[ARCHIVED THREAD] - I HATE POLARIS!!!!!! (Page 1 of 2)
Posted: 10/14/2006 8:46:12 PM EDT
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My dad just got back from his supposed-to-be 5 day four wheeling trip up to canada, the first day it overheated, they thought they had it fixed, and it overheated again an hour into the trip again..... so he's pretty much decided he's gonna trade them in for something else.. ETA: This isn't the first time we've had Polaris's overheat. we had 2 stolen, a 500 and an 800. we had heat shield and stuff put on the 8 and that sorta helped, but the 500 overheated a lot..... And the one he has now is a 2006 700 EFI <RANT OFF> Anyone got any suggestions? we were kinda thinking BRP/Can-Am. |
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My friends and I make a yearly run from TX up to the Salida area of Colorado for some riding across the divide. Until this year, we have always had at least one Polaris that went on the trip. We have NEVER made a trip with a Polaris that we didn't have to work on on the trail. Racks falling off...swingarms falling off...driveshafts falling off/out. Honda...they are just well engineered. We just don't have trouble with them. We don't have any problems out of Yammies and Suzikis either. We did take a John Deere/Bombardier that has never given any trouble before that had to have the fan switch rigged to keep it cool this year...oh well... |
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The 2006 Honda Rincon is really an excellent quad. 680, fuel injection, 4 wheel independent suspension. It reallys hauls prety good. Only weighs 600lbs. We just got back last night from the Kermit dunes, and my friend took the Rincon. It did really well there, even. It had plenty of power to jet around in the sand bowls and up and down the hills. Handled pretty nice for a quad that big in the sand. Another buddy has a 2006 Suzuki King Quad. It is a 700 comparable to the Rincon. Good quad with no problems so far. |
LOL No! Let me tell you how good Honda's are My father gave me his 13 yearold Honda 4 Cycle Rotortiller. It ran, but kinda limped along. So I figured at the end of of the season I would clean her up. Anyway everything on it was original, even the original oil and original grease in the tillers transmission. When I dumped out the oil it was grey water, when I pumped out the grease it was grey water. After I got done cleaning out the carb, and fuel filter, changed the oil and the grease in the tranny it ran like raped ape. Imagine that though? A 13 yearold piece of equipment with the original break-in oil and the engine still ran? Amazing. |
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I've never ridden anything other than Polaris. They are very maintenance intensive, but when they are taken care of they outrun everything else out there. If you don't like keeping up the maintenance then get something else. I prefer the superior suspension, ground clearance, and power of the Polaris. However, I have to put many hours into cleaning, lubing, inspection, etc... to keep it running well. Honda does make a reliable machine, though I don't think it can go where a Polaris can go. YMMV |
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My Yamaha Kodiak has been excellent so far with almost 1000 miles on her since 05. The guys I run with are Polaris fans and if taken care of will run great also. However, the Polaris seems to end up in the shop more times than others and I have seen a few minor trail problems with them. The comments on Honda are correct they build a near bullet proof ATV. However, just like their cars sometimes their ATV's are a bit behind the technology curve. Honda usually waits to work any bugs out before they go to market with something new which is a plus when basing your reputation on quality. The Honda also lacks some speed with its utility ATV's and a decent engine brake. |
I've had a lot of problems with their small mowers. To this day I will not buy a Honda brand mower. Their cars on the otherhand - working in a Honda salvage yard I saw some cars come in with several hundred thousand miles on the engine and still smooth as silk. |
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Wow... I've owned Polarises for almost 10 years, they've never let me down. The only time I ever saw one overheat was when it was buried in mud and the radiator plugged. Something that would happen to any water cooled vehicle in that sitation. In fact of all the trail riding I've done, I've never seen any brand of ATV perform any better or worse than any other. It makes one wonder what you people do to these things. In any case, I'd love to have an MV7 |
I know you're all saying it's just because we didn't clean them out, but they did, they took them back, pressure washed them, and went out on just trail riding, very little mud, and it overheated in an hour, and that's like 30 degree weather w/ 2 feet of snow in canada. So i think we're probly gonna go w/ a Can-Am, they guide said some of the honda's he'd guided overheated too.... maybe it's just a problem all quads have. |
Here's the angry customer email i just sent them:
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Pressure washing isn't going to clean out a plugged radiator, at least not on a Polaris. There's too much grill in front of the radiator to protect it. You have to tear down the front grill to get to the radiator to actually clean mud out of it. I drive my 500HO in 100 degree hot Minnesota summer days, never had a problem with any over heating. I hate to say this, but if you've had that much problem with Polarises over heating, it is YOU who is doing something wrong. If you are mudding them, or driving them in heavy snow, or going long periods at slow speed, you need to be in LOW gear so you get the engine RPMs up so it can cool itself. |
