Sidewinder Problems and Warranty Items.

[74Nitro]

I had this happen in Copper Harbor on a -12 degree morning after I had my 500 mile check up done on the 2018 X-TX SE 141. It blew the silicone gasket on the oil tank. Once it leaked out to the breach it ran like a champ for the next 100 miles.

There were many comments on what it could be, but my buds in Greenland Michigan knew exactly what it was. Bottom line is don't fill the oil to the fill line. If you do, extreme conditions could make it blow the silicone gasket.
Guys on the forum said "you did not let it warm up enough, the roll over valve froze up etc..... I started it up and let it warm up until it shut itself off, twice, so that wasn't the issue. Yamaha at first told us they have never seen the problem before, then they came back with this info and I have been good with 3 oil changes so far.
Hope this helps.

Hmmm. I haven't touched the oil in my 19 yet, and it is exactly at the full line.

 

[Spicoli]

My tank leaked on my maiden voyage. It was -25 when it happened. I removed my roll over valve installed a loop in it's place and have put 1500 miles on the sled with no issues. See Rocker Dan's post it is excellent.

 

[jaydaniels]

I had this happen in Copper Harbor on a -12 degree morning after I had my 500 mile check up done on the 2018 X-TX SE 141. It blew the silicone gasket on the oil tank. Once it leaked out to the breach it ran like a champ for the next 100 miles.

There were many comments on what it could be, but my buds in Greenland Michigan knew exactly what it was. Bottom line is don't fill the oil to the fill line. If you do, extreme conditions could make it blow the silicone gasket.
Guys on the forum said "you did not let it warm up enough, the roll over valve froze up etc..... I started it up and let it warm up until it shut itself off, twice, so that wasn't the issue. Yamaha at first told us they have never seen the problem before, then they came back with this info and I have been good with 3 oil changes so far.
Hope this helps.

The leak is not due to the amount of oil in the tank. It is because the roll over valve freezes and doesn’t allow pressure to vent from the tank. The pressure buildup blows out the seal. Once the seal blows out it will leak regardless of how much oil is in there.

 

[Ironbutt]

I have had a bunch of issues but it's luck of the draw. My dealer told me I'm the only one that he sold that's having issues and Yamaha said they have had very little issues at all. ????


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Mine has spent more time st the dealer than on the trails bBought a used ski doo just to have something to ride. 51 hrs on it and so far: roll over valve casting broke, main and fuel pump relays froze up to the point of having to pull them and warm them in my pocket every time it was shut off for an entire week. Tunnel iced up so severely that it wore a full inch off the edges of my 1.750 lug track! Blew the oil filter o ring(dealer did the oil change not me). Wish Yamaha would buy this lemon back. The good news is if it will start and the ice isn't so severe that it can be ridde, it's a fricken rocket!!! I did change from tuner3 skis to pilot 5.7 and the low speed steering is much better. I'll probably change to Polaris 819 sealed relays to fix that. No fix for the iceing as it's a design flaw because they routed the coolant lines inside the tunnel. Only becomes an issue is sub zero weather but that's what I do.

 

[Scott Stedronsky]

Hmmm. I haven't touched the oil in my 19 yet, and it is exactly at the full line.

Since the initial issue, this has not been a problem.

 

[lilrez]

Turbo done @ 9000kms. Thankfully addressed by Warranty.

 

[Wingwong]

Turbo done @ 9000kms. Thankfully addressed by Warranty.

What tune are you running?

 

[CharlieAZ]

Turbo done @ 9000kms. Thankfully addressed by Warranty.

wow, that is a bit concerning

 

[kinger]

388 miles coolant leaking in oil, dealer and yamaha "think" its a bad casting replacing every single part of the engine and turbo. Yamaha wont build motors so they have to order every part and assemble at dealer. Lost all season and sled parts so unavailable they still don't have a ETA.

 

[Turboflash]

388 miles coolant leaking in oil, dealer and yamaha "think" its a bad casting replacing every single part of the engine and turbo. Yamaha wont build motors so they have to order every part and assemble at dealer. Lost all season and sled parts so unavailable they still don't have a ETA.

