Daughters 2012 arctic cat 800 XF runs good then kills.

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WorkHardPlayHrd

Active member
My daughter has a 2012 arctic cat 800 XF that up until this weekend ran great. She used it at the radar run in Winter and then we hit the trails. It ran well for 45 miles then she said it just died on her. She said there were no codes or flashing lights and she does pay attention to things like that. We got it to restart. It sounded off like it wasn't getting enough gas and went half a mile then died again. Towed it to a bar where I left the family and went for trailer.

Got back 40 minutes latter started on first pull, sounded normal and ran fine for 5 minutes. Sunday unloaded seemed fine. She rode it in the field for 25 minutes and it was fine. We all left for a trail ride got 2 miles down the trail and it killed. Hard to restart would only run briefly than die out. Towed it home.

Took the panel's and hood apart this evening. Unable to see coolant level the hose coming to refill is solid black. Put only a little coolant in and it was full. There are no leaks or fluids that I see and no arctic cat dealership near me that can look at it before next week Wednesday.

Any ideas would be appreciated. We bought last year with 400 miles on it. It is now at 1,000. Thank you for the help.
 
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ezra

Well-known member
do the 12 cats use pop off valves in the gas tank like the older Fs and Ms
those would cause something like that
I had a f8 that would just die from time to time . took a long time to find but a wire had rubbed bare and would short out on the frame .
 
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Tracker

Guest
I have encountered this same thing before....and its the EFI telling you to stop starting the engine....my bet is BAD GAS....WATER IN GAS....check that....I personally would dump it all and buy new premium from somewhere I trust....you could add in some ISO but usually when the EFI shuts you down the 1st time......DO NOT TRY TO RESTART FOR ANY REASON....EVER....until all things have been checked and GAS is 1st on the list....you might of got bad gas after the races to hit the trail....that's what mine was also....and WORD TO THE WISE....CATS EFI does this on purpose to allow you one more chance to save the motor.....IMO after you pulled the cord the seconds time and it died....the damage was complete...any more starting after that scored the walls....good luck and don't leave us hanging on what ya find...and remember...she dies....get the trailer or go over it with fine tooth comb before ever restarting it.....

PS...I always add NOX ICE to every tank...no matter what....once you are north of I-80 and out of huge towns.....ALL GAS IS SUBJECT to having water in it especially mom and pop places and any non premium
 
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WorkHardPlayHrd

Active member
Pulled all the fuel, reset the ecu, bypassed the ignition switch and she started and ran fine. Couldn't find a bad spot in wiring harness. Took it to Lakewoods for the Weenie roast and Radar Runs on March 3rd. It ran 8 radar runs 94 to 98.84 mph on all of them. My daughter won one class, and came in second in the 1000 and under drag vs. a mod sled. She couldn't catch him when they shortened the track. Went on the trails put on 34 miles are almost back and she waves to me and says it seems off. We just got back to the lake by the lodge and it quits. We hocked it to the tow straps and pulled it onto the trailer. We're going to tear it down to the bones over the summer in the trailer to see if we can find something.

It never over heated on the trail. We know the code for that is working because it did it during the radar runs. No other codes popped up. So frustrating.
 
T

Tracker

Guest
WorkHardPlayHrd said:
Pulled all the fuel, reset the ecu, bypassed the ignition switch and she started and ran fine. Couldn't find a bad spot in wiring harness. Took it to Lakewoods for the Weenie roast and Radar Runs on March 3rd. It ran 8 radar runs 94 to 98.84 mph on all of them. My daughter won one class, and came in second in the 1000 and under drag vs. a mod sled. She couldn't catch him when they shortened the track. Went on the trails put on 34 miles are almost back and she waves to me and says it seems off. We just got back to the lake by the lodge and it quits. We hocked it to the tow straps and pulled it onto the trailer. We're going to tear it down to the bones over the summer in the trailer to see if we can find something.

It never over heated on the trail. We know the code for that is working because it did it during the radar runs. No other codes popped up. So frustrating.
Click to expand...

well kudos to her dude.....I proud of her as I know you are.....for the race and noticing its off even.....she good....I woulda loved to see her whip the guys and then pull off her helmet and shake her hair into place and see all their jaws hit the ground when they notice they been had by a girl/woman.....no bad meaning by the gender reference....just awesome irony....back to the sled....so if your sure its not water in the gas then check this....this also happened to mine and I drag raced it on a track and then took it out trail riding....mine had 13500 miles on the motor though but I am anal and keep everything clean and lubed to eat off it....it was a BROKEN POWER VALVE CABLE....one was working and one was not...only after trail riding though oddly enough...took 1st, 2nd and 3rd place so it wasn't there....but I do ride rough and it mighta been off trail too that it broke...it ran good but not quite....a good rider/racer will be able to tell the difference immediately....hope its just that...not sure if I would rebuild the motor if it checks good and runs sweet and won races.....did you port it and Vforce reeds and all that jazz.....I did and left it alone since it ran like a champ...murphys law ya know....its got 22,000 miles on it and she still will whip azz on bigger displacement sleds....the one that the EFI shut it off and I restarted it when it was telling me NO....it was scored pistons and stuff and had to be rebuilt....good luck
 
T

Tracker

Guest
I think I found it....was it code 16...code 16 is valves out of adjustment....if no cable is broke then its the servo motor...The ecu cycles the servo up to 3 times to calibrate. If after 3 tries it can't calibrate in the proper range it goes into limp mode. This info is for a 2012....they had a problem with the servo motors.
 
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WorkHardPlayHrd

Active member
We found the answer!

The sled had a cracked Reed valve. They believe it was caused by improper fuel use by the original owner in the first 400 miles before we purchased it. Being that the sled has the 800 high output motor it is only supposed to have 91 octane. Misuse can cause improper heating in the motor resulting in the crack. They have seen it in sleds as new as 2016.

This problem also shows no code. So radar running while fast would not cause the vibration to throw the engine rhythm out of sync. Put it on a nice bumpy trail, and the sled says I'm done. Leave alone to reset and all is fine. Till the bumps start again.

We have replaced both reeds, better safe than sorry. Not the cheapest fix, but at least we have an answer. My daughter's been bugging me to let her have two sleds ( one for racing, and one for trail riding). I told her that one was plenty. Especially since I never had anything like that at her age.

Thank you to everyone who gave suggestions and advice. It is wonderful to have the help of others who love the sport!

IMG_20180404_180003.jpg

Here's the three girls at the end of April. Her's is the center sled. They are getting antsy for winter to.
 
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Tracker

Guest
good to hear you found it....I use mototasinari V3....look at differences here... http://store.mototassinari.com/ what did you put in? and word to the wise dude....each and EVERY tank I use NOX-ICE for that very reason of bad gas and low octane....I also run TECHRON which is a top tier additive and used in airplane gas and is one of a few additives that actually work....now if I could get you to lower the limiter so the track lays flat and not slightly tilted, bring front of skid down not up like everyone does, you could achieve great results at the races and gain time and speed. and I would have another ally in the drive train ratio camp......LMAO
 
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ezra

Well-known member
ezra said:
do the 12 cats use pop off valves in the gas tank like the older Fs and Ms
those would cause something like that
I had a f8 that would just die from time to time . took a long time to find but a wire had rubbed bare and would short out on the frame .
Click to expand...

I also had a 07 f8 that did the exact same thing same deal shorting wire on frame . it would mostly happen in fresh snow I think the wet snow would help create a more solid contact with the frame then just die
 
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