There are some common snowmobile problems that you will face when you drive or own a snowmobile.
This is not directed to only one brand of snowmobile.
They are problems that will likely show up in any snowmobile that is active in usage.
Facing some of these problems does not mean that your snowmobile brand is the worse, it is just one of these things that occurs when you use a snowmobile.
Some of the common snowmobile faults include dead snowmobile battery, hard starting, snowmobile vibrating when accelerating, bad snowmobile track, bad snowmobile lugs and many more.
Some of these problems are due to how the snowmobile is taken care of.
But others will always occur as the snowmobile ages in use.
Such includes the issue of a dead snowmobile battery when it has served for years.
Common Snowmobile Problems, Causes And How To Fix Them
1) Dead Snowmobile Battery
One of the important components of a snowmobile is the battery of the snowmobile.
The battery in the snowmobile helps a lot when it comes to the electrical components that are attached to the snowmobile.
But the thing is that the battery will not last forever.
If it is a lead acid battery, it will last some years provided it is an original one from the manufacturer.
The only time you will get a lot of usage duration is when the snowmobile battery is made of lithium cells.
These lithium ion batteries last longer than the lead acid battery.
What remains unchanged is that no matter the type of snowmobile battery you make use of, it will develop fault one day.
The ones that develop fault or die off fast are the lead acid battery.
When this happens, you need to change to a new one.
But before that, you have to get it charged externally to really be sure that it is truly bad.
This is because some of the times a battery decreases in voltage and cannot serve the snowmobile needs because the alternator in the snowmobile is bad.
So before you discard the battery, make sure that your alternator is not at fault.
Causes Of Dead Snowmobile Battery
- Poor Quality Of The Battery: one of the things you have to watch out for when you purchase a batter for your snowmobile is the brand.
This is because some brands tend to perform better than most brands when it comes to the level of quality.
Buying a snowmobile battery that is less in quality will make the battery die off easily.
- Battery Use Cycle: every battery irrespective of the brand have cycle periods.
This is the period of time where you can get optimal performance from the battery.
The higher the cycle of a battery, the lower the charge retention of the battery.
This makes old batteries with high battery cycle perform worse than the same battery with few cycles of usage.
- Bad Alternator: when it comes to the lifespan of a snowmobile battery, the alternator plays a vital role.
The alternator in the snowmobile is what helps in maintaining the optimum voltage of the battery.
When the voltage of the battery is low, the alternator of the snowmobile will help charge it to an optimum voltage.
This helps in making the battery functional.
But when the alternator of the snowmobile is bad, it will not be able to keep the battery at the voltage good for the battery.
This leads to deep discharging or overcharging.
As time goes on, the snowmobile battery will die off.
This is one of the common snowmobile faults that you will experience when you actively use your snowmobile.
Solutions For Dead Snowmobile Battery
- Buy Battery From a Reputable Brand: When you want to buy a replacement battery for your snowmobile, you have to make sure that you are buying from a reputable brand.
- Change a Bad Alternator: irrespective of the number of battery replacements that you buy, having issues of a dead battery will always show up if the alternator is the main culprit here.
To avoid having a replacement battery die off too quickly, what you have to do is to make sure that you change the alternator of the snowmobile to a good one.
This will save you the stress of always changing your snowmobile after using for a short period of time due to a bad alternator.
2) Hard Starting
Facing a hard starting with your snowmobile can really be annoying especially if you want to have some fun moments with your friends.
This occurs when you try to start your snowmobile and the snowmobile will not start.
Causes Of Snowmobile Hard Starting
- Bad Spark Plug: One of the components of the snowmobile engine that helps the snowmobile to start well is the spark plug.
It is the spark plug that generates the spark in the engine to ignite the fuel in the combustion chamber.
But when the spark plug in the snowmobile is bad, it will lead to a hard starting.
- Bad Primer Bulb: a primer bulb has a big role to play in the easy start of a snowmobile engine.
