[GreenTeamArctic-5]

day started great... my parents decided to let me have my f-5 a day early so i could ride today. headed out- little ways down the trail my dad's drive shaft in his zr 600 breaks so we end up towing that back home (luckily we weren't far from home). we get home and he takes out the z 440 so we can ride. on the way back home with about 43 miles i can feel my sled start to lose power and i let off and the friggin thing dies right there...no temp or check engine lights at all. it was dark so i would of noticed any lights that came on. open the hood to check it out and had to wait for the smoke to clear first, checked the coolant bottle not a single drop in it. it must have sprung a leak under the running boards because there was no sign of fluid in the engine compartment. . tried starting it back up and the recoil wouldnt pull an inch- seized right up! ended up towing it back out with the trusty z! a guy we met on the trail said... "now u can go get a ski-doo..." im thinking at this point it wouldnt be a bad idea.

i'll keep you all updated on this-we are bringin both sleds to the shop thurs.

before all of this started happening, i lined up against the zr 600 and beat him all 3 times. by about maybe 6 lenghts. but now neither of us will be riding! the thing was sure fast though and handled great... for the 43 miles it did run

 

[F7TimmyF7]

So did ya even attempt to break it in before ya pinned it?

 

[GreenTeamArctic-5]

umm, did i mention i didnt pin it. we were doing easy trail riding so this wouldnt happen. about 30-40 mph

 

[zl5600]

Yet you raced the zr. How? who could get to 30-40 first? FYI. Break in means take it easy. Check things over once in a while. Never had a sled that did not need something added. (Like coolant) First hundred miles or so you know. Blows my mind away!

 

[CatMan2]

Did You tow the ZR with Your F-5???????

 

[likkerpig]

I wish my parents would've bought ME an F5 (or any snowmobile, for that matter). You're one lucky kid to have parents that can afford that for you. I can understand and respect your frustration, but knowing about all of the problems with the F's thus far, you should've been checking that thing every mile or 2. I know I did when I broke my 7 in.

 

[GreenTeamArctic-5]

we did stop every 4 or 5 miles to check over everythin... coolant, oil. everythin was fine. even rode around town to get the premix out of it first. like i said only ran the zr 3 times... that wouldnt of made the coolant leak out sorry :wacko: . dealer said that he burped it before the sled left his dealership-must have had one last air bubble! and when we asked about that he said that we wouldnt have to burp it again. anyways..... we are picking it up tomorrow, one of the pistons was fried and me stopping right off saved the other one but he's replacing both of them.

 

[catmastertech5]

Its too bad that air can get trapped in antifreeze like that. It can happen to any brand, to any dealer,and any customer, its just an unavoidable thing that happens. As far as break-in though, ride it like you stole it. I dont mean hold it open though, just vary the throttle all over the range. Babying a new engine is one of the hardest things that you can do to it. This guy did right for trail riding and running his dads 600, just so he didnt do it for a mile or two.

 

[CCC Sniper]

before all of this started happening, i lined up against the zr 600 and beat him all 3 times. by about maybe 6 lenghts



hmmmm, ahead by 6 lenghts, we know the zr was pinned..... nice break in kid

 

[Catatonic]

Running at WOT isnt gonna make all the coolant mysteriously dissapear.....as long as its not a super long un wide open with 30 or so miles on the sled isnt a bad thing.

 

[Oh Canada]

Cmon people. Back off the kid a bit. Running it wide open for a short period of time will not cause the sled to run out of anti freeze. GOOD GRIEF!
I agree with the ride it like you stole it statement. Every new sled I have ever owned gets broke in 500ft at a time. Never, ever had a problem.

Sorry to hear about your bad luck. Hopefully they will rectify the problem and you will have many many trouble free and happy miles ahead of you!

 

[ryan001]

I broke my f5 in driving hard but not WOT for long periods. I have 730 miles and not a problem yet! My pull cord is hardly frayed even

 

[CCC Sniper]

Yea i broke mine in as if i stole it also... i have on all my sleds BUT just by reading that post, makes me wonder.... alot of the cat problems i seen are person related and not sled related, like i posted earlier... the only melt down in my town was a guy wot while engine was at 11 degrees Celcius....

Bah either way i hope it all works out for us in the end

some glad i got the 4 year warranty though

 

[GreenTeamArctic-5]

geez u guys must think i was running the sled against the zr for miles at a time... it was only for i'd say about 600 feet for those 3 times. then we would stop and let it cool and check everything. the dealer even stated that there had been one more air bubble in the line

 

[F7&5]

I think if you baby it for the first 500 mi. without runing all ranges of throttle the rings will not be seatted correctly and you will have troubles later on. Arctic cat should have taken care of all problems before selling to the public.These sleds were pushed out the door before they were ready. Im trading in for new ones in 2004 and try again.