I've got an 07 Polaris 800 Sportsman with about 10 hours on it. I bought it new and haven't flipped, tipped or abused it in any way. Yesterday when I began doing my first general maintenance I found that the oil level didn't even register on the dipstick. No biggie because I was getting ready to do an oil change anyway, but after only 10 hours of riding ? Then as I opened the air cleaner box to switch to a K & N found that the pre filter was covered in oil, and that there was about a pint of oil in the bottom of the air cleaner box. I called the dealer and he claimed that it was probably from loading the Sportsman into my pick up using the 7 ft ramps. He said that it wasn't unusual to have that happen and no to worry. Has anyone else had a problem like this, or is he just blowing me off ?

Your assistance with this would be greatly appreciated.

I'm really surprised that no one has commented on this. Is my problem that unusual, or is it so obvious that I shouldn't even have to ask the question ?

Mornin skromfols

10 hours of riding and it ran out of oil, Don't sound right to me. Question,,, did you check the oil when you got it??

First off find another dealer this one is blowing you full of smoke. You don't lose oil loading in the truck. I used to load mine in a 4x4 with 3ft off the ground tailgate and 6 ft ramps.

If its losing oil loading it in your truck what will happen when you are climbing hills on the trails. I also would recommend finding a nother dealer or calling Polaris.

Your dealer is a ding dong. But with only 10 miles on it the rings are not seated and it will have some extra blow by until they do. BUT it does seem alittle excessive to me.

quote:

Originally posted by Cob:
First off find another dealer this one is blowing you full of smoke. You don't lose oil loading in the truck. I used to load mine in a 4x4 with 3ft off the ground tailgate and 6 ft ramps.

same here, never had a problem, your dealer is full of it

usually the reasons there is oil in the airbox,....wheelies, rollover, overfilling the oil

First off did you check your oil level with the quad parked on a level surface. It doesn't get much of an incline to get a false reading. That much oil in the air box isn't normal and since the breather is on top of the valve cover you would have to have the quad darn near upside down to have leaked that much oil. On the other hand if the dealer overfilled it that is a possiblity. But then where did the oil in the crankcase go?

I think I would be looking for a new dealer. That or flat out demand they find out what the problem is. Losing oil from loading in a truck. That is a good one.I have loaded into a truck literally thousands of times and have never had a problem. I would be taking a flat land machine like that back. You would lose oil on every hill.

Thanks to everyone for your responses. To respond to your questions and comments, I plead guilty for not checking the oil when I purchased it. I know I should have and just didn't. Second, when I checked the oil the machine was sitting on my garage floor, so it was flat and level. After topping off the oil and cleaning the oil out of the filter box I loaded it into my truck for a day of riding. I put about 20 miles on it up in the mountains yesterday, some fairly steep stuff, and checked when I got home and there was no oil in the filter box.

What I'm thinking is that the dealer may have overfilled it initially, or as Quad Daddy said, maybe it had excessive blow by while the rings were seating. In any case, the problem seems to have been solved, and I will definitely find a new dealer.

Thanks again for all of the great information.

My 07 500 also sucked oil up into the air box right after the 10 hr service, (done at the dealer) but they had overfilled it with oil while serviceing. Once I drained it down and cleaned up the airbox, I haven't had any more issues with it.
That doesn't explain why it would be so low that it didn't register on the dipstick the first time you checked it though.
Maybe it had sucked up some oil initially, doesn't take much to make a mess, and then lost some to blowby.
Hope you don't have any more problems with it, but I'd keep a close eye on it for a while.