Sidewinder on Fire

snoden

Active member
Seen every brand in flames over the years. On Monday a cool 4 door Polaris SXS with tracks pulls into Pine Stump just as we were pulling in for fuel, heard a loud boom, looked back and the back seat was engulfed in flames. They had an extinguisher and was able to put it out before it melted down. As for the winder, I know exactly why it went up in flames and it had nothing to do with the aftermarket can.
 

1fujifilm

Well-known member
On the contrary - it isn't wedged at all. There is 3 inches of air underneath the motor! LOL.

Engineering is amazing..when it works correctly. I took off the belt shield on my 17 Renegade 600 E-tec and noticed the oil injection plastic line is literally inches from the clutches. One blown belt "could" rupture that line and thus seize the motor. Tolerances continue to reduce and demand on parts that are developed to be less expensive and less longetive are a recipe for disaster, we are at the tipping point.

Bear
 

brad460

Member
Obviously Yamaha hasn’t “bought off” this website like they did to Totallyamaha in 2004...otherwise this thread would have been long since flushed!
 
G

G

Guest
From what I have read the G4 frame and the motors they use in the G4 are kind of made for each other. Mounted very low and 'Doo even tries to balance them side to side. Snobuilder is right. The AC frame was never designed to use the Yami Turbo 3 cylinder. It is a minor miracle the whole set up works as well as it does. There is room for improvement. Perhaps if the Yami/AC experiment continues they will jointly produce a new chassis that would allow a lower center of gravity for the engine.
 

snobuilder

Well-known member
From what I have read the G4 frame and the motors they use in the G4 are kind of made for each other. Mounted very low and 'Doo even tries to balance them side to side. Snobuilder is right. The AC frame was never designed to use the Yami Turbo 3 cylinder. It is a minor miracle the whole set up works as well as it does. There is room for improvement. Perhaps if the Yami/AC experiment continues they will jointly produce a new chassis that would allow a lower center of gravity for the engine.

I think Yamaha should have insisted this awesomely engineered 1050 turbo package be put into a new chassis....that was before the Textron take over.......if they are to stay alive in the sled biz, a new chassis has to be coming. Where will Textron's head be?....who knows?
Doo has it right engineering wise....so does Polaris.
 
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snoden

Active member
I bet the suspense is killing you, but I can't believe all these internet engineers haven't figured it out yet. They seem to have everything else figured out...not really but it's comical reading what they think they know. Keep guessing...oh by the way I'm riding an 18 winder this year! Just under 1000 miles for the season so far.
 

snoden

Active member
Just a small correction here...it's a 998 cc motor. It's a new motor that Yamaha developed exclusively for the turbo package.
 

snoden

Active member
Through the years there have been many pics of sleds burning and they have been all different colors. It could be a design issue or it could be something as simple as some cattail fuzz getting someplace it shouldn't be. I bought a Sidewinder this year. It was put together in TRF. I watched it get built. They used a whole bunch of TORX fasteners which I personally hate. I read somewhere that Textron has the rights to TORX so that is the reason. So you have AC assembling the sled - which they designed and built to begin with - with a Yamaha motor with Textron watching over the whole thing. There are numerous heat shields surrounding the turbo. But it still generates a lot of heat. Even when it is 20 below like it has been here lately. There have been reports of oil leaks where the oil tank is mated to the chaincase. This is directly behind the turbo. The fire on the sled in the pics appears to have started on the turbo side. It looks like that to me anyway. Or maybe it was cattail fuzz. They all have their issues. I bought the Sidewinder knowing it was an AC sled with a Yami motor. I thought everybody knew that?????

Ok Grub your in the need to know, it's the roll over valve that is causing oil to blow out. In really cold temps condensation from the oil reservoir is freezing the rubber gasket in the roll over valve, when the pressure builds it blows the line off the valve which is like 2" from a very hot turbo. When that happens you can see the result in the picture above. There are a couple of options to avoid this if your are interested.
 

snobuilder

Well-known member
Ok Grub your in the need to know, it's the roll over valve that is causing oil to blow out. In really cold temps condensation from the oil reservoir is freezing the rubber gasket in the roll over valve, when the pressure builds it blows the line off the valve which is like 2" from a very hot turbo. When that happens you can see the result in the picture above. There are a couple of options to avoid this if your are interested.

