Yesterday my nieces and nephews were riding the quad quite a bit in a back field with a lot of grass and reeds (2002 Sportsman 500 HO). At one point, the temp light came on (flickering at times, steady others), so we stopped riding. The fan was not on at the time. I let it rest for a few hours, turned the key on and the temp light was still on. It was damp and raining lightly. I brought the quad home, this morning started it and let it run, it got up to temp and the fan came on, no temp light. Was something wet and just caused the light to come on in a false alert? I cleaned the screen in front of the radiator and opened the headlight pod - there was some crap in there too from milkweed plants.

Any info, I'd appreciate it. Nobody was running the thing hard, just for a couple of hours steady, in the same grassy conditions.

 

The speedo head is to blame.That is what actually turns the light on and the fan on.I would check the sensor on the raditor.They usally go bad.