Polaris 380 problems

Difficult time with the old polaris this summer, mainly with drive mechanism rather than pick-up as it will clean but will not climb well and travels slowly. Took it into the pool store and they did their basic tune up of replacing drive belts and whatever else they do for 30 bucks or so. Still slow.

Had a service company out to replace some valves covered under my home warranty and spoke with them. They swore it was a pump and motor problem though I was totally unconvinced. However, since minimal cost to me with a $45 deductible gave them the go-ahead to replace the pump and motor. Replaced with identical unit and had identical problem.

I've opened it up including taking off the inner housing and couldn't find anything askew. Venturis working fine and seems as though hose pressures are fine though I have not measured for the 32(?) psi. Cleaned screen, and tried running without the restrictor plate. Back-up valve working fine and replaced joints in the hose that appeared to be working fine.

Here's the interesting part: When I pull the whole unit out of the water the drive mechanism and the power of the wheels feel strong. As soon as I submurge the unit (or just the side with the drive mechanism - the jet and little turbine wheel) the performance dies. The wheels slow significantly and have no power to resist me holding them. (When I ran it without the housings on it appears to me that the only about 1/3 of the jet that hits the drive turbine actually hits the turbine; it almost seems that it is not hitting it directly enought, yet there does not seem to be any adjustment to relocate the jet so it contacts the turbine wheel better.)

Next step is to try to reach polaris customer service but I won't get a chance to do that until next week.

So, question is, any idea what is wrong? Any idea of the siginficance of in-water vs. out of water performance? Any thoughts or suggestions appreciated.

see polaris 380 needs toe truck help thread 12 threads below yours. This may be your problem as well.

Problem solved. Turns out the problem was with the jet that hits the drive turbine. I finally called customer service at Polaris and described how the drive jet was not entirely hitting the turbine directly, but was spraying a very wide pattern. Based on this alone he was quite certain that there was still debris in the nozzle. Took it apart again and sure enough there was a very small stone chip wedged inside the nozzle, not blocking it entirely but disrupting the jet causing it to "spray" rather than "stream". Put it back together and it works like a charm.

The rock chip was either missed at the pool store when they did the clean and rebuild or was still within the hose system or body of the cleaner. Of course, in hindsight, the problem must of started back early in the summer when I think I ran a day or two without the protective screen in place.:)

FWIW: for others that have similar problem (picks up well but moves slowly) at in this case the solution was poor water flow to the little drive turbine inside. This is an easy fix if you aren't reluctant to take apart the polaris. For the 380 anyways there is one screw to remove the blue covers and one or two to remove the inner guard over the drive gears. You can then actually run the unit and view the drive jet spraying against the little turbine wheel that in turn drives step-up gears that then drive the wheels. If the jet looks like a solid stream similar to what you see from the other jets in the "throat" of the pick-up area, then it should be okay. If it is a small stream, no stream, or spraying a wide-pattern stream, then you have a blockage somewhere. You can then use a paper clip or similar to try to unclog the jets, and maybe then blow it out with compressed air or just water from a hose. Might be best to remove the 3 screws that hold the "feed pipe" in place and remove that so you can see if you knock something out of the jet. Put it back together and give it a try. If you don't find any debris, then my thoughts here aren't going to help. In that case, don't be afraid to call polaris customer service; they were helpful and friendly.