pmbaseball24

Still having an issue with the fuel tank pressure. Went for a ride this weekend (getting warm out here in AZ, probably 95 degrees when we were riding) and I heard a whine coming from the engine area when we took a break and the engine was at idle. Lifted the bed and it was coming from the tank. Unscrewed the filler cap and it instantly blew pressure out the tank and the whine stopped. I verified that none of the lines are pinched in any way. Is there any way to test these one way valves on the breathing system? Also had a few periods of smelling fuel vapors during the ride. One would think if pressure was building and it wasn’t releasing at all, no fumes would be smelled? Thoroughly confused at this point. Has anyone had any of these issues or know of any tests to see what is going on?

I have the springs from S3 which does lift the defender. I forget what the total lift was, I believe it was around an inch and a half. I don’t believe this was necessary to fit the wheel and tire combo.

Yes I am.

Thanks! This gives me some things to test out. As always, your help and knowledge are much appreciated.

You bring up an interesting point here.... I’m curious what your thoughts are. I don’t mean to hijack this thread, maybe it is somehow related to Bill’s problem... My defender threw an engine misfire code about a month ago. Checked everything out, and it all seemed fine. I did decide to replace the fuel pickup prefilter just out of precaution. It was a little brown which is understandable considering the desert areas we ride in. Fast forward to last weekend and my fuel gauge started showing abnormal levels. I know the tank was full and topped off pre-ride. It started reading half full and down to empty at one point. We got back from the ride and it took 2 gallons to fill it back up. I double checked that the alignment marks were correct on the pump, so that should eliminate the possibility of the float being obstructed or getting stuck in a certain position on the side of the tank. I remember unscrewing the gas cap before I pulled the pump this last time and there was definitely pressure in there. I’m assuming it was positive pressure blowing fumes out instead of sucking air in. Your comment on the pressure build up made me wonder.... the clear breather hose coming out of these units... are they supposed to allow air in and out? Or is it more of a one way valve? I took the white plastic filter piece off the hangs above the air box and I could blow air in the clear tube but could not pull any air out. This was tested with the gas cap off. It makes me wonder if my recent issues could somehow be related to abnormal pressures in the tank or a breather tube not functioning properly. Thanks for all your insight Andy!

It should use the same 1” in the rear for yours to even it out. Your machine might end up in the 70-72” range with the 4+3 offset. I posted a picture in an upper post of the spacer I used. I don’t know if you saw it or not. Keep us posted as you get everything put together. I’m excited to see it!!

Yea for $400, I’d be doing that project myself for sure. I have more peace of mind knowing that I took the time to run stuff right and make good connections, etc. Dealers, not all of them, have been known to cut some corners along the way. I also enjoy getting to know the machine. Gaining the knowledge of how things are put together can help you out in the future. yes, wheel spacers are super easy. Just have your torque wrench handy. One side note for you on the wheels... these use the tapered lug nuts to center the wheel on the hub. Make sure the taper is seated correctly in the wheel before you tighten them down. If the aren’t centered, you could damage the tapered “seat” of the wheel. This will make sense once you get them.

Good looking combo you have picked out! I didn’t know can am had factory spacers. I used the rocktrix brand. Found them on Amazon. I did all my modifications by myself. The Corbin setup was pretty easy. I’d say it was a 2 or 3 on the 1-10 scale of difficulty. Pop the dash cluster out. Removed the two floor panels in the middle of the cab that cover the coolant lines and wiring running to the rear and just start fishing it through. You basically remove most of the factory wire harness and just follow the same path for the Corbin kit. One word of advise... lay it all out on the floor before you start to make sure you have the right direction and right lengths running to the correct lights. For example, the rear tail lights run along the rear passenger side upper frame rail. The one running to the rear passenger brake light has a shorter pigtail than the one cutting across to the driver side. Seems like common sense, but I ran these wires and somehow had them reversed.

Just measured it... 68” front and rear. Maybe add an inch or so to both sides for tire sidewall bulge. I would say no more than 70” true overall width.

Thanks Jason! It’s been a lot of fun building it to this point. Wheel and tire setup I’m running have been very impressive. I would recommend this combo to anyone. I run them at 8psi. Yes, the 1” rear spacer got my wheels as close as possible to the same width. Best of luck when you get your new machine!! I bet March can’t come soon enough for ya! If you have any questions, let me know.

Welcome to the forum! My Wife and I live in Tucson. Where are you?

Lots of good options listed here so far. I got a scissor jack from rock mountain atv along with a tusk mount that clamps to the 2” cross bar of the roll cage inside the cab. Plenty of head room, doesn’t get in the way at all. Hope to never need it 🤞🏻. Just another option for you...

Hey cooper, check out this thread. I added these pads to my machine and they have made a world of difference.

Thanks for your insight Andy! I may be wrong but I believe the quick trip gas station I fill up at out here in Arizona is “top tier” gasoline which is just an additive package when fuel is ordered, with a maximum of 10% ethanol. I’ll double check that next time I stop by. I would assume with our dry climate out here, the fuel should be less prone to moisture absorption? Maybe that theory is completely wrong, I have no idea. When I changed the prefilter on the pump, I didn’t notice any moisture or water in the tank. Keeping my fingers crossed this was just a fluke thing. Thanks again for your help!!

👍🏻👍🏻

Added an odyssey pc1200 battery! Posted about the install on another thread.