When the primer bulb is bad, it will cause a hard start of the snowmobile engine.
That is why you have to check a primer bulb if a snowmobile engine is not starting to make sure that the primer bulb is not the cause.
When the primer bulb is good, it will be hard when the engine is not running and becomes soft when the engine is running.
It if becomes soft when the engine is not running, then you know that your snowmobile primer bulb is bad.
- Bad Fuel Quality
When the quality of your snowmobile fuel is bad, it will affect how quickly your engine will start.
A bad quality fuel makes it harder for the spark plug to produce a spark that will make the snowmobile start.
This is usually caused by water or dissolved particles in the fuel that resist easy combustion.
- Bad Air Quality: the snowmobile engine always require a proportion of good air in order to mix with the fuel before combustion can take place efficiently in the engine of the snowmobile.
But when the air filter is bad, this will reduce the amount of good air being supplied to the snowmobile.
This will result in hard starting.
Solutions For Snowmobile Hard Starting
- Buy Good Spark Plugs: When you discover that the spark plugs in the engine of your snowmobile is bad, make sure you change it to a good one.
This will help the snowmobile to start quickly without a delay.
- Use a Good Quality Of Fuel: When buying fuel for your snowmobile, make sure that you buy a good one.
This is usually made available by reliable fuel suppliers.
It should be free from dissolved particles and water.
- Use a Good Primer Bulb: if the primer bulb of your snowmobile is bad, make sure you change it to a good one.
One of the ways of knowing if your snowmobile primer bulb is bad is when you start the ignition.
When the primer bulb is good, it will be hard when the engine is off and soft when the engine is running.
- Use a Good Air Filter: If at all the air filter of your snowmobile is bad, make sure you clean it or change it.
This will help supply good quality of air to your snowmobile.
3) Rusty Fuel Tank
Another common snowmobile problem that people face is rusty snowmobile fuel tank.
This is very bad and will lead to the damage of the fuel pump in the snowmobile.
This is because the impurities will flow with the fuel but due to the filter present in the fuel pump, it will stop in the fuel pump.
When they accumulate more, it will cause the fuel pump to be blocked.
When the engine needs fuel, the snowmobile fuel pump will be struggling to supply fuel.
As this goes on, it will develop heat due to the stress and will end up damaging the snowmobile fuel pump.
Cause Of Rusty Fuel Tank
- Bad Fuel: when the quality of fuel used in a snowmobile is bad, it will not just affect the quality of the snowmobile engine performance, it will also affect the tank too if it is made of metal.
A bad fuel contains water and will make the fuel tank to rust.
This is one of the common snowmobile problems that occur when the quality of fuel used in the snowmobile is bad.
Solution For Rusty Fuel Tank
- Use a Good Fuel Quality: When you discover that your fuel tank is rusty, you have to make sure that you change the fuel to a good one.
Before you use another fuel in the tank, make sure that the tank is dry.
4) Snowmobile Vibrates When Accelerating
When a snowmobile accelerates, it will demand more supply of fuel to keep up with the energy demand.
Apart from the fuel demand, all the cylinders in the snowmobile have to be functioning well for the snowmobile to run smoothly.
But when the fuel quality or spark plug is bad, the snowmobile will not perform well.
If the fuel quality is bad, the engine may stop when accelerating.
If the spark plug is bad, this will cause all cylinders not to fire well.
This will result in the snowmobile vibrating when it accelerates.
Causes
- Bad Spark Plug: When the spark plug of a snowmobile is bad, all the cylinders in the snowmobile engine will not perform well.
This will reduce the efficiency of the snowmobile engine.
This results in the snowmobile vibrating when accelerating.
- Bad Fuel Pump: when the fuel pump in a snowmobile is bad, it will affect the performance of your snowmobile engine.
This is because the right volume of fuel will not be supplied to the engine.
