2011 800 cold weather starts

[fultons]

I have purchased a plow for my 11 800 however it has been around zero the last couple days and when I try to start it to plow the drive, it will not even turn over the engine. It sounds as if the starter engages but will not turn the engine over at all, is this a due to the small battery not having enough cold cranking amps or is my battery shot, or do I need to get a block heater to keep the engine warm enough to start?

[options89]

I would try charging the battery first to see if thats the issue, if that doesn't work I would say your battery is shot. My 2012 has been outside for the past couple of days and she still fires up fine.

[Bruce!]

Welcome to the board!

[800touring]

my 800 fired up under 2 feet of snow and 4 below zero

[bp405]

did a little battery research on here a couple of months ago and these batteries are hit n miss. if u say u hear the bendix engaging and the starter not turning my first attack would be the the battery. try charging it.

[bakada]

Put a battery tender on it and always keep it plugged in when it is parked and especially when it is cold. Ive got ATV batteries that have been going strong for over 10 years that are always plugged in when they are parked.

[wolverine22]

yeah i hear that a lot from people that plow. Your winch uses a lot of power its a good idea to put it on a battery charger after your done plowing. -30 here and still starting like its summer

[bakada]

Originally Posted by wolverine22

yeah i hear that a lot from people that plow. Your winch uses a lot of power its a good idea to put it on a battery charger after your done plowing. -30 here and still starting like its summer

Thats a good point but there is more involved. I had an Interstate battery guy tell me that these little power sport batteries do not like to sit. It doesn't take much for them to loose there charge when they are not used and then plates short and the battery is toast. He said if you are going to leave it sitting for more than a few days to plug it into a tender. He told me that if they drop to less than 12 volts they run the risk of freezing when it gets cold and then there toast. If you keep them plugged in all the time then they are always ready to go and during the winter they will always be at 13 or more volts that way they will never freeze. I have had batteries that I have left sitting all winter plugged in at temperatures nearing 50 below and they fired right off come spring. As mentioned in my previous post I have batteries that are over 10 years old that are still going strong. It took me complaining to the Interstate guy about having to put a new battery in my ATV and snow machines every 2 years before I finally received an education on Small Battery 101. Battery tenders are at the heart of keeping a power sport battery going. I have dedicated 2 prong plugs on the sides of all my machines that I just plug the tender right into when I park them. They have short heavy guage wires run right to the batteries and they make a great power port for getting juice for inverters or 12 volt pumps.

[WIscrambler]

I'm having the same problem with my 2011 800. I had to use jumper cables on it this morning when it was 10 degrees outside. After plowing and using the winch for an hour, I shut the machine off. I immediately tried to restart the machine, and the battery was too weak. Did I mention I bought the machine new 4 months ago? I have an appointment at the local Polaris dealer on Tuesday to have it looked at under warranty.

[bakada]

The battery is still probably 2 years old. Let them replace it under warranty but put a battery tender on it especially in the winter and it will last years longer.