How do I summarize a carb sled and an EFI Sled - Snowmobile Forum: Your #1 Snowmobile Forum

jkust · 05-29-2008, 01:00 PM

Hi all. I am summarizing my sleds for the first time since buying last December.

I have a ZR 600 EFI and a Ski Doo 583 Carb both stored on a Floe trailer in my garage.

Other than oil in the cylinders of the EFI what other things need to be done?
Do you fog an EFI sled?

Same question with the carb sled but how the heck do you fog a sled? The manual completely ignores storage directions.

Lastly, is it really necessary to lift the rear end of these sleds when on a trailer...it would be tough to do that on a trailer with almost no space.

Thanks,
-Jason

BC_Dan · 05-29-2008, 08:18 PM

Fogging an engine introduces fogging oil through the carb or the air horns into the crankcase, coating the lower end of the crankshaft, the connecting rod/bearings, and the main bearings. If you do not periodically start the sled about once a month, fogging is a good way to keep from rusting the crank. Fogging oil is very sticky stuff and is designed to stick to vertical surfaces over time, ensuring no water/condensation can react to the metal and cause rust.

Lifting the back of the sled relaxes the rear suspension springs and gives the springs longer life. If you have minimal space, you can accomplish the same goal by taking the pressure off of the rear springs and relaxing the rear suspension. You will have to have something to keep the back of the sled from coming into contact with the track all summer. It's not a bad idea to keep the track up off of any surface as well. Tracks on a surface will attract condensation and can promote deterioration over time. Longer lug tracks also will develop a set in the lugs if they sit all summer, as well.

For the carb sled, after fogging, I would drain all the gas out of the tank and carbs. Any fuel in the carbs left over the summer will be really nasty by the time winter comes. For the EFI, add some Stabil in the tank, run the engine until you have ensured Stabil is in the fuel rails, then fog it. Then drain the fuel tank. Because there is little oxygenation of the fuel in the rails, it does not present as much of a problem for evaporation/varnish buildup as a carb sled will.

Make sure you grease all the fittings, especially the driveline and jackshaft bearings. I also remove the chaincase cover to check the gears, and refill with fresh fluid. Removing the belt will also give the belt a little longer life as well.

An alternative to fogging is to run 'em once a month up to operating temperature. The bad thing about doing that is the gas in the tank is 5-6 months old by the time you are using it. Stabil works ok, but even Stabil wont' keep gas fresh forever. If you run 'em instead of fogging, you may want to consider draining the old gas, even if it has Stabil in it, just as a precaution.

jkust · 05-30-2008, 09:50 AM

BC Dan, thank you for the info. As for fogging the EFI sled...what would I actually do to accomplish this? I understand for a carb version, you remove the rubber boot and spray the stuff into the carb until the engine smokes...but I don't recall the EFI sled having a similar set up to spray into.

Thanks,

-Jason

BC_Dan · 05-30-2008, 10:26 AM

You should be able to remove the airbox from the carbs and from the EFI air horns to allow access for the fogging oil tube. Not sure how you remove the air box on your 600, on a 1995 ZR 580 I had, the airbox came off with force. Getting it back on was a PITA! You have to make SURE the rubber is all the way around the air horns when it goes back on. Some are easier than others. What year is yours? If you don't have a book, there are online parts diagrams so you can see how things go together.

Alpha Sports - Arctic Cat Snowmobile Catalog

This is one place to look...

Dan

jkust · 05-30-2008, 10:49 AM

Mine is the 98 ZR 600 EFI LE. I was thinking of skipping the fogging step but now I realize I really need to just figure it out on both sleds. I really need to get more familiar with the machines. I got lucky this season as the only thing to break was the speedo cable due to the hood kinking it where it bends. I can say that I like the EFI over the carb any day though. I wished all sleds moved to carb in the 90's.

-Jason

BC_Dan · 05-30-2008, 04:49 PM

If you don't like puttering and adjusting and trying to tweak the most out of the engine possible, EFI is awesome. Fuel, oil, go. My new sled is EFI, two pulls and it's running, almost every time. You spend more time riding and less time playing mechanic! Sounds like you had a great year if all you had to replace was the speedometer cable!