Well here on the www, it's your story so stick to it even though you have no actual proof about the sled in the pic you condescending *****....LOL... even if your guess is right on....why would it not be corrected? seems like a simple recall fix.....I will stand by my initial poor engineering and poor QC comment. You build a part that doesn't perform in cold conditions you stink at yur snowmobile building job.
The built for snow Yamaha 3 holer based engine deserves it's own chassis with all the added turdo parts. Do you agree or not?
 
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snoden

Active member
Well here on the www, it's your story so stick to it even though you have no actual proof about the sled in the pic you condescending *****....LOL... even if your guess is right on....why would it not be corrected? seems like a simple recall fix.....I will stand by my initial poor engineering and poor QC comment. You build a part that doesn't perform in cold conditions you stink at yur snowmobile building job.
The built for snow Yamaha 3 holer based engine deserves it's own chassis with all the added turdo parts. Do you agree or not?

I believe you will see a recall on this, remember last year was a warmer winter and also the first year for these turbo monsters. This winter being much colder is why it's showing up. I have heard of numerous valves failing this winter so far and there will be more as the temps plunge. As far as this motor package deserving its own chassis package...the AC pyramid chassis is a very good chassis and proven, add Fox QS3'r shocks on the LE models and this thing just plain rocks. I'm enjoying everything about it so far, riding position, comfort, power, ride quality, handling...did I mention the power? I'm not a brand basher and think all colors make some really nice machines for our riding pleasure these days. I know mine won't spew oil out when the temps plunge, I have bypassed the valve totally.
 

old abe

Well-known member
From what I have read the G4 frame and the motors they use in the G4 are kind of made for each other. Mounted very low and 'Doo even tries to balance them side to side. Snobuilder is right. The AC frame was never designed to use the Yami Turbo 3 cylinder. It is a minor miracle the whole set up works as well as it does. There is room for improvement. Perhaps if the Yami/AC experiment continues they will jointly produce a new chassis that would allow a lower center of gravity for the engine.

The difference riding a Doo 4-stroke , as to a Yami/Cat is night, and day. Doo much more better balanced, side to side, and front to back. Thus the Doo handles much better. That is why I waited for the "all new, all Yamaha" sled. Eh, so much for that.
 
G

G

Guest
Ah, yes. The dreaded roll over valve. Totallyamaha has been all over this for a month. It sounds to me like it is a poorly designed system using flawed parts. But I doubt there will be any recalls. As I stated I have already owned 5 new yami sleds. Yamaha is not in the habit of admitting they screwed up.
 

snoden

Active member
Yamaha has never designed and built a good chassis ever! There I said it...lol. There are lots of people like you abe that keep waiting for an all new Yamaha built sled. Only time will tell if that will happen. To state the Doo and Yami/Cats are night and day apart...c'mon man! I never owned the doo 1200 but I do know that many doo 1200 owners have jumped ship to the sidewinder. These are not my words but they have said it's a better machine all the way around. Both are nice machines in my opinion, just boils down to riding styles as to which is better suited for you.
 
C

Cirrus_Driver

Guest
Yamaha has never designed and built a good chassis ever! There I said it...lol. There are lots of people like you abe that keep waiting for an all new Yamaha built sled. Only time will tell if that will happen. To state the Doo and Yami/Cats are night and day apart...c'mon man! I never owned the doo 1200 but I do know that many doo 1200 owners have jumped ship to the sidewinder. These are not my words but they have said it's a better machine all the way around. Both are nice machines in my opinion, just boils down to riding styles as to which is better suited for you.

Define many. That could be 10 or 100. If 5000 own 1200’s, then in that context it’s insignificant.
 

snoden

Active member
Ah, yes. The dreaded roll over valve. Totallyamaha has been all over this for a month. It sounds to me like it is a poorly designed system using flawed parts. But I doubt there will be any recalls. As I stated I have already owned 5 new yami sleds. Yamaha is not in the habit of admitting they screwed up.

You are so right grub but, I did get the 5 year warranty...so I got that going for me! My good riding buddy bought the 18 Thundercat, even though they are the same machine for the most part we still in good fun blame each others brand for design flaws...F^%$g Arctic cat!
 
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