My first two sleds were early 90's wedges with triples, today I bought an '03 600 with 3,300 miles on it. It looks very clean, has about 125 lbs of compression per cylinder, and runs great.

Does anyone have any useful information for me? Things to look at, areas of interest on the sled, known issues? Anything that might be helpful.

Thanks in advance for any info.

Dave

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Over all its a great sled,best bang for the buck in performance!! Inspect your gas filler neck for any cracks,
got a bulliten from polaris on that for my 04,dont know if 03`s were incuded.Never had any other problems with mine and its my second 600{wrecked the first one in an unmarked drainage ditch}
You will love the sled,they haul ass and ride great! :div20:

i have never had a problem with mine, just make sure it has the updated coolant bottle. I think some of the 03s still ended up with the one that warps. Actually mine did and i had to replace it.

How do I tell if the coolant bottle has been replaced? Any tell tale signs?

I guess that the updated ones will turn slightly grey after some use. Take the cap of and look inside and see if the top looks warped or egg shaped. If it is warped, chance are that it is not holding pressure.

How often should the exhaust valves be cleaned? Any issues with them that should be addressed?

I do mine every 1000miles ,very easy,spray with brake cleaner let soak,spray again and
use a scotch brite to rub off the junk{little elbow grease needed}
The odd time you might have to put on new gaskets in case they tear ,maybe $10.00 a set.

These xc sp are very tough sleds, i have the same as you exept mines a 500. Ive put mine threw hell and hasnt caused me any problems ( knock on wood ). I did my valves for the first time last year very worth while doing. i was told that you should do them every year, 1000 miles also sounds like a good time to do them to, depends on how much you ride.

I come from the same sled history....albeit with about 10 or 12 sleds in between.

The XC 6 is a fantastic sled....possibly the best that Polaris has ever built.
They run great bone stock.
They can improve a bit with one or 2 sizes leaner main jet.
Most run 410 safley @ sea level.
If you're not too huge and run @ sea level in hardpack trail conditins 1 or 2 gr of heavier primary clutch weight works well too.
Aside from this their honestly isn't anything to improve on.

The motors have 0 issues. Bulletproof.
Run decent powervalve specific oil.
Clean the valves every 1000 miles or so.
That's it other than the usual dial in things for all sleds like clutch alignment.

You picked a winner for gettin back into sleddin!!

I read that the exhaust valves on certain engines had issues with breaking. Something about them being aluminum. Replacements are made from stainless steel. I think I read that about an 800, but I don't recall right now. Was this a problem with the 600 engines?

I plan to keep the engine stock. I feel that Polaris built it that way for a reason so I have no need to change what they feel works. The clutching and jets are something that can always be changed.

As for being huge... well, my wife tells me that I'm getting kinda think in the middle, but what does she know?!?! I'm 5'8" and about 190#... not a skinny guy, but not huge... at least I don't think so

I can't wait for the snow to fly. After getting the sled and ripping around the lawn a couple times, I know this is going to be a great year.

The 800s were the ones breaking the valves

CB