway bar and gets redirected back to the belly pan.After the update everything was fine.
Check the sway arm bushing to,I bet its melted to because its plastic.
 
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fatrat454

New member
My 2007 X-fire 1000 did this but it was during a late last year ride with temps around 40 degrees. It was not nearly as bad as this one but it did melt a small hole. Arctic Cat had an update with additional heat shields and ECM programming that was to prevent this. They did buy me a new belly pan as well.
 
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02zr600

New member
fatrat454 said:
My 2007 X-fire 1000 did this but it was during a late last year ride with temps around 40 degrees. It was not nearly as bad as this one but it did melt a small hole. Arctic Cat had an update with additional heat shields and ECM programming that was to prevent this. They did buy me a new belly pan as well.
Click to expand...

now that you mention it, the temp was about 35, but at that temp, there sould be no problems. Was your xfire under warrenty yet when you had the fix done? did you contact your dealer or the direct cat line?

raceinsnow: we will check the bushing as well and let you know
 
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jmk62

New member
my buddies f-6 and crossfire 8 both caught fire after a long pull [7 miles] in deep snow across manistique lake in curtis. we were just reaching for the marshmellows when instead we put the fire out with snow. the next day it happened to the second sled. now im no rocket scientist, but from what i see is the belly pan actually touches the exhaust right from the factory! no heat shield or grommet....just the pipe tightly fit right to the belly pan [swift move cat] since then both sleds were returned for new belly pans....have not seen yet if the replacement has a heat grommet or any clearences around the pipe...if it were mine i would trim [the belly pan] about a half inch clearance around the whole diameter of the pipe
 
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cummins

Member
I have a 09 X-Fire 800 SP that has a melted belly pan also; looks almost identicle to 02ZR600 pictures. Dealer replaced end of last season, and this is melted thru also. I didn't notice it the first ride of the season, but after the second ride while washing, I noticed it. This past week (in the U.P.) it has gotten worse. Temps mid 20's and obviously no powder in EUP. I know the outlets are different; but the clearance between muffler and belly pan seem the same compared to my 06 X-Fire 700. Does it seem possible that the 3 pronged pop-rivets around the outlet could be conducting to much heat???
 
favoritos

favoritos

Well-known member
EGT going bad? The melting is not from the exhaust touching the plastic. It is from flames coming out the exhaust. The 600 looks like it happened as a single occurrance. Pretty tough to narrow that one down to a cause. I am guessing it was at the end of a long run, short idle time, and then running a mid-speed run. You can see that the wind deflected the flames to the side as it melted.

We have seen countless sleds with minor melting around the exhaust over the years. It would be tough to point out one that did not have some melting. They are 2 stroke machines.
 
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02zr600

New member
Update:

Dealer said we could buy a new belly pan. Thats pretty much all he could do he claimed. So I guess we don't have any choice. Getting a new pan this weekend. What is the part number or explanation of this update kit? We really dont want to put the new belly pan on if it is just going to melt again...
 
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fishcrib

Member
I am working with arctic cat now,(after calling their customer service for days) same problem with my 07 Xfire 800. Dealer updtaed my ECU when I first bought the sled, was supposed to solve the problem. I wiil post what they are going to do about it after I find out. I wouldn't buy the new belly pan just yet.
 
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02zr600

New member
fishcrib, keep me updated. I keep trying to tell him to wait for a while, but he wants to get one before our snowmobile trip.
 
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fishcrib

Member
02ZR600- AC wants me to bring to the dealer so the AC rep can look at it. I'll keep you posted, probably will be a few days.
 
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catguy

New member
Someone mentioned an "update kit" for this issue--does this include a bigger metal deflector to be riveted in place?? I have a low milage 09 cf8 that this has not happened to, but I'd buy the update kit for sure to keep it from happening, i've heard of this happening, but thought it was on older crossfires, where the fuel mapping was too rich and after a reflash the issue was gone--one guy on this thread said it happened to his 09 as well.

If the repair was to be on my own dime, I'dprobably be fashioning some sheetmetal to be riveted in place to cover the hole. Hopefully it could be done well enough to look decent and not stand out like zip-tied hoods do. Thats too bad-thats a pretty big hole to cover. Fortunately I wouldn't think it would have much of an effect on sled operation (on the clutch side it'd be a different story.)
 
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