i have a 02' rubicon 1700 miles, this past summer i went a poker run and it was all mud and my radiator was clogged with mud and my temp light kept coming on so i let cool down and kept riding and continued to run hot until i got it cleaned out so i thought. i cleaned it went riding on a hot day and the light came on again. so i got it home stood it up took off the radiator and oil cooler protector off and hosed the mud and dirt out of it and it looked real clean. now i went riding for the first time in while in the snow , it was a foot deep up a mountain in low gear when i got to the top the temp light came on again. Now i dont know whether the snow kinda blocked the radiator or what, mind you i had now problems until that poker run. is there anything can do to clean the radiator better or try different coolant? it is difficult to clean between the oilcooler and radiator as well. any help would be greatly appreciated

 

This may be a stupid question, but is your radiator fan kicking on at all?

 

yes my fan runs alot, when the light comes on I shut the quad off but leave the key on so the fan runs.

 

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I dont have a lot of experience with atv's but some things that can make an engine run hot are poor water circulation (water pump, thermostat etc.) or blown headgasket. Also is the engine actually running hot, or does the hot light just come on? (Possibly a bad temp swithc or wireing problem)

 

Initially I would have thought you still had mud on the radiator but after you said you took the protective covering off and cleaned it, that should have gotten it. I ride with a Rubicon and a Prairie and both of those machines have had similar problems after a muddy all day Hatfield McCoy ride. Hosing them down by spraying through the front grill is not enough. Even trying to hit the radiator from the back by standing beside the quad is not enough. The parts of the radiator that you could see appeared to be clean however when they were taken out the over temp lights would come on in short order when starting out the next day.

So for the Rubicon we took the nozzle off the hose and worked it into the radiator area around the protective cowling. We kept this up until no more muddy water was coming out (and there was a lot of it at first). On the Prairie we actually had to remove a cover that is in the wheel well sort of behind the left front wheel to get the hose to the point where we could thoroughly clean the radiator. After this more detailed cleaning we didn’t have any more over-temp problems that day…

 

Did you check the coolant level in the radiator? You may have boiled coolant out of the system if you got it hot enough in the mud. Also make sure you clean the radiator and oil cooler from the back side, otherwise you can drive dirt deeper into the fins instead of out. LOL!

 

i shined a flash light behind the radiator and could see light coming through but not where the oilcooler is I think there is still mud between the oilcooler and the radiator. how i clean between them i have no idea. I also saw in rocky mtn. atv catalog, Cycle Logic Engine ice its supposed to reduce engine temp by 50 degrees and is premixed. Is this stuff any good because i was thinking of flushing the radiator and putting that in instead.