Demoed Phazer towed home

[rx-hi]

Demoed a Phazer from local dealer had 205 miles on it. we put 11 miles on it in just over a foot of powder! It started off great fun in the parking lot and seemed to be running ok. This was the mountain and we were boondocking and putting it threw the paces. I do not think it was running correctly from the start as top speed uphill in powder was 36-38 track speed. After a stop or two it started to sound a little different on top end and seemed under powered. I ride 03 rx-t though, so its going to feel under powered!
About 10 miles up and back on trail it dies in the middle of the trail ( no engine warning-lite though! We get it restarted and it sounds rough maybe just one cylinder or missing bad. We opened up to the air cleaner and it has oil in the side rails of the breather. There was a lot of moisture here as the front was packed with snow we were now in 18" of powder and breaking trail. verey milky due to oil snow melt mix. the breather seemed designed for moisture and oil to keep out of intake by the looks of it.
Remember this is a Demo And I have no experience with mech work with this sled ( I know the four strok as I did my own 03 MC-X rx-1 and it rocks). This was a difficult sled to acces on the trail, if I bought one I would read the manuel and completly acces it in my shop to learn how to access it on the trail. With 0 time working on it it was difficult to do anything to try to make it run. After an 1/2 hour had panels off looked threw the side panels and the throttle bodies were off the intake boots and the clamps appeared loose! we pushed on the breather until they apperaed to pop on. For a short time idoling it appeared to sound beeter but carbs viberated back off. we could not figure out how to access to tighten the clamps as we could not get to the top of the engine! Is there an easy way to do this on the tail? By now the wind had picked up and cold and snowing, and we have an unfamilar sled apart!! we put it back together and start down it goes 100 yards check engine light finally comes on we shut it down and start to tow.
Another problem, the secoundary clutch being different took a bit to get the belt off. it did not want to open to drop the belt down and pull over the clutch. we finally got it over the edge and rolled the sled to work it off the secoundary. It was a lot more work to do than a normal secoundary.
Obviously it was not a good trip! The enginering is awsome on this sled! However the with the compact design you need to learn how to take the sled appart and if somthing goes south it appears to be a lot of work to get to on the trail (shop may be OK!). I do not like the air intake and crank vent toob set up. It needs a catch resavor for the oil breather! It also apears to allow way to mutch moisture to access the air intake in deep powder riding, witch is what we do in the mountains!
I will post what the dealer has to say as to what was wrong. At this time I would not run out and buy one. I am sure when the dealer has it running he will send us out with it again and hopfully it will change my mind! We never rolled the sled, but we did ride as hard as the sled would let us. We were in perfect montain snow conditions to put this sled to the test! If blots were not tight from the dealer a great opertunity was missed as we were a group of 15 brand loyal ridders! The sled turned a lot of heads in the parking lot heading up, at least 100 riders as we went up. Unfortunatly it turned as many when we towed it back!

 

[pat the rat]

i wouldnt worry about that too much,probably a bad dealer set up if the air box wasnt right and the belt is so easy to take off,i dont know why people have a hard time with this,also,i wonder how many other brands get towed back cause of burnt engines and 100 other things

 

[Mars]

I don't see the issue with the belt either.... about 15 seconds for mine.

Let us know what happened there.

 

[donnyrhodes]

sounds rough maybe lust one silander or missing bad.


I am not Buyin the Story Plus I think Its called a Cylinder....

 

[jp@weknowsnow]

i had the milky oil/snow/water mix in my airbox or sometimes still do when its really deep. i think what happens is when the sled is setup it can be over filled with oil. when rolled or tipped to the side this oil can leak into the over flow.,. then into the airbox. sometimes the oil light will go on, then turn off. it hasn't caused me any problems, but it sounds like the setup on your sled wasn't done properly. i usually check my airbox once or twice during a ride, usually when i'm cleaning ice off the running boards..

 

[gabe7924]

The oil overflow is a bad design. If you ever tip it over or roll it, oil pours right into the intake. There must be some sort of breather or one-way valve we could use? Anybody have a suggestion? It seems to just be a breather/overflow tube. It comes from the top of the oil tank right to the airbox intake.

