First of all I would like to say that I find this site to be very helpful and informative and great members always willing to help in any way they can. My issue is not with the site, but I wanted to post my experience with SBT's engines because frankly I based my purchase decision off the feedback of SBT on this site. While there were negative posts with regard to their engines the comments that followed seemed to shed enough doubt on the original post that I was able to get over my concerns.
Unfortunately for me, my fears were realized with what was clearly a faulty product and now a complete lack of support for the quality of their product. My story is well documented on every post I have made to this site, with a wealth of support and ideas to fix my issue of backfiring through the carbs. The old engine had something kick through the RV and tear up the case and RV, so it should have been a swap and plop. The only visible symptom was that you could see gas pushing back out of the RV and back into the carb when cranking. As I look back now, it should have tipped me off that I have a seal issue in the case. As I slowly made my way through all of the causes over the summer, it never came to mind that an newly remanufactured engine would be the culprit. This list include:
- rebuilt carbs with Mikuni kit and new n/s
- cleaned fuel system & selector
- replaced rectifier
- replaced amplifier
- remachined RV case
- bought a new rotary valve
- checked ignition timing with timing light
- check rv timing 5 times
- checked stator 3 times (Yep I pulled the engine each time)
Last weekend, my cousin and I (and the forum) finally ran out of ideas. Seeing as SBT touts their no question asked warranty I figured it was my last resort before sending the ski to its final resting place. I received the new engine along with a report stating "unknown cause, rear main inner bearing rattles when spinning freely". Based on this report we had low expectations this weekend as we put the new engine it, but to our astonishment the ski fired up crisply and ran flawlessly during the break in. I followed the break in to the letter and now she rips just like the old days in early May.
When I reached out to SBT to ask that they extend my warranty as I spent the extra money for the premium edition, they refused to extend it the 4 lost months. Living in MN my riding is limited to May to September, so these 4 months are critical and do become an issue when you spend a summer troubleshooting a faulty engine. The excuse I was given is that since this is a no fault warranty and the owner can be completely negligent in the engine failure it is a give and take type warranty.
Even after seeing other posts on this company and even having fellow forum member tell me that this happend to him I still didn't believe a poorly manufactured engine could be the culprit. Unfortunately, I was wrong about a great many things this summer including SBT's quality of work and their lack of ability to stand behind their product. I understand that errors happen and quality can vary in one's product, however the real test of a company is their willingness to make things right and stand behind their product. I have my answer in this case, but I hope that my post helps others avoid my mistake and make an informed decision.
Unfortunately for me, my fears were realized with what was clearly a faulty product and now a complete lack of support for the quality of their product. My story is well documented on every post I have made to this site, with a wealth of support and ideas to fix my issue of backfiring through the carbs. The old engine had something kick through the RV and tear up the case and RV, so it should have been a swap and plop. The only visible symptom was that you could see gas pushing back out of the RV and back into the carb when cranking. As I look back now, it should have tipped me off that I have a seal issue in the case. As I slowly made my way through all of the causes over the summer, it never came to mind that an newly remanufactured engine would be the culprit. This list include:
- rebuilt carbs with Mikuni kit and new n/s
- cleaned fuel system & selector
- replaced rectifier
- replaced amplifier
- remachined RV case
- bought a new rotary valve
- checked ignition timing with timing light
- check rv timing 5 times
- checked stator 3 times (Yep I pulled the engine each time)
Last weekend, my cousin and I (and the forum) finally ran out of ideas. Seeing as SBT touts their no question asked warranty I figured it was my last resort before sending the ski to its final resting place. I received the new engine along with a report stating "unknown cause, rear main inner bearing rattles when spinning freely". Based on this report we had low expectations this weekend as we put the new engine it, but to our astonishment the ski fired up crisply and ran flawlessly during the break in. I followed the break in to the letter and now she rips just like the old days in early May.
When I reached out to SBT to ask that they extend my warranty as I spent the extra money for the premium edition, they refused to extend it the 4 lost months. Living in MN my riding is limited to May to September, so these 4 months are critical and do become an issue when you spend a summer troubleshooting a faulty engine. The excuse I was given is that since this is a no fault warranty and the owner can be completely negligent in the engine failure it is a give and take type warranty.
Even after seeing other posts on this company and even having fellow forum member tell me that this happend to him I still didn't believe a poorly manufactured engine could be the culprit. Unfortunately, I was wrong about a great many things this summer including SBT's quality of work and their lack of ability to stand behind their product. I understand that errors happen and quality can vary in one's product, however the real test of a company is their willingness to make things right and stand behind their product. I have my answer in this case, but I hope that my post helps others avoid my mistake and make an informed decision.
