Water in crankcase of 99 XC SP 500

[jim_golding]

Well my son went to fix his sled which lost spark and lights last year, when I noticed his overflow bottle coolant level to be gone. There were no external leaks. So we remove the plugs and pull it over. Yup water came out both plug holes!! So we started disassembly yesterday. We removed the head and found everything to be in great condition with no signs of leakage or running with any coolant entering the cylinders or visable cracks in the water jackets. So I am thinking the only thing that could cause coolant leakage into both cylinders is the water pump seal which is driven off a shaft that comes out in the middle of the crankcase. Is this a common failure mode of these seals to have it leak into both sides of the crank or are the crank seals between to the two cylinders also shot. We will be pulling the engine today to drain the remaining coolant out of the crankcase and dry it out with WD40 and other oils to remove the coolant.

In terms of no spark and no lights, we disconnected all the wires going to the engine including the single black wire- still no spark. To me this indicates stator or CDI. For the lights we found the blubs to be good, however the plug for the main headlight was melted.

Any ideas would be helpful as I am about ready to part this thing out. I don't want to stick a bunch of money into this as it has 7000 miles on it and has had a pretty hard life.

 

[acatzl550]

as far as the water in the crank case goes, as long as nothing else on the crank is damaged i would get a pump seal and gasket. but if you find something else that is wrecked because of the leak it probably wouldn't be worth it to fix

 

[Professor PC]

yes on the water pump seal and the thing that fried the headlight plug is almost always.....the regulator...check that out first before stator or CDI

 

[wisangler]

If there was water getting in the jugs, this thing should have been billowing smoke like a teenage pot party.

We had the same issue with another machine with a liberty motor, but that one was billowing so much smoke, you couldn't see the trail if you were behind it. That ended up being an o-ring seal on the top of the head.

We actually replaced the water pump seal that you are speaking of because that's what we were told it would be. When that didn't fix it, we took it in to be repaired.

As for electrical problems, I always start with the regulator.

 

[samc]

We had the same issue with another machine with a liberty motor, but that one was billowing so much smoke, you couldn't see the trail if you were behind it. That ended up being an o-ring seal on the top of the head.
QUOTE]
Same thing happened to me last year. Came over a rise, punched it and smoke just started billowing out. The right side EGT went from 1100 to 300 in nothing flat. Was able to limp it out of the woods, had the o-ring replace that night in the trailer and back at it the next day.
Always start with the regulator and go from there.

 

[bigred_tr]

mmm

well, I believe you should still have spark even if it was your regulater..I had a sled when I was just learn'n..took the regulator out thinking it was the hand warmer resister...DAH !...slead still ran..just burnt a whole bunch of light bulbs!...LOL
I'm bet'n CDI

I have a 99 500 XC with 12,000..had only problems with chain case leakin...but we replaced the bearings for the 2nd time...every 5000 miles as they say is safe...otherwise I hav taken pretty good care of this mach and it runs great ! But my buddies say to upgrade at next breakdown...I'm lean'n that why too but is takes $...

Hope replace'n the gaskets works out 4 ya !

BR

 

[jim_golding]

Well we pulled the engine out of the sled and started to disassemble it. We pulled the head and found the orings to be in good condition- as I expected. However we noticed a bad rub/contact coming from the flywheel when we turn it over. We also noted it will only turn over one direction. It sounds like the stator is contacting the magnets of the flywheel. My son took it to a friends house to pull the flywheel. It would not come off so they applied heat. He stated he heard a lot of poping and crackling coming from the flywheel. It would still not come off even with a good pop of a hammer. Now it is really toast. So I think it is time to part it out.

It looks like we will be going down to 3 sleds this winter as my older son is going off to college and my younger son will most likely be working so my younger son will ride his brother's Cat this winter. He is not happy about it as he has alway rode polaris, but he admits it is better than nothing.

So does anybody needs some parts off of a 99 500 XCSP??

 

[bigred_tr]

BUM'r...I be bummed too if I had to ride a cat..LOL

Am I stir'n the muck??

BR

 

[jim_golding]

Bigred,

Stir away, I already acuse my son of being a "crossrider". Nothing like a 16 year old dressed in polaris gear riding a Cat!! He does admit the Cat's suspension allows for the skis to come off the ground a lot easier than his Polaris so he is happy about that. He will have the job of parting it out this summer.

 

[indy_500]

dang, since u had a good motor, that woulda been perfect! (6 months ago!) lol. And your not too far away! my 99 indy 500 threw a crank bearing. I agree, cat ski's come up LOTS easier even if it is a slower sled.

 

[xcr440]

Indy, you had the "Indy" Fuji motor, the XC is the Liberty Twin.

(At least I'm assuming this based on other posts I've read)

 

[samc]

I still can't beleive a person can't repair this fairly cheap. Salvage yard, etc.....
Hmmmmm

 

[indy_500]

Indy, you had the "Indy" Fuji motor, the XC is the Liberty Twin.

(At least I'm assuming this based on other posts I've read)

yes i know the differences between the motors. I still would've liked to do a motor swap on the sled though, overall sled was in good shape.