Welcome Arctic C Trail, most of these engines are noisy, but I don't have a Trail, to give you the best answer. Sunday has always been a rough day for responses as most are out riding. Congrats on your machine though. Have you looked into harnesses yet? I always recommend harnesses and a harness bar to all members.

 

The little 700 is a bit of a screamer. That said I was convinced of the same thing with less than 1k mikes on mine. Requested an inspect and adjust with the next oil change and it did indeed quiet it down.

 

My 2018 Trail makes some noise. More than the 2017 demo we test rode.

 

Welcome Wheelieman18, congrats on your car too! As always look into harnesses and a harness bar. Safety first, fluff later.

 

I did send it back and they started it when cold then started other units and said they sound the same. I don't think they did a valve adjustment though. I'm hoping it breaks in a bit more. Other then that I can't believe the power the engine makes for being just a 700. I love the machine so far. Adding a bunch of goodies this week. ( stereo , winch , box etc) would love a harness but would i need new seats to?Building an aluminium roof and windshield instal next on the list.

 

You won't need new seats. Harnesses should be everyone's first mod. One day they will save your life.

 

Just put harness bar & harness in my 16 trail yesterday & no you do not need new seats

 

Yes they are noisy, yes they are money pits yes they are a hell of a lot of fun, nuff said

 

Best bang for the buck harness system.

 

Everybody has their favorite, so that's going to be tough. Many members seem to favorite the Dragonfire harness bar. They are not a a Supporting Vendors on here, so you will have to do a search. Many of our a Supporting Vendors on here do sell harnesses. Depends on what you want / like. Harnesses come in either 2" wide or 3" wide. Some like the 2", some like the 3". They also come in a variety of colors. Check the Supporting Vendors area, click the forum tab, and scroll down to the vendor area. I have UTV Inc. harnesses, no complaints. They are also on sale currently.

 

I had the same issue with mine when I first go it. It just didn't sound right. Weird transmission noise, engine sounded like a bolt was bouncing around, and just overall real noisy. I was really concerned. After driving it for a few hundred miles all the weird noises went away. Especially after I changed the oil. The engine and transmission just need some time to break-in. Now it purrs like a kitten. Even after the break-in they are still fairly noisy rigs. Earplugs fix that problem.
Btw, put the harness first on your list. I bought 3" DragonFire Harnesses and the harness bar. I now wish I would have gotten the 2" harness because the 3" ones are a little bulky. There is not only the bonus of safety. But the harness allows you to the steer instead of use the steering wheel as a handhold! And it allows your to keep you foot on the gas and brake.

 

I am with Curt. I just bought a 2016 SE in December. Thought it was a little noisy. I just did the break in fluids change and the noises have seemed to decrease dramatically. I found no reason to adjust the valves and they even seem to have quieted down after the oil change. I live in Ohio and on one of our weather snaps when it went from cold to hot I did have trouble with mine for the most part refusing to shift. Between that and the noises, I was convinced the trans axle was going out, but when I would turn the key off it would shift fine. Began to think it was maybe idling high for some reason but the tach did not indicate that it was. I checked the intake track for leakage and finally did a throttle position sensor reset which fixed the shifting issue.

Yes Hollywood, I ordered Harnesses.

 

Mine is noisy (mostly my fault)

 

Noisy

[QUI OTE=hemmt;1332137]Mine is noisy (mostly my fault)[/QUOTE] I have a 14 and installed DEI from Summit Racing in the very beginning. Do wear a full face helmet. I hear no noise, only music or a working machine.

Did the back panel upgrade just before I put it away and have no clue what the noise level is now. If it is noisy, get more DEI.

 

DEI? Whats that stand for?

 

Design Engineering Inc sound deadening material.

 

To help with valve noise you could run a heavier oil. 0-40 is AC's recommendation for 'all season' oil. If you do plan on changing your oil out and running two differet weights, like we did in the good old days, you would run that 0-40 in the winter and something heavier in the summer. I've been running 15-50 for the summer since I got mine. Now I noticed AC has released a new 15-50 summer formula for Wildcats so if you were thinking AC would recoomend against anything heavier than 0-40 well that just proves that wrong. So give your engine extra protection in the summer and run the heavier stuff. No need to go as thin as 0-40 unless your are riding in freezing cold weather. This 15-50 oil quiets the valves down some so that's the other bonus you get for free.

 

Jesse - Where did you see (link or something) that the trail can recommend a summer oil of 15w-50? I just looked at the 2018 manual and it say to only use 0w-40 in this engine.

My engine is much quieter than my dads. His you can hear the valve terrain noise a lot when you let off the gas.

 

You got to remember one thing, all OEM's assume their customers are stupid, and so to keep things simple and help prevent a customer from forgetting to change the summer oil to winter oil when the season changes, they just recomend an all season oil. It's a compromise plain and simple. Of coarse a summer weight oil would be best when used in the summer. Since I put mine away for the winter and don't ride below 50 degrees I run summer weight all the time. Unless you run in extreme cold why would you want an oil weigh as low a 0? Under hot conditions this oil will sheer long before a 15-50 would. AC isn't the only one putting out 15-50 for summer UTV use now. Polaris and Can-am also have a formula for summer use.

 

And out of the new AC catalog they got a summer oil formula listed in this pic. Get that for the Wildcat in the summer.

 

A better pic. Straight from the horses mouth. AC says the 0-40 formula is best used when you ride at 32 and below. In other words like I was saying 'all weather oil' is just code for winter weight. Can be used in the summer too but not as ideal as a weight as high as 50.

 

Good to know. Wounder what Cat determines as high temp? Will look into this.

 

Good to know. Wounder what Cat determines as high temp? Will look into this.

What do they mean by high temp? Well I just explained that. Pretty much any weather that isn't cold weather. Like AC said, if you are trying to use your machine below 32 then use this 'all season' oil (winter oil). If you want better engine protection in the summer then use the 10-50 or 15-50 weight. AC got 15-50 some others make 10-50 or even 5-50, but the lower the spread the better the oil actually protects in hot weather. For 15-50 the spread is only 35 vs a spread of 45 for 5-50. That means there is more compromise built into the 5-50 oil. They put in more tinning agents to keep it more fluid in cold temps, but this poly chain interferes with the 50 weight oil during high temp operation. So the less of the thinning agent you got the better the 50 weight will protect your engine at hot temp. I'd prefer a 20-50 myself cause I dont ride in the cold at all. But I haven't seen a good make doing 20-50. The closer to straight weight oil I can get the better in my case.

 

Oh I plan on making a Youtube vid of these mods. It's almost time to break it out for riding and then I'll post some vids of my mods.

 

Aside from engine noise, i noticed a lot of drive line noise today.