Went to a dealer (who is NOT my regular dealer) near my place yesterday. I asked if they had solved the 600 ring issue yet. He looked straight at me and said, " That was fixed on the 04's, the 03's were the only sleds having that problem. The coating was flaking off and the 04's have a new coating." Damn that's sad. This guy was either clueless or deceitful. :banghead:



If I didn't know any better and were somewhat new to sledding I would have believed him. This is the kind of information the average sledder is dealing with.


I'm glad to be a member of HCS and know enough to deal with responsible dealers that know their equipment like HCS Supporters; Garneau's in NH.

This is the problem with some of the dealers that are out there. They are full of B.S and take advantage of the unknowing customer.

It's not just the dealer. The rep for this area played clueless when I questioned him as well and claimed there was no problem and to date Doo had seen less than a handfull of engine problems with the H.O.'s and SDI's. Personaly I think he smokes crack but thats just my opinion.

i talked with jason houle @ STRAIGHTLINE PERFORMANCE last week, he told me the 05 600ho rings are now chrome based and will fit 03 and newer 600ho pistons

I guess we'll know by the end of this season whether this solves the problem. I'm waiting to see what Doo says on this question.

like ive said before, dealers will say if it'll run its runnin fine, next customer.

i spoke with jason houle last week also. he has rings from skidoo that are chrome based. he also has his own rings that are all chrome. i purchased his rings. at this time i don`t believe i have a problem yet, but i`m not taking any chances. his rings are cheaper than doos and should be stronger. he is very helpfull and a pleasure to del with

Who is jason houle?

I still don't know what to beleive on this ring flake. My question is will Doo cover it under their warranty? Anyone have an experience with that.

I believe what I see............... and both Rob and Saguenay Bill's rings blew on their 600 SDI's. These guys put on some serious miles and are sensible riders. For them to both have their rings go, indicates to me Skidoo has a REAL problem.

If your sled is under warranty they will cover it if you have a problem, just call your dealer and they should confirm this.

Anyone have an experience of having if Ski Doo replace the rings under warranty before they blow? I'd hate to waste part of the season waitin for repairs when I could get er dun now.

Usually you would have to have some symptoms, poor compression test or leakdown test, not going into reverse, etc..........

05 600 HO and 600 sdi regular production run sleds now reportedly have new rings, pistons and cylinders?

yep!!! took my sle din to get the cranck seal checked because it was leaking and they replaced the rings too because they were showing signs of a very slight flaking on one ring so they done both..

Brought my '04 600HO into the dealer for a pre-season checkup a week ago.

He just called me and said your sled is ready ...and oh ya, we replaced the rings, the compression was a little low, and they showed some signs of flaking.

Covered under warrantee

dealership in town acted clueless on the situation of ring problems

Dec 04 issue of American Snowmobiler

There's a small arcticle on last minute improvements for reliability to Doo sleds for 05. For engines 800HO getting new chrome ceramic rings, and the 600HO and 600SDI HO will get new cylinders, pistons and chrome nitrate piston rings.
Hopefully this ends the ring problems..for the new sleds at least.

time to find a new dealer if he is clueless

My dealer didn't have any knowledge of any bulletins from BRP on the revisions to rings, pistons, etc on the 05's either. So far from what I've read, it's mostly the magazines making the statement that they made changes to the regular production run of sleds for 05. I hope it's true, and all is good, cause i just picked up my 05 gade 600sdi yesterday.

Quick way to check your rings according to Bill Cudney is to use a compression tester ( a leak down test is better but we're talking quick and dirty here) start your sled for 10 sec shut down and check compression. I think you need a 14mm screw in connector on the gauge. This is your cold reading......... PTO and MAG should be within 5 lbs of each other.

Start your sled and warm until the heat exchangers are warm (5 min or so, under the seat will be warm to touch) PTO and MAG cylinders should remain within 5lbs of each other and within 5lbs of cold reading. Any compression tester that screws into the spark plug chamber will do as you are looking for consistent relative values not necessarily and accurate reading.

