MY 02 ZR WITH LOW MILES SUFFERED A MAJOR BREAK DOWN THIS WINTER. IN TEARING THE MOTOR DOWN I FOUND THAT THE DOWEL THAT HOLDS THE RINGS IN PLACE CAME OUT ALLOWING THE RING TO ROTATE RESULTING IN ENGINE FAILURE. I ALSO RECEIVED THE SAME OPINOIN FROM MECHANICS FROM TWO DIFFERENT DEALERSHIPS. ANYWAY, I FIXED THE PROBLEM MYSELF IN THE TUNE OF $900 + DOLLARS AS I WAS IN THE UP AND DID NOT HAVE A CHOICE. I SENT A CERTIFIED LETTER EXPLAINING MY DELMA TO ARCTIC CAT IN WHICH THEY RECEIVED ON 05-20-05.

NOW TO MY QUESTION. WHO HAS SENT AC LETTERS? AND HOW LONG DID IT TAKE FOR THEM TO RESPOND? I DO NOT HAVE A CONTACT PERSON AND FEEL THAT I SHOULD START CALLING THEM AS IT HAS BEEN A MONTH. I KNOW I WILL PROBABLY GET THE "SORRY NOTHING WE CAN DO FOR YA LETTER", BUT I HAVE TO TRY.

Sorry to give ya bad news but 9 chances out of 10 you wont here a word.Even if you call them and leave a message you wont get any answer,even if you do talk too someone from cat theyll tell you to talk to your dealer.

I FIGURED THAT MIGHT HAPPEN. I AM READY TO GO INTO HARRASSMENT MODE IF I HAVE TO. THEY SHOULD HAVE ENOUGH CURTESY TO GIVE ME A POLITE F-OFF LETTER AT LEAST.

It is too bad the dealer you dealt with on your trip didn't step up and try to get a warranty claim on all, or part of your repair. I had a similar experience with ring locator pin failure. I had rebuilt my top end one spring after an air leak took out a piston. The next winter on my first ride the rings turned on both pistons and took out one cylinder as well. There was only 2 - 300 miles on the pistons, and it was a known problem with certain pistons, so I got pistons, one cylinder and gaskets and wrist pins, etc., all paid for by Cat. This was with my dealer, however, and he is real good. If it didn't go through a dealer as a warranty inquiry, or claim, then you will not likely here from Cat. Try talking to your dealer and see if he can speak to the regional factory rep about your situation, maybe they will acknowledge you, but don't look for any reimbursement.

is your zr a 600? That is a common problem. If you talk to the right person at cat nicely they will help you out. My dad was able to get his 00 zr pistons warrantied with 4500 miles on the sled. We have found ac pistons usually last about 3500 miles at the most and wisecos last just under 5000. So make sure you do the top end again on that sled in 3000 miles.

When it comes to warranty, alot of that is in your dealers hand as to weather or not the want to take the time and effort to try to get Arctic to cover it. Up until last year I worked for a local dealer and part of my job was doing warranty claims and if you bought it new in 01-02 with a 1yr. warranty then they probably wouldn't of done anything for you anyway. Flash7192 is right you most likely won't see or hear anything from them. They want you to deal directly with the dealers. When you hear about other people getting things warrantied that are out of warranty, more than liklely that was the dealer pulling strings of his own to get it resovled, not so much Cat doing anything extra. Trust me I know how this works. Good luck

It really pisses me off that Arctic Cat will not respod to peoples letters. That just shows that they dont care. Even a letter back from Arctic Cat to acknowlege that you have an issue would be nice. Does Arctic Cat think they are to big for the little consumer? I am more angry about not receiving a responce than if they did not want to help me. It has been over a month with no e-mail, no phone call, or no letter, from AC. Probably they think they have enough customers that they can afford to lose several before it will hurt them. I am going to talk to my local dealer to see if they can give me a contact name for starters and go from there.
I have only owned cats and have really enjoyed them. I never thought that I would even consider buying another make, but this is really tempting me.