Solution
- Change Spark Plugs: when you discover that your snowmobile is vibrating when accelerating, you have to make sure that you change the spark plugs to a new one.
- Change Fuel Pump: fuel pumps help supply the right volume of fuel to the snowmobile engine as required.
If the fuel pump is bad, this will limit the amount of fuel coming into the engine and this will affect the performance of the engine.
That is why you have to change it when it is bad.
5) Damaged Snowmobile Track And Lugs
Another common snowmobile problem is damaged track or lugs.
The snowmobile track and lugs are the snowmobile part that is exposed to a lot of roughness.
This is because when the snowmobile is driving, the track and lugs of the snowmobile have direct contact with the surface they move on.
This gradually leads to wear and tear over time.
If a bad snowmobile lug is not repaired on time, it will extend the damage to the track of the snowmobile.
That is why you have to make sure that you repair a bad track or lug early to avoid the problem from extending into a major damage of the snowmobile track.
Causes
- Rough Driving: When the snowmobile is faced with a rough driving, the lugs and the track of the snowmobile will face damage.
- Unrepaired Bad Lugs: when the lugs on the track is not repaired early, it will extend the damage to the track of the snowmobile
Solutions
- Repair Torn Lugs Early: when the lugs on your snowmobile is bad, make sure you repair them early to avoid the damage extending to your snowmobile track.
- Repair Torn Tracks Early: when you discover that the track on your snowmobile has a damaged point, make sure that you repair it to avoid the total damage of your snowmobile track.
- Avoid a Rough Driving Style: when you are driving your snowmobile, make sure that you are not driving it in a bad way.
Driving your snowmobile on a bad way will lead to the damage of your snowmobile lugs and track
6) Dirty Engine Oil
The color of the engine oil is one of the key indicators that show if the engine oil in your snowmobile is bad and needs a change.
When you drive your snowmobile for some miles, you will need to change the oil in the engine.
The distance duration will be specified by the manufacturer of the snowmobile.
You have to change the engine oil on time to avoid damage of your engine.
Causes
- Movement Of The Pistons: as the pistons in the snowmobile engine move, this will require the help of the engine oil to stay lubricated.
But as time goes on, the oil will get dirty and should be changed.
Any delay could reduce the performance of the snowmobile engine or damage the engine.
Solutions
- Change The Oil In The Engine: when you discover that the oil in your snowmobile engine is bad, you have to make sure that you change it.
Some people have the habit of not draining all the bad oil out.
This is very bad and will still damage the new oil when you mix it with a bad one.
When changing the oil in your snowmobile engine, make sure that you drain off the bad oil before putting the new oil into the snowmobile engine.
This will help the snowmobile engine to run well.
7) Snowmobile Overheating
At some point, you may experience one of the issues that some snowmobile users experience.
This has to do with a snowmobile overheating.
A snowmobile overheats when the cooling system in the snowmobile is faulty.
It could be that the coolant in the snowmobile has finished.
Overheating in a snowmobile could also be caused by a bad valve that helps transport the coolant.
When there is an issue of overheating in a snowmobile, it should be corrected very fast or it may damage other parts of the snowmobile including the engine of the snowmobile.
Causes
- Bad Cooling System: when the cooling system of a snowmobile is bad, it will lead to the overheating of the snowmobile.
Solution
- Fill The Coolant: If you discover that your snowmobile is overheating due to the low level of coolant in your snowmobile, make sure that you top up the coolant to an optimal level.
- Replace Coolant Valves: if the valve that transports coolant from the tank to cool the snowmobile is bad, make sure that you change it.
Conclusion
As far as you are making use of your snowmobile consistently, you will face some issues that occur in a snowmobile.
The good thing is that these problems can be solved.
That is why you have to make sure that you drive your snowmobile carefully, change the oil on time and also repair bad lugs and tracks early.
This will help reduce most of the common snowmobile problems from occurring frequently as you use your snowmobile.
Further Reading