Has anyone come across this code? Went on a little ride yesterday and about 12 miles in, my first check engine code. Apparently it’s a cylinder 2 misfire. I could hear it knocking and running a little rough for about 10 seconds when I stopped and tilted the bed up. Drove it back to the trailer in limp mode, no knocking, sounded normal other than it being in limp mode. Got home to get it off the trailer and code was gone, running fine. What do you think? Just a fluke? Or something bigger to look into? here is what I know so far: 82 hours on our defender, 1050 miles. Running in high when the code came up. About 20 mph on flat ground. Fuel was 89 octane and was only about 2 weeks old. Full tank. I’ll be filling with 87 octane “top tier” gas from now on after reading the other thread about knocking and stalling issues. Maybe this could have been my problem? checked the spark plug wires. Good connections on plug. Pulled the spark plugs, checked gap .034 on both. Plugs looked good. I did realize that I hooked my battery up in reverse order from what the manual says after my battery install project. Whoops. Would this cause a misfire code though after 30 minutes of riding? I don’t know. But for the future... disconnect negative before positive and hook up positive before negative. Note taken. pulled the fuel pump out of the tank. Pump prefilter was a little brown. Very dusty conditions out here in the desert. Bought some replacements just in case. I’ll change this piece out and post a picture of the old one. Hard to tell if mine is actually clogged or being restrictive to fuel flow. Maybe this was the culprit? any help is appreciated!

Thanks for the pictures! Looks like different model years and also 4 door and 2 door defenders have different configurations for the battery pocket. This project took a little bit of time to get it to fit. Again, I think this is due to my machine being a max and from what I can tell the depth of the battery pocket is smaller than the non-max defenders. I’m curious to hear if any other max owners have gone through this process with the pc1200 battery. I started by using the dremel to remove the molded black pieces on the driver and passenger side of the battery. Got them sanded flat to the floor. Good to go there. Did a test fit with the battery and it fit as far as right to left, but did not fit front to back. The battery just barely slid down into the lowered battery compartment past the raised floor. Keep in mind, this is with all the wires now relocated on top of the battery so I wasn’t getting any interference there. This was good, however I found out the plastic battery cover wouldn’t fit because the battery was too far “forward”. Using the factory vertical battery hold down was out of the question at this point because the holes that the 2 bolts go in we’re covered by a good inch or so. I realized the top rear of the battery (the red cap piece) was hitting the black plastic firewall. I traced out the top of the battery on the firewall and back to the dremel. I removed about 8” of width and 1” of height. This plastic has a slant to it so I only had to remove the top part. This was handy because it created a new pocket for the battery to slide into. The will keep it from moving left to right. Be careful with this step because the gas tank is behind the plastic getting removed. Battery finally slid in perfect and cleared the battery cover. I used some of the 1/2” insulation I used for sound deadening on the firewall and put that on the floor. Added another piece on top of the battery so wires aren’t rubbing on top. Cut a couple of groves on the floor to fish a lashing strap over the top of the battery to secure it in place. Done! Took a few hours to get this all buttoned up. Fingers crossed I get a good life span out of this. Some say this is a 8-10 year battery. The Arizona heat kills batteries, so hopefully this was a worth while modification. Hope this helps someone looking to add this battery on a max unit.

Wondering if anyone has successfully installed this size battery in a 2020 machine? I know a few guys have had success with 2018 and maybe 2019 models. I took the battery cover off tonight and noticed a molded black piece of the floor that creates a “seat” for the factory battery. I didn’t see this piece on the older models. Looks like the width of the battery might not work without cutting this out (which I’m guessing is a possibility worst case scenario). Anyway, hopefully someone has some insight. Thanks in advance for your help!

Interesting video for everyone! I watch most of the TFL guys videos and it was cool to see a defender make an appearance. It’s impressive to see how capable these machines are when put to the test. Happy Saturday! https://tfltruck.com/2021/01/video-can-a-side-by-side-can-am-defender-6x6-work-as-hard-as-a-truck-on-the-ranch-we-torture-test-them/

Bad ass rig!!! Love the changes you made! Welcome to the forum 🙂

Can you upload some pictures of what is going on? I have never seen or heard of this.

Added a full size spare. I went with the Hornet mount and it’s pretty solid! Added a strap on the bottom to add some stability to the setup.

I chose the Corbin custom works turn signal kit. I’m assuming this isn’t the cheapest option, but the fit and finish and utilization of the factory connectors had me sold.

Quick build update! Added the factory half doors this weekend. What a royal pain in the a$$ this was. Haha. Granted, my first door job ever. Still had trouble getting everything to line up correctly and gap/seal right. I know there was a part number update to these doors for the 2020 model year. Both front doors went on fairly smooth. Everything lined up good. The rear doors, not so much. This door kit has an metal piece that runs up the rear of each door and has a hinge up high that mounts to the top of the cage. On the rear doors, if the door was square in the opening, the metal bracket wasn’t. If I squared up the metal bracket with the cage, the door wasn’t square in the opening. Took a little extra “engineering” and tweaking, but it’s all done! I want to give a big shout out to the guys at adrenaline motor sports in casa grande. This is where we purchased our defender new last year. We live in tucson which is about an hour and a half from the dealership. John, the parts manager took good care of us when we bought and picked up the doors last weekend. I didn’t get around to installing them until this weekend. When I opened the box on Friday I noticed that some parts had some defects on the powder coating, etc. called John on Saturday and he said no worries, just figure out what replacements you need, bring them up with you and we will open another door kit and just swap them out. So much easier than having to pack up all the stuff and swap out the whole kit. A little inconvenient driving up there, but John’s approach to this was awesome and very helpful. Took a few bad parts up, met the guys at the warehouse to swap them out, and back home I went. These guys have been great to work with since day one. Can’t speak any higher of them on customer service. As you all know, having a good dealership that provides you service and support after the sale goes a long way. On to the pictures!! Happy holidays to you all!