The four wheeler is a 2000 polaris scrambler 500 4x4


I'm looking at getting my first atv.and it has a cooling issue.I was hopeing to get some help from you guys so i don't make a mistake.The next paragraph is the direct quote from the e-mail.


"When u crank it up it runs fine, even when u your hard on it, it still runs fine, no missing spitting or sputtering, just blows the water out of the radiator over flow tube that i ran our the back of the bike. I put a new cooling fan on it".

He said he bought it from a guy who had the fan wired direct and the fan burnt up.He replaced it with a fan from an auto parts store.

I've read on here there are problems with radiators getting glogged and overheating,but I did'nt ask about that 'cause if that is the problem I'd rather be the one to fix it rather tell him and he fixes it and then go up on the price.

I'm thinking maybe the themostat was removed or waterpump or radiator.I know if the fan is wired direct the thermo switch is bad that's 64.00.Could it be a head gasket issue.I've never seen that in an automobile.When the head gasket went water went out the exaust or in the oil never back into the radiator. Thanks for looking. Allen

 

sounds like a head gasket issue. its probley pressureizing the cooling system and the only place its going it out the over flow tube.

 

If you get air trapped in the cooling system, it will overheat. The fill bottle may show that it's full...but the system isn't. You have to run all the air out of it.

As for the thermal switch, you can check it. Pull the plug off where the sensor plugs into the power, bend a small piece of wire into the shape of a U, and put it in either side of the plug. If the fan comes on, its the sensor.

 

Other things, is the coolant sytem bleed of air? Does the rad cap still hold its 13 psi for at least 5 mins. A rad shop can pressure test it for you.

 

I won't get to see it till the weekend.I did do more searching on here after I posted.This time for thermostat and did find out about air in the system and how important it is to get it out and it being 8 years old the cap could be bad also.I am gonna check to see if it blows water when you first crank it up(while it's cold) and if it does I'd lean more towards head gasket.Pleases keep the info coming, if it is the head gasket I'm gonna need ya'lls help with changing it.Like is it very hard to do if you have mechanical experience.Any special tools,tork specs,etc.

Do these machines have any known common problems i need to know about.

I'm very excited 'cause I've never owned one.

Thanks for the input and please keep it coming,

 

Buy yourself a service manual.. you can try searching online, sometimes there are links to free ones in pdf.

That should be your second purchase after the machine, IMO.