As I mentioned earlier I was having ring problems on my REV. Of course there were a lot of nay sayers out there that told me it's impossible or stop beating this issue to death.
Well I took my sled into the dealer last month for it's fall inspection to maintain my engine warrenty. Prior to sending it in I drained the fuel tank and filled it with fresh 91 octane fuel. Ran it up a few times basically to clean the cobwebs out of it and get rid of the oil in the cylinders. I let the engine cool all day so it was stone cold. Gave it a compression test and came up with actually decent compression.
I then fired it up for about 5 sec and shut it down and then did a cylinder leak down test. 50% leakage on the pto side and 57% on the mag side. Ouch. Not so good. But yet a compression test shows everything is ok. 2 more leakdown test with 2 more leakdown testers and basically the same amounts. Supply 100psi of air to the cylinder and 50 pounds or so is leaking out.
Off to the dealer and tell him my concern. We talked in the spring about this and agreed to wait untill fall incase new rings came out which they now have. So I left the sled with him and as per BRP's guidlines he inspected the rings through the RAVE's and did a compression test. Nothing visible through the RAVE's and compression showed good. According to BRP the engine is fine plus it was not stalling in reverse. Ok. Now what. Well I repeated what I have learned over the course of the last year or so and let him know according to Bill Cudney any leakdown over 20% requires new rings. Ok but Bill sells rings right so maybe it's just his way of getting more sales. Well Bill also points out that the rings start to fail more around the ring locating pin and this is not visible through the exaust. Point well taken by the dealer but lost on BRP and again Bill sells rings.
So BRP feels if I am so concerned I should pay the dealer for an inspection tear down. Well I'm no dummy and I can do this myslef so I'm not paying the dealer to do this. But being the good dealer that Gimli Snowmobile Centre is they pulled the engine down more or less as a free learning experiance.
This happened on Friday and Saturday I spoke with Denis. Good news was found. The Mag side ring was totaly shot almost all the way around but yes not really visible through the exaust port. Oddly the cross hatch looks great on the cylinder. Now the PTO side looks not bad but the ring was letting go. However the cross hatch is totaly gone from that cylinder.
As it stands right now BRP is paying the shot and new rings at thre very least will be installed. Thanks Denis and thanks Bill for actually posting enough info on this topic to make us educated enough to know when BRP is trying to givew it to us from behind.
So why am I writing this ? Just a heads up to maybe pay a little closer to your rings. When i pick up the sled I will take some pic's of the old rings and I'll post them here.

Good post :wink: , and you managed to keep your blood pressure down :lol:

This post really makes me worry... I have an '03 Rev 600HO with 1450 miles... I just got it back from my dealer for its pre-season checkup/lube and such. I had him check the compression and it was fine... but I know that that may not (or is not) the best way to check the rings. My two year engine warranty just ran out, so I guess it'll all be on my dime if the motor goes south... I'm worried because I just rode my buddies new '05 Rev 500SS and I swear it feels like it'll bury my 600HO... now this was on grass and mine was not present to jump right on to compare, but man, that thing was fast! Now I'm wondering if my rings are going bad and it has happened so slowly that I didn't notice until I rode a new Rev... his is the only other Rev in our group, so I've had nothing to compare to until now.

:bash:

Originally posted by skidoorev@Nov 22 2004, 09:09 PM
This post really makes me worry... I have an '03 Rev 600HO with 1450 miles... I just got it back from my dealer for its pre-season checkup/lube and such. I had him check the compression and it was fine... but I know that that may not (or is not) the best way to check the rings. My two year engine warranty just ran out, so I guess it'll all be on my dime if the motor goes south... I'm worried because I just rode my buddies new '05 Rev 500SS and I swear it feels like it'll bury my 600HO... now this was on grass and mine was not present to jump right on to compare, but man, that thing was fast! Now I'm wondering if my rings are going bad and it has happened so slowly that I didn't notice until I rode a new Rev... his is the only other Rev in our group, so I've had nothing to compare to until now.

:bash:
366427


Thats not a real good comparison, I rode my wifes 500ss one day last season and I swear it was just as fast as my 700 up to 85mph, the 500ss seems to have alot of pep and the clutch is spot on, where as the 600ho has more grunt plus top end.

Have a friend with a 600ho with 850 miles
Another friend with a 500ss lined up with him. Both guys nearly identical weight. 500ss took him easy.
In to the dealer - tore it down and found bad rings.
He made it sound like the dealer knew it and was cool so maybe you're dealer will do the same?
FWIW

Originally posted by skidoorev@Nov 22 2004, 09:09 PM
This post really makes me worry... I have an '03 Rev 600HO with 1450 miles... I just got it back from my dealer for its pre-season checkup/lube and such. I had him check the compression and it was fine... but I know that that may not (or is not) the best way to check the rings. My two year engine warranty just ran out, so I guess it'll all be on my dime if the motor goes south... I'm worried because I just rode my buddies new '05 Rev 500SS and I swear it feels like it'll bury my 600HO... now this was on grass and mine was not present to jump right on to compare, but man, that thing was fast! Now I'm wondering if my rings are going bad and it has happened so slowly that I didn't notice until I rode a new Rev... his is the only other Rev in our group, so I've had nothing to compare to until now.

:bash:
366427


I know what you mean by the feeling of those 500SS's. Nice engine. They really should have put it in an X package. I do know with my REV I was beating F5's and 500SS's at the beginning of the season and looking at there snow flap by the seasons end. Same sleds, same riders. As a mechanic a million scenerios go through your mind. Did these riders do something over the winter to make there sleds faster. My clutch springs are sagged that must be it. Maybe it's my belt. Maybe I'm running the carb's too rich. Maybe it is my rings. Naw can't be can it. I've said it before and I will say it again do a leak down test of each cylinder. Of course not everyone has a leakdown tester but imo if you value every h.p. that your engine makes it is money well spent. Since your engine warrety is up I would just put in a set of Bill's pistons and rings. Then again if it just ended BRP may do it for you. I chose the new rings from BRP because my sled is still under warrenty. If the warrenty was up I'd be ordering a set from Bill.

Is Ski Doo still covering this if the warranty period is out? I've heard yes, but nothing official. Has anyone had to pay out of their pocket for a dealer to fix their '03 with BRP parts?

Jon
'03 Rev 600 Sport

My advise to any 600Ho owner is to contact Kelsey at RK TEK his # is 208-852-3221. He has a 734 kit he builds of the 600 jugs. It flat out rips. Also the crappy ring issue is corrected so no more flaking rings. he uses a double ring forged piston so it holds up better and will hold power! Solid kit.