I was at camp for a couple nights. During one night we must have gotten over 2ft of powder snow. With all this snow I decided to rebreak in all the trails to my fishing lakes. The temp was cold too about -20 C. After breaking in all my trails, took about 2 hours... I decided to do some fishing. Like always I let my bearcat idle while drilled the holes and setup my lines. I fished for about 3 hours, and decided to call it quits... like usual, I started my bearcat, let it idle while I packed up my stuff. Once my gear was packed I was ready to go, but for some reason I gave the bearcat throttle it would not move, it acted as if I had the emergency break on, but again it would not move (why? I know wish I knew what was going on). I let the bearcat idle for a few more minutes and shut it of. And when I went to restart it, it wouldn't start. The only way I could start it was giving full throttle, and turning the key... it started this way... but as soon as I released the throttle, the bearcat would die. Eventually I got it going, same method as above, hopped on the bearcat and drove off. Now here's where another wierd thing happened. The bearcat was very peppy... and sounded funny (didn't sound right) I would just touch the throttle and it would go as if I was giving it half throttle. After about 5 minutes of riding, the bearcat when back to it's normal state and the throttle controls worked as normal. Any clues why it did this? And why it didn't move after packing my gear?
Depending on the Sea-Foam type, it is probably the same thing. SeaFoam company makes a product that is identical to ISO-Heet.
Yes, they are both anti-freeze to put in the gas. What they really do is melt the ice and then break apart the water molecules so they can pass through the system.
ISO Heet is 99% isopropanol (iso-propyl alcohol) and is mostly really good at absorbing water. The water/alcohol then is moved through the fuel system and burned with the gasoline. If you are using fuel with 10% alcohol in it, I would avoid using isopropanol, as too much alcohol in the fuel can be a bad thing. Concentrations of alcohol above 10% are especially not good for 2-stroke engines. Water and alcohol in the fuel can also result in phase separation, which drops the water/alcohol mix out of suspension and you end up with the separated alcohol/water on the bottom of the fuel tank. Your sled won't run on it, and that can lead to all sorts of other problems.
If you have significant water in your fuel, the best thing would be to remove the gasoline and completely drain the tank. Then figure out how it's getting in there and prevent it from getting in the tank in the first place. That could be the hard part...
I used the seam foam that has read writing - it stabalizes the fuel and cleans stuff - should I still use heet? It's fresh gas, I drained the tank last year - well siphoned the old gas out... I don't think I have significant water build up in the tank.
I also notice my machine idles around 1600 rpm, and often times after idling for a few minutes it drops below 1000 rpm... again it's fresh gas, with just seafoam.
Do you have any buddies that know sleds? Most will be happy to help out. You may just have to provide some beer and/or pizza. Still cheaper than the dealer.
It happened again today. I went to take the sled of the trailer it would not move. I jacked up the back end so the track would be of the ground. I tried moving the track with my hand it would not move. I let it idle for maybe 30 minutes to if something was frozen and that maybe it would melt. Still the track didn't move. Went in the house for a few hours, went back out side to see the sled track moved, started it up and the track moved. Any ideas? should I bring it, or was something frozen? The sled has less then 200 miles on it.
Ways to troubleshoot. First, what is the temp outside?
You did the first thing, see if the track can move when it is off the ground. Answer was no.
So the next thing to check is the jackshaft. Can you move the secondary clutch by hand at all? It should have a little bit of play in it.
I don't know how the chain tensioner works on a BearCat, but maybe the chain is not adjusted properly (way to tight or to loose?) Causing a binding in the chain? But you should be able to rock the jackshaft back and forth to free that up temporarily.
Is there ice being built up in the tunnel and it is binding the track? Try driving in reverse first. Any ice should fall out. I do this with my machine when I don't part it in a warm garage. Got in the habit because my old Summit would build up ice and it would grind hard, sounding like someone was taking a chainsaw to the tunnel. That old Summit didn't have reverse, so I had to pull it backwards about 4'
Did it warm up outside in the hour you went back inside?
I ask, because at -20F, tracks get pretty stiff. I know at anything less than 10F, my old Summit and Touring need to be lifted or tilted to get the track moving first.
You said you lifted it and the track still didn't move. Did it move at all? Even a few inches will make a difference. Does the BearCat have a low gear? You might try low gear to get it moving.
My Summit will not move at all at temps 10F and colder unless I do lift it and turn the track. I usually just bump the throttle enough to engage the clutch and keep doing it until the track moves freely. Once it is moving freely, let it spin for about 10 seconds to really loosen it up.
Tracks are rubber, rubber gets hard. Track is going around a sprocket making a sharp turn, so it takes a bit to overcome that.
Thanks for all the tips, I will use them wisely next time my track acts up again. Yes it warmed up a bit. But what I did was like you did bump the throttle a bit, and the secondary clutch would jerk a little, and then eventually it got loose.
Thanks guys.
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