95 Polaris XLT Touring

[Northlander]

What should I be looking at spending on a good rebuilt motor with a warranty? $500 too much?

[leech~~]

What should I be looking at spending on a good rebuilt motor with a warranty? $500 too much?

Northlander, since the season is all but done. You may want to wait until next fall and try going to one of the big Snowmobile Grass Drag races and Swapmeets like the Hay Days or the Outlaw and look for a used motor. Just about every dealer and used parts guy around are at them and have motors and parts for sale!

[caseymcq]

This may sound odd but if you are looking at replacing the motor you may want to consider going with one out of a '93 or '94 with low miles if you can find it.

I am not a small engine mechanic or any type of snowmobile wiz but I am going off a fair amount of personal experience and observation.

'93 and '94 that Fuji mono block was a 580 (579 cc's). In '95 they bored it out to be a 600 (597 cc's). I have a '95 XCR 600, my brother has a '94 XLT Special. I have had numerous problems with the XCR while that '94 XLT Special still runs like a top to this day with absolutley nothing more than typical maintenance being done to it. I don't know how much of a factor would play into it also, but the XCR had a higher compression ratio (requiring permium) and larger carbs (38mm vs 34mm). It did run a cooler plug than the XLT (RN2C vs. RN3C) and I don't know if that had any influence on problems developing. I was almost thinking that with the cooler plug maybe the combustion chamber didn't maintain that ideal heat range (500 - 850 F). I know the plugs looked "right" (brown / cinamon) and they weren't black, but I wonder if there still was some excess carbon build up that didn't show on the plug because of the cooler rating. This is where somebody with more engine knowledge could chime in, because here agin it is a SWAG on my part.

I know or have talked with a number of people that have had various sleds with the 580 or the 600. It has been a recurring theme that those with the 600 have had more problems than those with the 580. Possilby purely coincidence but oddly enough, like I said, more probs with the 600. It is an absolute uneducated guess based soley on observation and conversation, but boring that motor out to 600 cc's may have been the straw that broke the camel's back. Maybe the motor needed some further tweaking to go along with the displacement change (if it didn't already).

[Esox_Magnum]

My 580 has over 5K on it and runs like a dream, all stock yet as far as I know other than maybe a little clutching. 95 modle but 94 engine yet. I'll put it up against any 700's and some 800's on a flat out run.