| I have an MV7 and it totally rocks. Not the fastest machine but has power from hell and you can load a small family on it. My friend has a Sportsman 500 and has beat the holy hell out of it, it never quits! The Polaris are much more comfortable to ride than the Hondas too, but I admit the Honda would be my second choice. |
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What about the new Yamaha with Power steering... But anyways the problem with polaris is usually caused by the fine mesh covering the radiator getting clogged, like with grass driving through fields or mud, I would think itd do better without it, or perhaps with some kind of air scoops to get more cooling. I know some people who rigged the fan motor to blow constantly when the key is on... Just a thought there. |
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You might check out Annyeonghi Kaseyo brand ATVs. They've only been around a short time. They are made in Korea and have been used there for years by rural people whose equipment must not fail. A unique feature is that the drive wheel is not one of the normal four; rather, it is a fifth wheel located in the center of the vehicle. The rider/driver sits directly above it to add weight. The engine will run on anything flammable and liquid. They use oxen power as a unite of measure....The most basic model produces 17 OP at the middle wheel with 143 hoof pound (HP) of torque. Steering is with your knees. You push the fifth wheel, (which protrrudes through the vehicle into the rider/driver's compartment), with your knees in the direction you want it to turn. You also pretty much brake with your knees squeezing the same wheel. A deaf-mute guy around here has one. Not sure how he likes it. |
Sorry, i know i won't convince the old man to get that one... lol |
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Polaris 500 sportsman here, 2005 model with a carb. Bought barely used and I admit I have not used it that much since I got it. A friend bought a 500 honda recently, he got his new. It is their utility model and has an automatic clutch on it, I don't know the specific model or info on it though. The polaris with the independant rear suspension rides better than the honda with a solid axle. My polaris has the automatic so it is stupid easy to drive. I kind of like that fact since it makes coming down steep hills of loose rock pretty darn simple. I recomend you pull the protective stuff off the polaris and see if the way you are washing it is acceptable to keep it cleaned or not. I think you will have to do this in order to see if the problem is polaris or you. Mine has no problems with overheating and I idle it and run at low speeds a reasonable amount, but as mentioned by someone else I use low when doing low speed stuff. |
we have it in high all the time unless it's serious trail riding in mud and goin down hills, so that may be a problem, but i would think polaris could fix that... still no response from my email, but i spose they don't check it on sunday.......... |
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Up here on my mountain ridge there are about 5 Polaris four wheelers and a few others, Arctic Cat, Honda. The Polaris are the ones that get ridden every day. I ride my Polaris 400 Sportsman every day. We all ride our four wheelers pretty hard. The last time I saw a 4wheeler break down was last winter in some deep snow back in the woods. It was my neighbors brothers Honda. The piston siezed to the engine block. We ended up pulling it back to the farm with the Kubota. One of my neighbors has an MV7, and it has a ton of power. It's not very fast through woods for a few different reasons like weight. It was made to go flat out over wide open spaces. The run flat tires rock, but the racks kind of suck. If you give it some room, that thing can really really move. I love the ride on a Polaris, and they have lots of power. Head to head, the Polaris 500HO will smoke a Honda 500. We tried it, and the Polaris is faster. The only thing I have seen go wrong on a Polaris to date is needing a belt replaced. That happens, and they are cheap to replace. Easy fix, no big deal. The Honda drive shaft is pretty cool though for the reason that you don't have to replace belts. Our Polaris's get used and abused every day, and I can't think of a single complaint from anyone that owns one regarding mechanical issues. That said, the Hondas are really mechanically sound. They are built like tanks. I would not hesitate to recomend one to somebody. I just prefer the Polaris. |
I have no idea.... doubt it, it wasn't that big of a pressure washer anyways..... |
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Normally a radiator has big enough fins they don't bend over easily. Air conditioning condensors in the front of cars and trucks are super easy to bend over with the car wash spray guns and those are low powered pressure washers. I have not pulled mine apart enough to look at the radiator itself. I was amused it had a little symbol come on telling me it was time to change the oil and what not. Time to find the local polaris dealer and check the manual again so I know exactly what I need to buy. Oh, someone talked about the polaris H.O. being more powerful than the honda. I personally don't feel that big a difference but the guy in my above post with the honda 500 said my polaris has way more power. To some extent I think my "extra" power might just be from the automatic if I have a torque convertor or something like that. I don't know what sort of "automatic" polaris uses. And like I said I don't notice the difference in power, but then I also don't try to use every single bit of power these things happen to have. I still say you need to pull the polaris apart and look at it. To some extent if you are using water to move mud and grass and stuff from the outer gaurds to the inner gaurds and radiator fins you may have almost a cement like build up on the radiator and it will be tough to get that off without hurting the radiator. |