getting sled ready for summer

[Black_Bay]

It really has nothing to do with how expensive the oil is. We've seen some of the bigger name synthetic oils that leave engines bone dry while others leave a film of oil on verticle surfaces. Amsoil Interceptor is one that leaves behind a film but yet burns without much smoke. It's my oil of choice.

[mudweiser]

Seafoam is not a pretectant, it is a fuel system cleaner. I have stored with the fuel full and syphoned it out in the fall but i see that as a waste, so now i just remove as much fuel as i can before being stored. You won't get moisture in the tank unless it's stored outside or if you have a fuel system problem. Most cylinders now are nicisal lined. They will not rust. Fogging is not to protect the cylidners, but it is more needed to coat the crankshaft and it's brarings. The 2000 and up ski-doo crankshafts on all series III engines use iso-flex crank earings. The fogging will not get to these bearings, but the crankrod bearings still need to be fogged. Always fog your motor. If you have not lost an engine yet, your lucky. Stabilizer is necessary in the fuel cause it stabilizes the fuel from breakdown and prevents the fuel system from breakdown and varnish. Keep in mind, even some of the newer piston rings that are moly coated can have the moly wear off and still rust. This can cause the ring to wear out the piston ring land which will cause both low compression and a worn ring land that can lead to premature piston failure. Here a quick note of what i do:

add stabilizer to fuel, EFI or carb, pressure wash the entire sled, run the motor till it's good and warm burning off all the moisture. Once stabilizer has ran through the system, i fog the engine. Fogging does not cause a problem, if it does, so what! It's a snowmoble, don't expect a set of plugs to last 4 years. You can either rebuild an engine due to crankshaft failure from insufficent storage or replace a set of $4 plugs. I myself, replace the plugs every season. I then grease everything i can possibly grease pushing out all the winters moisture. Then the sled gets coated in WD-40. There is lots of road salt that will cause issues on the aluminum. In the fall, it gets washed off anyways. After that i change the chaincase oil, remove the drive belt and disconnect the battery if equiped. The shock shafts get a quick one over with the wd-40, and yes, i also wd-40 the clutches cause they get cleaned in the fall. The sled is stored with a cover and on movable dollies. Have a few beers, cry and wait until next season until your ready to do a pre-season inspection. I'm sure i missed a few things, but this will keep it properly stored for many, many seasons. Some people do run their sleds in the offseason, but i have to ask, are you running it long enough to burn off any moisture? Are you running it too long in the 70 degree weather? Even though it's a liquid cooled engine, the snow is still needed to cool the rear heatexchangers.

[Tyler23]

seafoam is a cleaner and stabilizer?