Out of curiousity - Snowmobile Forum: Your #1 Snowmobile Forum

dbiron · 12-14-2012, 04:37 PM

Has anyone owned a Indry Trail Touring 550, around or near the year 200 model. Just curious how much life those engines have... an approximated amount of miles?

Thanks

dhridenh · 12-14-2012, 04:53 PM

umm i dont have the 550 but i have seen some with 9k on them never rebuilt tho i got a 488 fan in my indy trail and that has 11k on it and still runs like a top

ZRTEETH · 12-14-2012, 06:43 PM

Yeah I've seen a few of them with lots of miles and no trouble. A friend of a friend owns a sled shop and rents those 550's out. He said he uses them because you can't kill em.

Ultrafrozen · 12-15-2012, 12:03 PM

There were some years with serious piston issues, lots of info on the web. Verify before you buy.

mrholmquist · 12-15-2012, 05:23 PM

yep some 550 fanners had huge overheat issues which Polaris never really rectified. As stated above lots of info on net. do some reading I am not sure which years were affected but I thought it was around 2000.

the 550 was a completely different animal than the 488. The 488 was bulletproof.

http://www.snowestonline.com/forum/a.../t-193765.html

http://www.snowmobileworld.com/forum...p/t-58570.html

http://cs.amsnow.com/sno/manufacture...6/t/51246.aspx

http://www.snowmobileworld.com/forum...ad.php?t=73815

Polaris55094 · 12-15-2012, 09:34 PM

The 550 was a problem from 2004 to about 2006ish so 2000 you are good

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mrholmquist · 12-15-2012, 10:12 PM

The last three links I have posted above are written by people describing multiple failures of these engines on machines which have been manufactured prior to 2004. Apparently after 2006 Polaris began using nickasil cylinders which seemed to improve the situation to some level.

From what I read online I would not be so quick to say that the 2000 model was reliable. In fact it sounds like the opposite.

polaristech · 12-16-2012, 02:30 AM

Seen some early 2000's with 4000-6000 miles and still sounding good. Depends how they were treated and overall sled Condition looking good.

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**RJ Gleason** · 12-16-2012, 05:09 AM

The main problem was oil line routing.
The line was too close to heat and the line either melted or the oil boiled, either of which caused a seize.
Longer lines routed farther away from the engine seemed to solve the problem.

Polaris55094 · 12-16-2012, 09:32 PM

Synthetic oil might help

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dbiron · 12-17-2012, 09:26 PM

Appreciate the comments... seems to be 50/50 on how good the machine is. I have had mine for three years... it's in top shape... i only put about 300 miles on it a year. Currently it has 3800 miles on it.

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cvanmarter · 12-18-2012, 05:47 PM

I too have heard bad things about the fanners. I was in the market for the same sled but Liquid 500 - 600 and had a real tough time finding one, well at least finding one I could afford. Personaly I've always had the notion that if you take care of it and don't beat the ever living crap out of any motor it should last.