I recently purchased a 96 VMax 600XT, which is still in showroom condition with only 1,100 miles on it. The sled was super clean and appeared to be very well maintained. I payed $1,700, which seemed more than fair compared to what the sled has been selling for elsewhere.

I havn't been able to ride much do to the lack of snow, but we were able to ride last night for the first time this season. In talking with friends that have the same sled I was told to expect a range of 90-100 miles per 8 gallon tank. Last eveneing I started with a full tank and 40 miles later found myself fast approaching E. My friend burned less than a quarter of a tank for the same distance. I'm not a technical junkie but it doesn't take one to know this is an issue.

I like the sled and for the price it was a great way to get into sledding this year. I do plan to take several trips to northern MI, but the fuel consumption is more than concerning to me and leaves me questioning the dependability for long trips.

I now considering selling the sled and picking up a newer Ski-Doo similar to what my friend is driving. Am I over re-acting or is this something that can be easily fixed through a yamaha dealer?

Any help or comments would be greatly appreciated.

Happy trails!

After




:confused:

you have a problem there. i would look to see what main jets you have and also check the carbslides to see if someone installed ufos on them. if not done right they will suck your tank dry fast. how is the performance of the sled ?check your ski alignment as well but i doubt that is your problem they would have to be pretty bad to give you that sort of mileage. there is a yamaha websit that is very good just cant think of it right now

A few years ago a friend of mine had the same problem with his 600. We only rode
26 miles and it burned a half of a tank. We went back to the cabin, I took his carbs off to find ice in his float bowls. I was pissed. I asked him before we went on this trip if he had Iso for his gas, He said he was all set. I asked him why he didn't
put it in the gas he said " I didn't feel it was necessary". Wasted some good riding
time. This isn't the first time I have seen this happen with these sleds either.
One I got the Ice out of his carbs, and Iso in the tank the V-max ran great. It also went close to 100 mile between fill ups. The first thing I would do is clean out your
carbs and dump some Iso in your tank. Its either Ice/water or a stuck float. Don't get discouraged thats a decent die hard sled. :D

I also just bought the same sled with 1,000 miles on it. Our first ride was this weekend. Mine found it's way to "E" pretty fast too. But when we filled up I found that it took $14.00 to fill up and the other sleds took $12.00 each. They were a 1997 Z440 and a 1999 Polaris 500. So at $1.89 a gallon it was only about a gallon more gas. Also mine was jetted for the dual pipes that were not on it and a plug reading showed it was pretty rich. Another thing was with the stock track I was spinning ALOT! I learned to go easy on the gas and I feel it did better on the second and third tank. I am going to pull the carbs and put the stock jets back in it cuz I have no plans on running the aftermarket dual pipes that came with it. I am putting them on E bay and I'm going to use that money to go towards a better track.

The Yamaha twins were never known for good fuel milage. But there are a few thing that will help, they are usually jetted rich so rejetting will help.

Go to
http://www.totallyamaha.com/
and check out the tech pages and ask on both message boards there, most of the guys are from out your way and have a lot of knowledge on Yamaha's of all years.

mine is a 94, and I got right at 40 miles and the tank was dry,,,, was pulled to the next gas station,,,,, stuck choke,,,, pull the choke cables off and work them,,,, see if one of the springs isnt real good and not allowing the choke to seat properly,,,, a little water gets in there and they just dont act right anymore,,,,
put a new choke on and she runs fine,,,, gets 85-90 mile to a tank,,,,

There is a known issue with the carbs. When the fuel econmy goes down the toilet you should change the needle jets. Over time the inside diameter increases and allows more part throttle fuel through. Changing the needle clip position is not going to help much. Just go through the carbs and replace the needle jets with the same # as before just new ones. A Yamaha Dealer mentioned this to me last weekend. I was getting less than 5 MPG but then again my bowl drain needle came out on the Mag side carb.

fuzz,,,,after swapping yours,,,,what mileage did you get???

It's hard to say what my mileage ended up being after I fixed the leak. The tank level was dropping fast. I lost a gallon or 2 after I filled up.

I'll post my mileage for you in a few weeks after my next trip.

kewl thanks much

:) Thanks for the advice. It sounds like th problem has been isolated to several of the issues many of you have mentioned.

I had the sled looked at this week and we found that the air box was full of milk weed, which cuased the air jets to become plugged. Choke cables were also too tight. I had the carbs cleaned and the cables adjusted, which should help.

I had a friend recommend leaning out the intermediate needle, as he had similar problems with his vmax.

I plan to ride this weeekend and will try your suggestions if the problem persists.

Thanks for the advice everyone!

shes gonna scream now that the shes getting good air!!! have fun riding!!