well today was my first ride on my 700 praire. the first 2 hours of riding went fine. i was making sure i was not going over half throttle and was varying the throttle. after the the second hour of riding my temperature light came on so i pulled over and shut it off and waited for about 5 minutes for the fan to shut off and for the temp light to shut off then waited another 5 minutes for safe measures. i figured cause i was driving too slow on a warm day. i continued back home and about 4 minutes later the same thing happened. i checked the coolant level in the resevoir and was just below the H. this time i was driving about 30mph on a flat gravel road. well i finally made it home and checked the radiator to see if it was clogged with mud or dirt and it was fine. i removed the radiator cap and found the radiator to be almost empty and the resevoir was over full. after adding coolant i drove it around and this time the radiator level was fine but the resevoir was almost empty. i shut the engine off and the fan would come on for a few minutes shut off and then come back on again. any ideas. also i noticed that when i let off on the throttle, the exhaust would make a loud popping noise. is this normal. has todays incident reduced the life expectancy of my engine.

 

Mine didn't do that at all. Sounds like a possible bad radiator cap or something. My experience is more with breaking in car race motors, but if you shut it off as soon as the light came on it should be OK. The fact that it started back up easily also is a good sign. I'm not much of a motor bike or quad mechanic though, still trying to learn. Take it to the dealer most likely something minor causing the problem, the popping when it got hot could be detonation. Make sure they give a you a good explaination and if it does it again bring back again. Good luck, I love mine and I hope it is just minor with yours.

 

sounds like you might need to re-jet. If it's popping when you let off the throttle, you're running lean. Check your plugs to see if they are white or gray on the ends.

 

I believe that when you get a popping noise after letting off the gas it is an idle mixture problem not a jetting problem. Just turn your idle mixture screw out a 1/4 turn each until popping stops.

When I first broke in my 650 i also had a coolant problem. I didnt get the overheat condition you had but I did have a coolant leak. One of th rad hoses was loose and only needed tightening and topped up. I'm sure the dealer will check this. It doesnt sound like any damage was done to the engine because you did shut it down every time it overheated. Both problems should be easily fixed with no side effects. Enjoy.

Bob

 

Is there any sign of visible coolant leaking? Loose hose, etc?

It may have been improperly filled at the dealership. I would put that on record with them for any future problems. Having said that, these engines are incredibly resilient to heat. I've seen them go all day drag racing with so little coolant in them that the fan would not come on; because the sensor was not in contact with the coolant. Incredible. I overheated my P650 at least 3 times with a mud packed radiator. I had the coolant boiling in the reservoir the last time. No problems.

Don't misunderstand what I said though. I am not condoning running at high speed with no cooling ability.

As far as the popping is concerned. Just run it a while longer. If it keeps popping on decelleration or gets worse then you need to adjust your pilot screws. The are probably a tad rich. Lean pilots tend to pop out the carb at and off idle.

Do not touch the main jets. They only come into play at 3/4 to full throttle.

 

thanks for all the info. took it to the dealer today. i will find out what happened in a couple of days. i'll keep you posted.

 

well i got it back from the dealer today. they said there was an air pocket in the the cooling system. must have come from the factory that way. so they flushed out the system twice and refilled it with fresh coolant. occording to my odometer they drove it for like 10 miles afterwards to make sure the problem was fixed. they said there should not of been any damage done to the motor. i was very impressed with their service. to top it all off my winch came in so i will be hooking it up this weekend.

 

good deal. odd problems like yours can be very hard to diagnose. Sounds like the dealer tech actually test rode it, too!
Awesome bike, you'll love it. I miss my old P-650.....................................