I would think it would be fine, except for potential warranty concerns if your dealer want to be a bit of a douche and you have engine failure. Both brands 850 engines have similar power outputs, and both have power valves. XPS supposedly has additives for it to double as a storage oil for auto summerization, which begs the question of how well your spark plugs would handle being soaked in VES oil? Would there be an increased likelihood of fouling? Would the engine be protected as well?

Just a few thoughts...

 

XPS supposedly has additives for it to double as a storage oil for auto summerization, which begs the question of how well your spark plugs would handle being soaked in VES oil? Would there be an increased likelihood of fouling?

VES has anti-corrosion additives. They hype it up really well. I store my sleds in my garage so I'll probably not even use the summarization feature next year (even bare metal in my garage doesn't seem to rust). Not worth the risk to foul a plug on an 850 imo, even with xps.

I like that VES is designed only for snowmobiles. XPS is also made for pwc, dirtbikes, quads. There must be some compromise there.

 

I somewhat suspect that they are made by the same outfit in Minnesota.....

 

Same outfit, but different recipe. My best guess is a slightly different recipe for DI. At least both OEM have invested to find the best recipe that benefited the warranty. Perhaps flip a coin lol

 

A lot of it is marketing hype

 

VES has anti-corrosion additives.

And I would expect that XPS has anti-corrosion additives too.

I like that VES is designed only for snowmobiles. XPS is also made for pwc, dirtbikes, quads. There must be some compromise there.

IF you can find real sepcs (and that is a big IF), I would look at the viscosity index and look at the cold temp pour point of each. The latter is an important indicator of cold flow. It is likely going to be very close to the same, as pour point and VI correspond closely with the synthetic base oil, and I would not be surprised if they were the same for VES and XPS.

 

How many gallons are you using and what's the cost savings? 60? 100 bucks? I'd just run what they recommend per sled, any warranty issues arise motor wise it's one less hurdle.

 

I'd be lucky to use 2 gallons this year. No warranty to worry about. I mostly don't like having a bunch of half-open jugs lying around. And $70 seems like a ripoff if the other oil is $50. I got lucky 2 years ago, found XPS at a show and IIRC it was $45/gallon.

 

If wanted to got for another snowmobile 2S oil, I would choose VES. I would buy it for their testing and quality. For all I know, Polaris and BRP probably share many of the same testing practices. For the quality, if something goes wrong with their 2S, they have no choice to get it off the shelves in a hurry and issue wide spread alert. Can you imagine the warranty claims if they didn't stay on top of the oil? The crap would hit the fan! Other than Arctic Cat and Yamaha, no other oil company hold the same responsibility for snowmobiles. That is the quality that I am buying at a premium.

@Hockeypuck, that would be my third choice.

 

just throw the other two away and use this...

 

I used to ride Polaris and used VES full synthetic oil. I regularly had to clean the power valves. I am now on my third Doo using XPS oil and have yet to clean power valves at all. Now is that the oil, or a much cleaner injection program? I'm not sure, but my 2 cents would be to suggest using the oil recommended. On a risk/benefit analysis, you won't save much.

 

I used to ride Polaris and used VES full synthetic oil. I regularly had to clean the power valves. I am now on my third Doo using XPS oil and have yet to clean power valves at all. Now is that the oil, or a much cleaner injection program?

I usually run some type of ring-free carbon cleaner additive in my fuel.

 

Maybe in a pinch. Ves gold, for sure I would not use in my 850 e tec, personal preference of course. Definitely agree on the above post regarding cleaning valves in my Polaris sleds, regularly back then until I switched off to Red Line full synthetic and eventually loved using Legend products in my Polaris, and was a product tester actually FOR Legend before they introduced the ZX2rs series or whatever it was. Fwiw I run only xps in my etec sleds nowadays.

 

what is the likelihood of fouling plugs using the summerization feature? seems to be a non-issue.

 

There are many people who will start the sled numerous times without bringing it up to temperature therefore fouling the plugs after using summarization mode. The first time you run it you better bring it up to temperature or there is a likelihood of fouling the plugs. It seems the newer sleds don’t run the summarization mode as long as the older ones, probably had too much oil going into them.

 

XPS smells so bad, I will go out of my way NOT to run it. I have ran Polaris oil with no issues and currently am running Liqui-Moly.

As long as the oil has the proper certifications I dont think it really matters what brand you run.

 

Plenty of good oils some say only run what the oem recommends some others had noticed ves was not as clean for their valves and switched to something else. I went with Mystic JT-4 Snowmobile. For me it was between Mystic JT-4 Snowmobile and Legend ZX2SR. I paid I think 30 some bucks a gallon for the MYSTIC and bought several gallon jugs. I wanted a good oil that burned clean and protected well, was reasonably priced, and didn't smell horrible to ride behind. Ran it in a new Polaris and a new Ski Doo last season and will do the same this season. My doo is a 600 efi so not an e tec but happy so far. Also use the mystic for my mix gas for the weed eaters blower and chainsaws was running amsoil dominator for them and my old 03 800 renegade before switching everything over to the mystic oil.

 

Legend ZX-2SR is a mineral based 2S oil that I would like to try. I would probably first try the XPS Mineral, so it would be a toss-up. In the 2010s there were owners who ran premium mineral based oils in their 800R E-TECs. I have not heard from them in many years. The way I ride I would only need to check the exhaust valves and use some carbon clean. What I would love to try is lowering the oil consumption down to its original designed consumption and run ~100:1 premix in the tank which is only 1%. Since I would get roughly 16 mpg or 150 miles per tank, I would never have to add premix on the trail. Even on a trip I would need to add 400ml for a total of 300 miles. My goal would be an overall lower oil consumption. It would be for my own curiosity.

 

Well dumbass me forgot to pick up Polaris oil before the $20 discount expired yesterday So it looks like I will continue to run XPS in my 850.

 

Sucks. Any premium oil is expensive, so unfortunately there are not many choices to save $$$. If you are willing to take the risk, there are other suitable oils. I do not promote it other than pure trial&error interest. I think you are the one who already uses a carbon clean, so that is a step that provides more latitude. With a new 2S oil, in mid-season you can disconnect the cable for the servo and ensure the travel of the exhaust valves is smooth. Never ride with exhaust valves that get stuck.

 

I do run the carbon clean, Yamaha's version. It works great!

 

I thought it was $20 off one gallon?

 

I heard there was a 2 gallon limit but that's easy to get around. Even Amazon was offering $20 off (until today).

 

I do run the carbon clean, Yamaha's version. It works great!

This evening I got a call back from the owner of Legend ZX-2SR , and I was encouraged.