Watch your muffler!!!

[DG Rider]

I noticed mine losing power a few rides before it finally broke loose, there was'nt a rattle or vibration even at the dealer. [album]1007[/album][album]1008[/album]

So its the spark arrester that goes? These from your dealer?

 

[Admin]

 

[Hondaholic4]

The piece that broke off hit the spark arrestor and bent it, disrupting the air flow causing the loss of power. So for now im waiting on the exhaust system to show up and be put on.

 

[Dick]

I am the guy who had this problem from the other forum referred to earlier in this post.

I had this issue back in the fall and I had to wait 3 weeks for the new mufflers that were on back order. I have one of the first 90 machines made. They do need to replace both the muffler and spark arrester. Mine acted like you took over 1/3 of the motors power away and if you gave it 1/2 throttle or full throttle it didn't make much difference, I did not notice at the time any muffler noise. Now that its fixed it never worked this good even when it was new.

When I hear people complain about not having enough power I kind of wonder myself if this may end up being a recall. It has good power now, the rev limiter kicks in and shuts it down at 72 km/hr. ( would love to get rid of that and decide myself when to shut her down)

P.S. The nature of this problem will probably give a little different amount of power loss for different people depending on how the damage plays out inside the muffler. Mine actually was broke off and loss back pressure.

 

[MARK DEFIBAUGH]

As a matter of fact the muffler is noisy I'd bet that is the issue ! Thanks everyone it's been making me sick to think already having trouble . It's been a rough start

 

[Hondasxs]

Mark,
Please keep us updated if you find anything or not.
Thanks.

 

[MARK DEFIBAUGH]

I was able to remove the back of the muffler and there was the baffle blocking the exhaust . Burnt a hole in the screen also. Next step dragging it 40 miles to the dealer .

 

[Hondasxs]

I was able to remove the back of the muffler and there was the baffle blocking the exhaust . Burnt a hole in the screen also. Next step dragging it 40 miles to the dealer .

Thats good to know. or should I say bad.
But good its not something too major.

Hey, do you have a good camera? Could you take some better pictures.
Thanks.

 

[SteeringWheelFace]

Noticed a reduction in power and top speed lately, riding last night and could not do more than 30 MPH across a field, and real sluggish climbing hills. Got out and looked at the muffler, the front section was glowing red! (being dark made it easy to see) We removed the spark arrestor screen and nothing seemed out of place in the rear of the muffler, must be broken in the front half somewhere. Guess it's a trip to the dealer for me too. Mine has less than 200 miles on it.

Mine is Vin 000027

 

[Hondasxs]

Steering,
Sorry to hear, definitely keep us informed.

 

[Dick]

It would be helpful for people if we knew when they started using the new mufflers in the production run? I had to wait for the new muffler that was on backorder until Jan 1st 2014, there was probably about 2600 machines made by then.

If the guys who have had this problem could put up the last 4 digits of their serial # would help to give us an idea. Mine is 0090

Something I never mentioned was before mine was fixed if I was up against a log or loading onto the trailer and gave it a shot of gas and let off quick it would stall, it doesn't do that now. I have not found a situation since that it won't spin all 4 tires in dif lock. These machines are not speed demons but they do have good torque! I don't know about anyone else but I am never going back to belt drive again!

 

[tbaker]

my last 4 digits of the serial # are 0045. i dont know if mine is doing anything yet my son rides it all the time and it has about 225 miles onit but he said the other day when it snowed in north georgia that it would not climb up a hill it would sit and spin the tires when he started up the hill in any drive mode and a polaris 570 would go right up it. mabey there is a problem with my muffler i need to look into. can i take it apart myself and have a look. this hill is nothing the pioneer should not be able to climb up if a 570 polaris can do it.

 

[DG Rider]

he said the other day when it snowed in north georgia that it would not climb up a hill it would sit and spin the tires when he started up the hill in any drive mode and a polaris 570 would go right up it.

