ok everything was going great then the other day in the woods my 97 sportsman 400 temp light came on turned off wheeler hunted then came back drove to camp temp light came on drove another 500 yards to camp next morning no water in radiator filled it up cranked it open bleeder screw on top of engine water came out finished filling up notice fan not coming on so figured that is why it ran hot then started running bad spitting and sputtering changed plug did same thing can someone tell me what to look for i am lost i mean sure it smokes but it is a two stroke could it just have water in the gas making it do this or am i in for the big overhaul

 

I had a buddy that had a crack head, I would just take the head off and see. You could smell antifreeze real bad. I would say it is a blown head gasket or a crack head. Either way the head is going to have to come off.

 

Your local auto mechanic shud have a tester that you can put on the radiator, to pressurize the system. If it leaks down, you got trouble.

 

if fan is not running it could be the sensor on the radiator. that is what makes the fan come on.

 

Have you checked your compression? I was riding last fall and had the exact same situation. My problem originated from a radiator hose that was rubbing on the pipe and worn a hole in it letting all of the coolant run out. Needless to say, it overheated, the rings stuck to the piston and ended up scraping up the cylinder walls something terrible then came the rebuild. I would say RAJ is deffinently right about taking the head off. The reason for the story was just to make a point, make sure you have the correct root cause fixed before you try to run her again.

 

are you getting any white smoke out of the exhaust?

 

I am getting white smoke why do you ask!

 

your burning coolant.