Post and Preseason Snowmobile Maintenance
Author: Lisa L. Wojcik, SnowmobilingStore.com
Maintenance for your snowmobile starts the day you are parking it until the next season. This is when you look for any new problems. As you take a part your snowmobile you should look at each part of it to see what needs your attention.
Drain the old gas out of the gas tank after the season, and put fresh gas in come the new season. This will help your engine to run better. There is also a little trick that you can use to help the gas fill up the gas line and carb, and that is taking your air gun and pushing air into the tank, this will pressurize it and cause the gas to get into all areas needed, and start well.
Remove and clean your carburetor. Any build up inside of them will make your snowmobile run badly. You do not want to burn a hole in a piston. This could leave you needing costly repairs later. To clean your carb:
1. Remove the air-box.
2. Crimp the fuel lines or take them off.
3. Remove the throttle and choke cables, if needed.
4. Empty the fuel tank and take off the primer lines if your machine has them.
5. Remove carburetor mounts and remove carbs, if you have a multi-carburetored engine your PTO and Mag side carbs are might be different, so be sure to mark them clearly.
6. Remove the float bowl.
7. Look inside of the float bowl for any build up or grime.
8. Look at the pilot and main jets, which are inside the carb main body, hold them up to the light and look through them.
9. All dirty or gunked up carb parts should be soaked in carb cleaner, washed to get the cleaner off and then blown dry. Make sure that you check everything again to be sure that it is all now clean. Reinstall the carb once it is dry.
You should grease your snowmobile at the beginning of each new season. Look in the owner's manual for directions in finding all of the grease zerks. You will need a grease gun and grease. Then this part is done, and you should have a smooth start.
You should always remove the skid frame from your machine at the end of the season each year and inspect them for any damage they may have obtained during the season. Most of your attention should be placed on the bearings in the skid and sliders. A good way to check the bearings is to give each wheel a spin, if you hear any noise you need to replace it.
Slides have wear marks on the side of them. You need to closely inspect the full slide. They should not be worn close to the mark in any place. Do not second guess
yourself as to whether they can hold up for the season, if you have any doubt, replace them. You should also make sure that all of the skid frame bolts are tightened.
Since you have the skid already out you should check the shocks in it. If your shocks are making hissing noises when you cycle them up and down you need to either rebuild or replace your shocks and that would depend on which shocks you have.
Make sure that you check your track. If you have no track, this means you have no brakes. You should check to see if any of the lugs are loose by moving the lugs back and forth to see if any of them are loose or ready to come loose. If they are or a stud is coming through it is time to replace the track.
For your spark plug care, start the sled with last year's plugs and run it until the fogging oil has burned out. When the exhaust is clean is the time to change the plugs, this saves you from getting your new plugs covered in fogging oil.
