I've got about 280 miles on my '00 500 Magnum. So far it's been GREAT!! Last weekend we did some riding and I managed to get in a little deep in some soupy, silty mud (the kind used in the Mud Runner and Mud Monster(?) tire tests). The right side was in to the top of the fenders, with the left about 6" over the running board. Getting to the point......I cleaned the machine later that night and wasn't satisfied with rinsing out the raditor with the hose, so I removed the grill and screen. To find a good supply of crud still in the fins. Now as for the design flaw, it seems that when operated in mud, the bottom 1/4 to 1/3 will fill with mud between the raditor and the fan shroud. It doesn't look like rinsing or powerwashing (careful around the fins) will get this crap out since it's a 'natural container'.

Does anyone have any good ideas on how to clean this out without removing the raditor and shroud?? I'll look into drilling some holes in the shroud below the fan for drain holes and plug them between cleanings.

thanks and keep riding!! Jim V

p.s......have been checkin' out MudMachines' snorkels and will be doing the exhaust soon!! Maybe more snorks and diggers also!!

 

Remove the grill and rinse with high pressure, and it will come out. It just takes getting the mud soft and keeping pressure to it until it all rinses out. The way to tell when it's still in there is that water will be bouncing off the mud and back out the front of the radiator until it is soft enough to rinse through. I've done this on my sp500, and it works. You should be able to completely clean it (once the grill is off) in 15 minutes or less. I use a jet nozzle on my water hose, and it seems to work really well.

 

Every so often, I get to feeling sorry for my abused Magnum...(Who, ME Abuse it? No Never!!)
I pull the front grille off and wash out the radiator really good. It seems that if I jsut start flooding it with water, and call it good five minutes later... I don't get it all out.. If I wash it out good. let it set about a half hour..(cold radiator) then come back and wash it again... You would be surprised at the amount of additional mud I flush out..

 

Thanks for the replys guys!! I looked closer at the machine yesterday and found the slots on the lower corners of the shroud. Also chatted with a Tech at Polaris and he gave me the same info the 2 of you did, which worked very well! I was most concerned about the crud build-up below the fan, looks like no prob though, it'll drain out the slots.

Keep on Ridin', Jim V