[flyvet]

Hello All,
I have a problem with my machine. Also, it is on a small Bahamian island with only one car mechanic (there are no other side by sides on the island and for sure no Can Am's except this one.)
2014 Commander with 750 miles on it gave a slight clunking sound from what sounded like the engine and lost power. When I stopped the engine stalled but started up after a couple of cranks and sounded fine. At the time I was doing about 50 on hard pack. Temps ok by the gauge. Bluish white smoke came out the exhaust. Got it back to garage very slowly. Starts fine the next day and ran fine. Took it out and when it hit about 5500 RPM the momentary clunk again. No smoke out tail but the engine was not to temp yet. I have examined the engine and see no external issues such as smoking, oil or coolant leaks etc. Oil level and coolant levels are fine also. All suggestions are appreciated....and keep in mind my tools here are very basic. Thank you. Gary

 

[flyvet]

More information: I figured out how to get the p codes. I have P1171 (lean during acceleration) and 0167 (Heated oxy sensor). Anyone know where to go from there? and does this sound like my issue as described above.

 

[LBR]

Well Gary, I took all the pieces of info in your first post and pretended they were dice, shook them up and tried to roll a Yahtzee....it all sounds like a drive belt delaminating to me.....clunk was a small piece of belt hitting the cover, lost power is belt starting to fray, engine died was a belt thread fouling up the clutch so it wouldn't idle, then immediately cleared itself so engine restart was fine, belts do this at higher rpms (50 mph), smoke out exhaust was actually the belt thread burning and coming out the CVT exhaust (not engine exhaust), next time you took out to 5500 rpm, another piece of belt hit the cover like day before.

Your second post of both codes is correct. I can't correlate those codes to a belt problem (if that is it), soooooo......

What I would do is pull that CVT cover and check/replace the belt. If it is bad, make sure after it is removed, you start engine and verify the primary is working OK....check secondary for threads back behind the inner sheave by the helix and spring...use a wire or whatever and clean both the CVT intake and exhaust ports of belt fragments. Google Utube for the zillion videos on these clutches and things to look for and how the primary and secondary interact with each other.

When finished, I would remove the negative battery cable and have a beverage of choice, reattach it, turn on key, and read the dash remarks. Run it, check things out, then try to pull P codes again. The ECU may reset back OK when the cable is taken off. Cheers. Let us know what you find out.

 

[LBR]

This is how we fray belts here on the West Coast...lol

 

[flyvet]

Wow. Thank you very much and I will keep that in mind and no doubt that probably will happen here at some point. I need to have a spare belt down here..... So, I just got more info. I pulled the plugs and one of them was totally collapsed (no gap at all) and was scratched badly. I regapped it and the machine works perfectly. Since it is under warranty for one more week I am sending it on the boat to a dealer as I suspect something broke off in the cylinder (ring maybe) and smashed the plug. I could not see anything in the cylinder but only had a flashlight and as you know it is at on odd angle. Have you ever heard of anything like this? Again thanks for your reply.......I learned a lot.

 

[LBR]

Wow is right. You will read about 4 dozen belt/clutch problems before hearing of one Rotax engine problem. I hope when service tears into your machine, they find a bad belt also....so I can personally redeem my troubleshooting diagnostics! Seriously, after that plug closed and scuff marked up, it is time to pull that head. Keep us in the loop when you get it back what all happened please. And isn't it goofy that a P code was for a lean condition when one would think it should show a rich condition, if anything?