I know this topic is kind of old news, but I had my rings, on my 03 600 HO, replaced before they were really bad. In fact the compression was still very good, but after reading the forums here, I went ahead and removed the exhaust valve and looked in there myself and I could see that the moly was flaking off. In fact there was very little left in the area that I could see. I only had 1650 miles. I took it into the dealer and I told them that they were bad and they said that they would look at them and would charge me for the tear down if I was wrong. I wasn't and they replaced them with the 05 chrome nitrite ones under warranty. In my case the head of service and the mechanic was clueless and this is one the biggest dealerships in MN. At least that is what they claim. The mechanic told me that 03 was the only year that they used those type of rings. Please, (with sarcasm) skidoo has been using moly rings forever. My 87 formula Plus had moly rings in it. The service guys at the counter just looked at me funny, after they said no, when I asked them if they have been replacing a lot of rings on the REV's. I don't want to sound like a downer, I believe that every 600 HO has this problem, whether you know it or not. It is not a serious problem that will cause your engine to suddenly blow up, but it is there. I looked at a 600 HO with about 4000 miles on it. It still ran good, but was down on power. I could pull it anytime with mine. The moly was practically gone and the ring showed a lot of wear. So, will this new chrome nitrite fix everything? Time will tell, but I have my doubts. I don't think that skidoo would have gone to the trouble of designing new cylinders, pistons and rings for the 05, if all it would have taken to fix the problem was a new set of rings. It is good that skidoo did fix the problems with the 05's I just wonder if they are going to do the right thing with the 03 and 04 models.

Hello All
Well not a happy camper here at all... Purchased New 2004 600SDI HO Legent GT purchased in Dec o3----Ran 800 miles in 2004--- then pre season check in Dec 04-re start of 2005 season-asked dealer about ring issue---told only an issue on o3 therfore i should not worry--not much snow in o5 ran another 800 miles...now Mar 06 first run of year --17 miles on trail and engine melt down on one cylinder --air leak they say--sorry BRP and dealer will do nothing...$2500 replace cylinder/piston......Customer focus "sucks" with dealer and BRP --will get fixeed and back to Polarios for me...They gave me run around on all issues --plugs fowling up ,back firing etc---still they did not say the 04 had old rings but had new chrome ones!! Who can one believe..At least Polarios dealer wants your business and will stand behind product with 3 year engine warinty.......

SO BUYER BE AWARE--ANY ONE IN THE ST>JOHN's NL AREA
Wanting to purchase from the one and only skido dealer well """"Bonne Chance"""

Any one have any comments????

I guess that explaines all the guys from st. johns comming over here to buy sleds .All I can say is RAPID POWER SPORTS. they have taken care of me and my sled for 3 years and without a single dollar out of my pocket.. had a rattle out of mine this year and brought it up for a check up.. Strange rattle in midrange , but couldn't find a cause . They took a look and seems the spring that holds the bendex on the starter gets weak and it contacts the flywheel from time to time.....well over the counter came a spring and a don't worry about it. All sleds have their troubles and so do dealerships. I hope polaris treats you well . just don't make conclusions on a product because of a bad dealer.

P.S....sounds like your issue is a storage problem ..but I guess from st. john's its stored more than it's not . Sorry for the dig but shit man preseason check should include a compression test and that gives away the ring issue long before it turns into a cylinder issue. Good luck with the polaris and your dealer. Come over here and get some miles on her , it will do you and the sled some good. :beerchug:

a preseason check does not include a compression check.
maybe with a ski doo it does.
:no_bashing: :no_bashing:

ACUALLY, NOT A BAD IDEA! :div20:
My preseason check will include a compression test from
here in because that's not a bad way to monitor some
engine problems. Most of the times we check it when
it's too late. If my buddy would have done this on his
01 800 before he bought it he would have seen the motor
had problems. Thank GOD the dealer helped back it up!!!

RBT700
:div20:

I have yet had any problems with my 05 sounds like but what people are saying the 05 might be resolved however how many miles is it usually when the rings go? I only got around 2300 miles on the sled should I get it checked out.

OIL! :banghead:

is it a 600sdi or 500ss motor? if its the 500ss don't bother there is no ring issue. I would do a compression test on the sdi or the 800s. You can usually notice them going as there is a power loss but for 50 bucks you can buy a tester (get the thread on type not the 1 you hold on) and as mentioned; monitor the psi your motor is pushing - it can save you money and hassles down the road!

rings aren't a big deal $100 for the parts.

over 3,000 on my dads 04 600ho
never replaced the rings

:tease:

in got an o6 600 ho sdi are there any problems with them?

nope

03 and 04 600hos had the problems 05s had some