 

[rx-hi]

Jp and Gabe good to hear your replies. Thats what I was thinking. When my 03 rx was stock I fouled the plugs so bad they had to be changed due to the oil in the intake. My first thought was this, with the phazer, but I could not figure out how to access plugs. by looking threw the side pannels we could see the throttle bodies were loose actually off the intake manifolds. I only have 11 miles of experience with the sled, you will have to excuse my ignorance, but how do you get to the plugs?
In regards to the crank case vent on the rx I added hose and made a trap and relocated the filter to stop the problem, Powder Lights made a nice remote trap for this I believe. If there is room this could be done with the phazer. I'am personally supprised this has not been addressed by Yamaha designers!
With the throttle bodies loose, its odvious not the sleds falt but somone forgot to tighten properly! For you who have a phazer is there an easy way to get to the engine, to say change plugs, if needed in the hills ( I know you should, under normal situation, not need to).

 

[redsnake3]

it takes about an hour to get to the plugs, you need to remove the whole panel and i think the gas tank. but they are supposed to be good for thousands of miles without having to be changed.

 

[WINGNUTS]

it takes 15 minutes to get to the plugs, remove seat and tank and thats it, four bolts.

 

[BV1]

After 500 miles I had the oily humidity in the air box too. I cleaned it out. BTW I got the metal air cleaner out the front, but it took some delicate yet forceful plying...

Also, Ive heard of the throttle bodys coming disconnected / unclamped before. Dealer is supposed to check those on setup.

I dont know how to tighten them either,... maybe a good idea to look into it.

-Steve

 

[rx-hi]

Well talked to the mech. at the dealer today to get the skinny on the sled. They finally had some time to look at it. Throttle bodies were off. So how did they come off? They were loose evidently they tighten from the bottem and it is tight so it takes a small screwdriver. This may be why some dealers have missed tightening them.

The mech. said on a previous demo the sled was rolled and oil drained into the air intake. The sled went on another demo and oil was not filled. The sled was almost completly out of oil for the next demo! Has anyone found after rolling most of the oil can drain out? My rx-1 when stalk would empty enough to put the warning light on but was still rideable. The oil in the air intake did foul the plugs in the Phazer, so this means having to change the plugs. The mech. was not happy about getting to the plugs he said about an hour job to go threw the head light and would be difficult to do in the hills.

Now the bad news. When the sled went out with low oil it caused internal damage. This would explain why it just did not seem right and only went 11 miles for us. Could be a crank bearing or valves and cam but the engine is gone! The dealer is to back logged with other sleds to look at it further. So there it will sit till after the season. I'am glad they sent me out with a time bomb! I'am just a bit dissappointed!
So what is your thoughs to these questions:

1: Oil draining when tipped? Enough to take engine out?

2: Fouling plugs due to roll over and oil in intake? Difficulty getting to plugs in this case?

3: the engine warning light never came on til the very end and no engine codes for the mech.

It appears the sled needs a remote resavor to drain back into engine if rolled!

Oviously there are serious dealer issues invollved with these problems, but I will not get to ride it this year. However I due question the sled in these areas so I appreciate your feed back!

 

[gabe7924]

I have rolled my sled a few times. Once it sat upside down for almost 15 minutes. If you look at the tube from the top of the oil tank to the airbox, it has no valve or anything, the oil just pours straight out into the intake. Stupid desing if you ask me. Why cant it be some sort of breather or one way valve? It fills your intake with oil, then fouls flugs. Luckily, I noticed oil dripping from my sled and investigated it. I cant believe the Yamaha guys who demo sleds would not know this. I knew it after my first ride.

 

[Phazed-Coug]

I've rolled twice, and lost about 1/2 quart. try not to roll it on its left side if you can prevent it, doesn't seem to leak out if its on its right side.(or if its cold)

 

[Yellowknife]

every time I've rolled mine, it's been on the right side now that I think about it. My oil level is fine.

I roll it a lot playing in powder. Wasn't aware oil would leak out.

 

[PureBlue]

Does the hose in the air box, vent air from the oil tank, in to the air box. Or does it suck the air from the air box, into the oil tank. If it does'nt suck air in, then maybe the end of the hose could be blocked off. And with a knife, put 2-4 cuts in the tube, to releave the pressure, but to alow the over flow of oil to go back into the tank.