[billbo]

i pick my new ace in the hole up tomorrow, and i was wondering how do i break it in. it`s been 13 years since i bought a new polaris and i have forgot how to do it.
do i ride it hard , ride it easy or what, and how long does the break in period last? also does polaris give you the first service free too change the break in oil?

 

[Scoundrel]

The manual says to drive it like a grandma for the first 25 hours, of course, as if anyone ever does that.

Condensed from the manual:
Break-in is first 25 hours of operation.
No donuts, power slides, jumps, or other stunts.
Avoid aggressive use of brakes.
Vary throttle positions, do not idle for a sustained period of time.
Pull only light loads (trailer).
Regularly check all fluids, controls, and areas defined on the pre-ride inspection checklist.
Change the oil and filter at 25 hours or one month.
Check fluid in transmission and gearcases after 25 hours and every 100 hours afterward.
Apply only moderate braking force for the first 50 stops.
Avoid aggressive acceleration and high speed operation during the break-in period.

 

[billbo]

ok thanks scoundrel

 

[luvdamud]

After the first few engine heat cycles, drive it like you stole it. I'm sure you will find lots of different opinions on this.

 

[Maxisp]

We went on first ride yesterday at Windrock. It had 2 miles on it. Lotta people wanted to see it, they never had seen one before.

She started off on the first ride, me trailing. At first it had a tremendous amount of smoke blow out of the left side on the engine compartment. It really stunk. We drove 10 minutes and pulled over for 5 mins. We did that a few times. I checked it at the stop and saw nothing wrong. We went off again and this time no smoke. It still smells bad though. After a couple of stops it seemed to settle down. After lunch she was having a blast on it.

Next I noticed that most of the power comes through the right rear wheel. It wore off the molding flash on the right in 2 stops. It took all day for the molding flash to wear off the left rear.

I tried it and hit the gas hard in 4 wheel drive low. It is very squirreley on start, all over the place. Tried it in 2 wheel drive and it was the same.

I never had a Polaris before, do they all push hard on the right rear?

 

[whatwasithinkin]

Starting back 1976 to today, I've had to break in @ 60 engines. Mostly back in the day when I raced MX full time for 10 years. Many new and rebuilds was the bulk of it. I don't include cars or trucks. Just racing and performance engines. Over the years Ive owned many dirt bikes, quads and snowmobiles.

Over heating is the worst thing you can do to a new engine. Same goes for not allowing them to come up to a decent temp. Many just hop in, fire it and go. Really bad thing to do. Don't just hop in and go WFO either. I don't believe in just putting at 5mph either. I'm still in the break in phase for my 900SP. Only @50 miles and @ 2.5 hours at the moment. I have been running mine anywhere from @20mph, to 35-40 so far. 40-ish only for short bursts. Here in NH we have a max speed limit for OHRV trails of 35mph. Or lower when noted. My break in trail goes up and down like that. And the local PD's and F&G both monitor trail speeds and love to hand out speeding fines. I do like to be able push it a bit. IMHO Typically if something in the engine is going to fail, it will happen during the first 25 hours anyway.

I like that you can turn on the Temp on the dash and watch it in real time. So I always have that on and my temps run from 189*f to 200* while riding. When slowing for road crossings I have seen the temp go up to 206* which is normal thing to happen when stopped. I hear the fan kick on at 204*. And like I would expect the temp drops right back down once I get rolling and speed up. I'm happy and confident that this is where I should be for break in. This is how I break mine in for my intended use which is trail riding. If this was purchased as a yard implement, I would probably take it real easy if it was going to be pulling trailers or farm equipment around. That stuff can be really hard on a brand new engine like they have.

After a few heat/cool cycles and @ 5-10 hours on it IMHO it should be fairly well broken in and just ride it like your planning to. I'm not sure if its been done since these came out, but my dealer did tell me a few times that Polaris considers the first 25 hours the break in period. And has a count down clock set at 25 hours. When it reaches the 0 hour it trips the engine service light and requires its first oil change. Of course he suggests I bring it in for the dealer to do its first oil change and reset the service light, at my cost. Nothing free up this way. So that's left to each owner to decide. I already bought oil and a new filter when the time comes. And it shows in the manual how to reset the service light too.

 

[glamisace570]

Just took mine out yesterday for first time. Was a great time. Wondering if I can do the first oil change at around 10 hours or if I should hit 25? Side note dealer over infltes tires so check them mine were at 16

 

[Vandal]

You can do an oil change anytime you want but I'd wait til 20-25 hours to do one. Any sooner would probably be just a waste of money. Change all fluids when you do a change. The first change is the most important one. There may be some small pieces of metal or assembly lube that you may or may not see at the first change. This is pretty much normal when breaking in a Polaris engine

 

[polarbear]

What he said^^^^^^^!