I don't want to make you nervous but check out my pic. I too had coolant in oil - lots of it, when my sled was new. Dealer told me it was because it was flashed up. I diagnosed it, and repaired it myself in my shop. Since there are so many tuned 998's out there, to this day I doubt the cracked head was due to flashing them up because there would be allot more of them with the issue. Hearing about yours though, makes me wonder. I replaced head (brand new head) and installed head studs and it has been fine ever since. My theory is that my original head got cracked during assembly. When they installed the core plug (it's a pipe thread which means the further in it goes the more outward pressure it exerts!) either they drove it in too far, OR the casting had a flaw and simply cracked when the core plug went in. If you enlarge the pic, you can see a crack about "3 o'clock" on the core plug boss. The crack went down the outside of the core boss and onto the floor of the head. Good news for me was 1) Yamaha/Cat gave me a new head under warranty saying they had never seen another and agreed with my theory, and 2) the new head was available! The bad news for me was all the labor to move all the valves into the new head, re-shim to spec, check valve seal, new valve seals installed, and then all the labor to disassemble the motor and replace head. It's not exactly a Saturday afternoon job!!
Good luck on yours!

P.S I knew since the engine wasn't burning coolant (not white steam or bad smell etc), and there was no oil in the coolant, that the coolant must be entering the oil via the return holes in the head into the sump along with the rest of the oil draining back. The cooling system was not being pressurized by engine compression. I diagnosed it by pressurizing the cooling system with engine not running and with valve cover off. Sure enough, when inspecting the top side of the head with a magnifying glass, there it was - a crack in the left side core plug boss!! I would not have been able to see it with naked eye. It took a magnifying glass. I could see coolant coming out of the crack and running down the top side of the head into the drain-back holes. Mystery solved!!

 

[kinger]

I don't want to make you nervous but check out my pic. I too had coolant in oil - lots of it, when my sled was new. Dealer told me it was because it was flashed up. I diagnosed it, and repaired it myself in my shop. Since there are so many tuned 998's out there, to this day I doubt the cracked head was due to flashing them up because there would be allot more of them with the issue. Hearing about yours though, makes me wonder. I replaced head (brand new head) and installed head studs and it has been fine ever since. My theory is that my original head got cracked during assembly. When they installed the core plug (it's a pipe thread which means the further in it goes the more outward pressure it exerts!) either they drove it in too far, OR the casting had a flaw and simply cracked when the core plug went in. If you enlarge the pic, you can see a crack about "3 o'clock" on the core plug boss. The crack went down the outside of the core boss and onto the floor of the head. Good news for me was 1) Yamaha/Cat gave me a new head under warranty saying they had never seen another and agreed with my theory, and 2) the new head was available! The bad news for me was all the labor to move all the valves into the new head, re-shim to spec, check valve seal, new valve seals installed, and then all the labor to disassemble the motor and replace head. It's not exactly a Saturday afternoon job!!
Good luck on yours!

P.S I knew since the engine wasn't burning coolant (not white steam or bad smell etc), and there was no oil in the coolant, that the coolant must be entering the oil via the return holes in the head into the sump along with the rest of the oil draining back. The cooling system was not being pressurized by engine compression. I diagnosed it by pressurizing the cooling system with engine not running and with valve cover off. Sure enough, when inspecting the top side of the head with a magnifying glass, there it was - a crack in the left side core plug boss!! I would not have been able to see it with naked eye. It took a magnifying glass. I could see coolant coming out of the crack and running down the top side of the head into the drain-back holes. Mystery solved!!

Wow I bet you 10:1 this is my exact problem. Same exact symptoms and with small crack it makes sense why it would take so long to use enough coolant to get hot. I'm going to see if I can look at my head while its at the dealer. Ulmer also mentioned this once in this exact spot. Dumb to put pipe thread in there that gets wider as you tighten!! Thanks so much for sharing!

 

[Turboflash]

Mine would empty entire contents of coolant overflow bottle into the oil within about 2 hours! Another tell-tale dead giveaway is if your oil level goes up. On mine, the oil level in that tube sight gage would go up about as much as my coolant tank would go down. Check it out!

 

[Turboflash]

If you do inspect head at your dealer, keep in mind it's VERY tough to see this crack w naked eye. Bring a good magnifying glass. When I diagnosed and found mine, remember I had my cooling system pressurized to 18 lbs so I could actually see the coolant escaping from the crack.
At first, my dealer couldn't believe it so he sent it to Cat. They warrantied it so what does that say. They said it was a "fluke" and 1 in a million. Maybe not?

Good luck!!
Let us know if they will help check for this.

 

[Turboflash]

Wow I bet you 10:1 this is my exact problem. Same exact symptoms and with small crack it makes sense why it would take so long to use enough coolant to get hot. I'm going to see if I can look at my head while its at the dealer. Ulmer also mentioned this once in this exact spot. Dumb to put pipe thread in there that gets wider as you tighten!! Thanks so much for sharing!

Kinger, any news on this?

 

[kinger]

Same cracked head as you. Yamaha doesn't make long blocks so new one had to be assembled by hand by my local dealer. Got it back and it wouldn't start. Took it back and haven't heard a peep for the last 3 weeks. Good times!