I own a 07 500 HO and a 800. This weekend I went elk hunting both machines overheated in 30 degree and below weather because snow and ice built up in the poorly designed intake. The 800 broke a front left hand axle u joint. The Hondas and grizzley had no problems all weekend. Whats the deal. Is there a fix for the radiatior intake being so low to the ground picking up all the ice and snow? The polaris is the best riding machine of the bunch but it failed me this trip for sure.....

 

how deep was the snow?had mine in 18" of snow.did'nt have any heating problems.got hung up a couple of times but it is a 2x4

 

18 to 24 inches. The machine went through it awsome but as soon as the screen over the rad intake was covered it overheated and vented a bunch of coolant. Both the 500 and the 800 did the same. Didnnt get to far. Had to get a ride on a grizzley, pretty damn imbarasing.....

 

need to follow this one

 

Man, I forget his name, Cordache maybe? Had a RAD setup where he took the front
cargo box, and fitted his rad to fit in there raising it higher than mud, water and snow.
He said it worked great, and it all looked stock, pretty cool setup! He had pics in his
gallery, may suit your applications!

R'

 

i've seen similar setups on the hardcore mudders quads.they have a rad mounted on the front rack to keep it from packing with mud.it looks like an alum. box

 

I have seen the mud bocking the rad and causing over heating thing but not snow and ice and I do alot of that kind of riding. The rad is always hot with coolant so its impossible for snow and ice to build up on it without melting. Even if snow and ice was clogged in your rad would that not help cool your rad coolant down instead of cause it to over heat?

 

Are you sure your antifreeze was mixed strong enough and the coolant itself was not frozen up in the radiator since you were riding in such cold weather?

 

Hmmmm, good points ya'all!

 

if it was a stock antifreeze set up it should have been a 60/40 premix from polaris. if the outer screewn gets plugged w/ any thing it cuts the air flow down enough so that it will run hot. sounds like you were pushing alot of snow that packed in there to close off air flow.unless you plan on a rad. relocate then no i dont beleave theres anything you can do. they do make a rad. guard that goes on the bottom(cant remeber who made it its in hear somewhere) that helps a little. i also broke my 06' front left cv joint on my 800. but it was my own fault w/ too much power and not enough brain cells. lol