SL900 Polaris dies at any time.

[wayne]

same as my 1050 if you find out let us know its a real pain,

[polaridoo]

My friends 1996 SL900 does the same thing. Just started out of the blue one day and did it like 15 times. The next time he went out it only did it once. Could not find anything wrong.

[Greg T]

You guys are on your own. Polaris doesn't give a Sxxx about you now that they have your money. My Virage spent most of the summer at the dealer with the same problem. Mine is a DI, but the problem turned out to have nothing whatsoever to do with the DI system. Mine had a faulty wire routing from the factory which eventually was pinched and shorted together by a metal bracket. After that point, the boat would run normally until it quit. It would always restart and run normally until the next time. Might be a minute, might be the next day. No real pattern. The solution was a new Stator. After waiting all summer for Polaris to approve the part and send the necessary installation tool, the problem is gone. I believe my dealer was not able to find a measurement fault with the stator which is why the diagnosis was so difficult.

Your problems sound exactly like mine and I hope this information helps you towards a solution. It is very disheartening to own a PWC that doesn't run corectly and can't be fixed. I can tell you that my experiences with Polaris over an 8 year period have all been bad. I wrote them two letters this summer. Each was answered with a post card promising a response within 6 weeks. No further contact ever came. They just don't care. I'm taking my business elsewhere. I don't know if things will be any better with other Manufacturers, but they can't be much worse.

[Nitro Jim]

I have (& wish I didn’t) a Polaris SL900 Jet Ski that dies for no apparent reason. It can happen at any time and at any speed. Always starts right back up, even before it drops off plane. Engine may die one time after another or may run ok all day long. Dealer cannot pinpoint the problem. Requested help from the Polaris web site, but no reply. Any ideas

[polaridoo]

I can understand your frustration with Polaris. But I look at the Polaris this way. It's almost 7 years old and anything is fair game with the SL at this point. I can tell you my Seadoo SPX has been even more or a POS. Every time I take it out, something breaks. ALL my other Polaris PWCs (and friends) have been super reliable and a lot easier to work on then a lot of Yamaha's and Seadoo's.

I think if you read enough posts throughout this forum you will see plenty of haters of all brands. I do sympathize with the response you got from Polaris, but again, others have gotten those response from the other manufacturers too. So, just by buying a different brand next time will not guarantee good customer serivce or preventing the buying of a lemon.

[Greg T]

The stuff breaks down regularly and they can't or won't fix it. They don't reply to polite letters asking for their help. All of my friends have sea-doos and not one of them has ever had a mechanical failure. 8 years and 10 different craft! I have had 5 broken Polaris, some for multiple times. You do the math.

94 SLT - failed splines on driveshaft, engine came unbolted from the sub frame, fiberglass hull delaminated in front of the gas tank

94 SL - starter failed at 13 months, connecting rod shattered at 15 months destroying the top and bottom end

95 SLX - Steering C-clip disconnected 3 different times at speed, cylinder seized on 4 different occasions. I had to fix the steering, neither the dealer nor Polaris could figure it out. It was a bad casting on the steering arm.

SL1050 - crank bearing seized a 4 months, driveshaft splines failed in second season.

Virage TXi - Shuts off randomly

No Polaris I have owned has made it through 2 seasons without stranding me. Total shop time for these 5 craft is over 10.5 months! All maintained per the book at 5 different dealers. Only one is still in business and they dropped new craft sales this year.

[polaridoo]

The only thing you might want to do is take a look at the lanyard / kill switch. I have heard that this can cause these symptoms. In my friends case the wires going there were just fine. If his acts up again, it might be worth just replacing the entire switch. If you have inspectd ALL your connections for corrosion or don't see any wires without insulation that could be shorting, then you could start disabling things one at a time until your problem goes away. For instance, disconnect the lanyard switch so that it is no longer part of the system (be very careful with speed, you cannot risk falling off and having no shut off) Not necessarily fun, but 'trial and error' is cheaper and sometimes the only way to solve an intermitent problem.

