Arctic Cat Prowler Forums banner

Prowler case leaks What oil are you running?

2K views 3 replies 4 participants last post by  goonski 
#1 ·
OK, let’s see if we all can get together and find out what is causing this oil leak in the CVT case with the prowlers.

Is it bad seals? Is it the type of oil you use (synthetic)? something else or a combination!

I’m trying to get a thread stated with everyone who has or has had an oil leak in their CVT case and what type of oil are you running. I’m not really fishing for the brand of oil (I don’t want to bad mouth any particular brand) but more if you’re running synthetic or not.

I just had a long talk with my Oil rep, who has forgotten more about oil than most people know and here is what I understand from the conversation.

Synthetic hydrocarbon oils contain an additive that causes SEAL SWELL to prevent oil leakage from happening. Each brand of synthetic oil has different additives in their oil to address seal leakage. The correct amount of swell is a tricky issue, to much swell and you wear out the seal fast, to little swell and you have a leak.

There are 5 groups of oil:

Group 1 and 2 are regular petroleum hydrocarbon oil.

Group 3 and above is where synthetic oils come into play. Group3 and above are synthetic petroleum with synthetic additives Poly Alpha Olefin (PAO)

Group 4 and 5 are your high end synthetic oils, Synthetic hydrocarbons (man made) with Poly Ol Ester (POL) additives.

All this means is that each oil brand has it’s own secret sauce to prevent oil seal leakage or Seal Swell.

If we can find out who has leaks and what oil their running maybe we can make a correlation between the two and see if certain types of synthetic oils may in fact be contributing to leaks or not.
 
See less See more
#2 ·
Great Post, this seems to be a big issue.

I bought my prowler used with 730 miles on it. After a month I blew the drive belt. When I replaced the drive belt I also found the rollers in the primary clutch with flat spots, so I replaced them also. while doing this work there was no indication of an oil leak. After putting it back together I did an oil change. The dealer recommended using Maxima 50/50 syn blend so I did. After about 12hrs on the new belt I removed the cover to inspect everything and noticed an oil leak. I then dissassembled and replaced the o-ring and both shaft seals. At this point I did another oil changed and read the manual, which does not recommend syn for 2006 it calls for SAE 10W40. Which they changed to an all weather syn for the newer machines. Basically I think by changing to syn I caused my oil leak, because the seals looked good and showed no damage. The old saying is if it came with syn then used it but if it did not come with it don't use it.

Well after 25miles/ 4hrs on the new seals I finally did my follow up inspection. Everything looks good and the leak is gone. After the seal replacement I service the engine oil with the OEM 10W40 non syn Arctic Cat oil, which is what the manual calls for. Time for a dune trip. Yahoo
__________________



 
#4 ·
I have a 2009 XTX700 and at 510 miles on it, I brought it in to the dealer for it's first change as recommened by the dealer. When I picked it up the service rep informed me that the tech put the wrong oil in it, he put in arctic cat 10w40 instead of the synthetic that it called for, but assured me that it will be fine until the next change. At 580 miles, I had an issue with the cvt, it seemed to lock up as if in "high gear" and would not pull itself, it would move if you put it in low. I opened the belt cover and found oil in the bottom, so I phoned the dealer and he told me to bring it in and he will look at it. They replaced the seals under warrenty and I was told that there was updated seals and I should not have any more problems. When they replaced the seals, I mentoined that they should put the right oil in the engine this time, so they put the synthetic in it and so far so good, its now at almost 700 miles. Hopes this helps!
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top