Maybe i am not understanding you correctly, but are you saying it would spin all 4 and not go anywhere? That will have nothing to do with the muffler problems.
Several days ago i posted a vid where at 9300' my Pioneer would bog down in snow in 4wd-diff lock, and barley climbed a hill at 7300'. The power loss at that elevation is such that it simply lacks the power to pull the highish 1st gear. I would have been quite happy if it had sat and spun all 4, as that would mean it was ultimately limited by traction...like every quad I've ever owned.

I'm watching this thread intently, and taking my machine in Tuesday in the hopes that something like this is going on. I don't have a great deal of hope for it, to be honest. But maybe...
AND, if there proves to be nothing wrong, than i can promise you that there are at least 2 things my Pioneer won't do that a 570 ( be it a Ranger or RZR ) will do. More HP and lighter weight will do that...but that low range the 570 has is the real difference maker. We shall see.

 

[tbaker]

the polaris i was talking about climbing the hill in georgia was polaris ranger 570. i am going to get my son to take me to the hill and try it myself just no snow on the ground now. it may just have been like you said just not getting any traction but my son is new to riding a SXS like me and did not know what it would do. i have the factory tires on it for now but i am going to put a set of 27 inch tires on the factory rims in the next few days. i will update the hill climb as soon as i can get him away from his girlfriend and we can go try it with both the factory tire and the 27 inch tires.

 

[DG Rider]

...as i can get him away from his girlfriend

Best of luck with that!

 

[DG Rider]

Any update on this tbaker?

 

[tbaker]

what with my sons girlfriend or climbing the hill. well me and my son went to the woods today on the pioneer with the 27 inch GBC DIRT TAMER tires and the pioneer went up and over everything in its way. the new tires make a big difference in the ride and the turning of the pioneer. got the tires off of ebay for 450 dollars and free shipping and i put them on the factory rims. by the way the only reason the son went along was because the girlfriend plays college softball and they were playing in another state plus i give him a good chunck of change to get his dirt bike fixed. but in the end the pioneer was great and we were able to find some deer horns in the woods so he was glad he went.

 

[primeau]

Muffler assembly problems?

I had an issue with my Pioneer the other day and couldn't figure it out until i took the spark arrester out. First of all, my Pioneer had good power before but after a few rides i felt as though the power was diminishing, just figured it was all the snow and having tracks on it was what was going on. Then the other day the bike was having trouble changing gears and finally not even changing gears and staying in first gear. I checked everything…then i thought if my air filter is fine and it seems like it's choking, i decided to take the spark arrester assembly out of the muffler and as i pulled it out i saw a sort of baffle inside the muffler that seemed to be just "loose" and out of place. Once i took the spark arrester off and went for a ride, all i can say is WOW! The bike has never felt like it had this kind of power before. I think the muffler is just defective and being that i only have 600kms on it i'm sure the dealer will replace this on warranty. Just a heads up if anybody has performance issues of this kind.

 

[Hondasxs]

Seems to be a growing problem.
Hey primea, Think you can get any good pictures of the problem! I know its mostly inside but would like to see anything you can show.
Thanks.

 

[HondaTim]

2 questions ... the spark arrester is the baffle right?...and if you take it out ... and run it with it out....will it hurt the motor?

 

[Hondasxs]

2 questions ... the spark arrester is the baffle right?...and if you take it out ... and run it with it out....will it hurt the motor?

Yes, Look at page 2, 2nd to last post is a pic of the spark assister/baffle.
Everyone has there own opinion on removing it.
If anything it will open it up. Actually, I received a muffler tip this week. Let me get a pic of it.
I'm sure the Honda tech's want a cretin level of back pressure, taking it out frees that up and will provide a tad more Power.
Could lean it out but the EFI is supposed to compensate.

HOWEVER, Keep in mind that most all OHV parks require the spark assister.
It also opens it up to more Mud/Water and after several deep mud holes you will have a stopped up muffler.