[SeaLion]

Originally posted by Greg T:
The stuff breaks down regularly and they can't or won't fix it. They don't reply to polite letters asking for their help. All of my friends have sea-doos and not one of them has ever had a mechanical failure. 8 years and 10 different craft! I have had 5 broken Polaris, some for multiple times. You do the math.

94 SLT - failed splines on driveshaft, engine came unbolted from the sub frame, fiberglass hull delaminated in front of the gas tank

>These are very odd to have happen.

94 SL - starter failed at 13 months, connecting rod shattered at 15 months destroying the top and bottom end

>This can be explained by having water in the >hull. Once the starter gets water in it, it will >fail in time. Water in the hull can mean water >getting into the engine and that is an enemy >of a connecting rod.

95 SLX - Steering C-clip disconnected 3 different times at speed, cylinder seized on 4 different occasions. I had to fix the steering, neither the dealer nor Polaris could figure it out. It was a bad casting on the steering arm.

>You had a bad dealer because 95 models >had a recall for that exact steering part. >Seizing 4 times? Something wasn't done >right to begin with and just replacing the >broken parts with new ones will lead to it >breaking again if the root cause is not >determined. This too is dealer related for >poor diagnostics.

SL1050 - crank bearing seized a 4 months, driveshaft splines failed in second season.

>This can happen on any brand, although not >a common problem on Polaris'. I don't know >why you keep having driveshaft spline >problems on different models. Every Polaris I >have owned revs higher than stock, >especially my current SLX780 (7000rpm) and >I have yet to have any driveshaft spline >problems. You need to grease the fittings in >the driveline. Maybe you sucked up a rope or >debris? Maybe someone you let ride it did it? >I am assuming quite a bit but these can lead >to your problems.

Virage TXi - Shuts off randomly

No Polaris I have owned has made it through 2 seasons without stranding me. Total shop time for these 5 craft is over 10.5 months! All maintained per the book at 5 different dealers. Only one is still in business and they dropped new craft sales this year.

[ September 18, 2002, 05:11 PM: Message edited by: SeaLion ]

[Nitro Jim]

The SL900 was purchased used (2) years ago and started to die on and off on the first ride. Unit had just had the stator replaced. Seller tried to have unit repaired, but dealer failed to find the problem and I was on my own. Buyer beware!!

[Kawi-Guy]

SL,
can you edit that post bro?
Sounds like you are dissing the Polaris name .......
I know it isn't so....

[ShowMePro1200]

He's responding to a prior post by someone else, Todd [img]smile.gif[/img]

[SeaLion]

Todd, I did. I used > to show my reply. I quoted the original and put my replies under certain parts but it all came out looking like one post. I then edited it with the > showing what I wrote.

[Nitro Jim]

Still looking for some help with the 1996 SL900 Polaris that dies at any time.

[wayne]

Hello again, Whats have you done so far to sort the problem? as i still have it too, I would bother messing around with the kill switch, its all sealed and in my opinion its not the kind of device that would go faulty, if i had a wiring diagramme i would short out the possable causes and hopefully find out where the problem was coming form do you have one?

[polaridoo]

It's going to take some poking and prodding around and it will probably not be obvious. You will want to inspect ALL things that have control over spark. You have a WEIRD problem and WEIRD problems can sometimes have weird solutions. I agree that the lanyard is probably not the culprit, but something sure is, and that is super easy to check versus anything else. I would always start easy and work to the most difficult. Take the cover off the magneto. Inspect it, everything clean and dry? Any loose connections? Corossion? Open the black box that sits on top of the battery - anytyhing appear wrong in there?

Once you have exhausted all these things and verified that there is no breaks in the insulation of wires that could be shorting / grounding out on the engine / other things, then come back and let the forum know what you have found.

If all this does not find the problem, then maybe someone will have some better advice. Hate to say it, but maybe a new stator will fix it. But I sure would not want to buy one first and see that it has not fixed your problem.