Have you tried calling information to see if you can get a phone # for them. The dealer does'nt have a customer # to give out anymore. They did away with that a couple of years ago. Your letter probably never made it past the receptionist desk. but then again I'm sure your not the first to send them a letter reguarding some type of problem. Like I said before if you want AC to know about this then have your dealer call them while you are there to let them know what happened to your machine. Good luck

I will probably go and talk to someone at my local dealership tomarrow. There is nothing I can do until Monday now.

Keep after them. My brother sent them many letters before they responded on the brakes for his 4-wheeler. Now the engineers are coming to take his 4-wheeler for a ride.

I sent a letter to AC a while back telling them not to put the ZR name to rest. I didn't really expect a response, but I did get a model brochure in the mail some time later. I still hope they don't do it, but I've heard they're replacing the ZR 900 with an F9 from a lot of people.

Talked to one of the employees from my dealer on Friday and explained my dilema to him. He told me that if I did not hear from AC by the middle of next week, he would make some calls for me. Well to my suprise, I ran into him again today. He told me that he called and spoke to a District Sales Rep who has some pull. He explained the situation to him and was told to have me contact him if I do not hear from AC by the middle of next week.

I guess I am further ahead than I was before. Things may be looking up.

I have had great luck in canada, anytime i needed to know something i called the cat rep in BC (for canada) and he returned my calls every time

Good luck....

Cat has had many problems with piston ring locating pin failure in the past and have done nothing about it. I even had new pistons that did it in 300 miles. I was told since they were not dealer installed there is not even a warranty on the piston, never mind the rest of the damage.

You will get notta, nothing, zero from Cat, that is just one more reason why Cat will never be number 1.

What dealer Big Cat? It's good to know there is a dealer that will step up like this. I would like to know when I'm ready for a new sled. That way I know I'm dealing with a reputable dealer.

That is your dealer, not Cat. I had a similar situation to what you described. I installed new pistons near end of the season, go them well broken in before snow disappeared. First ride of the following winter lost one side 120 miles into a 122 mile ride. I was covered for two new pistons, one new cylinder, piston pins, pin bearings, gasket kit, etc., etc. That kind of support makes Cat No. 1 in my book. My dealer is great.

You installed the pistons, not the dealer?

Correct. I installed the pistons. The parts were covered and I provided the labour for the replacement parts. The parts failed, it was a known issue with that model, so the parts were covered. The locator pins don't disappear becuase a Cat dealer didn't install them.

I had it happen on 2-580 pistons on my wifes 97 EXT, the first time the engine went down at 4800 miles from skirt breakage, no problem, that's a long time on a set of pistons. I replaced both and 300 miles later down one side went with locator pins pushed in, about 700 miles later so did the other side. Put SPI pistons in and went 3000 miles without a problem. I never buy anything but oem pistons for my sleds but I just couldn't put another cat 580 piston in. Sold the sled with over 8000 miles on it and the current owner has 10,000 on those same SPI pistons.

Dealer said that since I put my own pistons in there is no warranty (not unlike the auto parts industry, they will warrant the part only) and I needed a cylinder each time. I am sure if Cat was warranting it they would have been glad to give me the parts as they do make money on warranty parts. The only other way for the dealer to get warranty is to submit a warranty "scam" claim where they would submit that they did the work on the sled or even put the claim in on another sled that is still under factory warranty. I don't think those scams take place much anymore though.

I am going down to TRF this long weekend including monday, I will find out once and for all if Cat was warranting those pistons. :beerchug: :beerchug:

Thunder, they were warranting those pistons. That was the main piston they had that problem with in the past few years. Your dealer is the one who boned you, not Cat.

Yep, got it from the cats mouth so to say. Arctic was warranting all the 580 pistons and damage with the piston ring locating pin problem. It dosen't matter who installed them. Just goes to show you the nice dealer we have here in Winnipeg. I should have pressed the issue more but with my past dealings with cat they wouldn't cover much. :frech32: :frech32:

Just checking but was tere any grooves in the pistion from the exhaust valve, 02s seamed to have a problem.

This was a 97 sled, 580, no exhaust valves.