Ok this is enough, my 08 Rincon is a year old, way too many problems. Its overheating again and leaking at the weep port, has already been replaced once. Along with the idle relay, a tie rod and a dealer in Ennis Texas that is slower than christmas and way to expensive.
Guess my question is , are there any other 08 owners having the same issues or is it just me. Mainly we trail ride, love the mud and like to maintain my stuff like keeping it clean and changing fluids often. Any thoughts would be great, really thinking about atrading for another brand.

 

Is it overheating because the fluid is low (leaking again) or the radiator plugged with mud and dust (causing it not to cool itself)? Just wondering... Trying to figure out what would be causing it to overheat.

I have not put many miles on mine yet, so I have had no problems. My brother has on 08 Rincon with no problems so far, but again his miles are limited. We got them in November of 08.

Sorry that I am not much help.

 

I do recall the magazines saying that this model just runs rather hot in general.

Is there a thermostat in the cooling system, that is not opening properly???

What oil weight are you running? Thick heavy oils, don't pump as fast as thinner ones, so they don't make the circuit back to the cooling system as quickly.

 

The other thing- if you've gone into deep mud, it can likely be built up between the oil cooler and radiator.

Remove one of the side covers and you should be able to reach in and spray from behind. Others have used spacers and longer bolts to seperate the two.

Is the fan coming on before you get the overheat light?

 

Thanks guys for the imfo and yes thats what caught my attention. Last weekend after loading up to come home I noticed a small amount of coolant on my ramps, couldn't tell which bike it came from so I waited to get home too look. Cleaned up the bike, next day I found out my battery was dead, left the key on by accident. Jumped off and left running a few minutes and diverted my attention to something else. Heard the fan come on pretty quick and thought that to be odd, next thing I know my son is telling me there's alot of coolant coming out of my bike. The overheating light was not on so I crawled underneath to find the leak thinking it came from a hose. Took a couple minute to figure out the leak was from the port, got out from under and noticed the hot light was on so I killed the bike. New thinking my water pump probably wasn't working again, the dealer confirm that was most likly the problem.
Anyway its at another shop 2 hours away, they seem to think the pump is out and hope the warrenty will cover, should find out the nexted couple days. If Honda doesn't and gives me some kind of lame excuse then I'll be shopping for another brand. No way I should lose 2 water pumps within 6 months on an 08 bike. Anyway folks thanks for the help, I'll try and let you know what happens.

 

2 water pumps on an 08 is indeed strange...

Have you changed the coolant, or put in any kind of additive?

At some point they changed the shape of the water pump drain hose, I think to keep water/mud from getting up in there.

 

No change in coolant except for adding some bottle water after losing some coolant repairing a hose with a heat shrink, too close with the power washer. Has been working well for three rides. I really dont like my bike not ready too ride and not at home, weird huh.

 

Assuming the radiator is truly clean (do take the side plate off under the fender to see if stuff is between the two coolers), you might also replace the thermostat this time...

I don't know what else you could have going on. Shaft that drives the pump sloppy or something?

Anyhow, something is wrong to be going through water pumps like that.

 

thoutgh I would bring all up to speed on the results. Honda will cover the cost of the water pump replacement but says this this is last one. They say theres mud between the coolers as mention earlier in the thread. Im not sure what they mean but they agreed to show me when i get there. The Honda shop in Tyler texas is the best, way out preforming the Ennis shop where I bought the bike. They understood I have a big vacation planned over spring break and got me riding two days earlier than expected. I will buy another bike from these guys and probably won't argue price too much. Not sure I agree with the problem though but I understand there is an issue with mud, just replace the stock tires with ITP mudlites which I notice throw a lot more mud but only have one days ride with these tires. Anyway I'll look this over and see what I see but Tyler Texas Honda has saved my vacation and for that I will do all the business I can with them. Seems like action power sports in Ennis should take a lesson from Tyler. I drove 2 hours to get to Tyler for the best by far service I ever recieved. Thanks guys and I will be back for more,

 

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Remove one of the side covers and you should be able to reach in and spray from behind. Others have used spacers and longer bolts to seperate the two. </end quote></div>

Look over the front tire, and you will see the plastic shroud on each side of the radiator I'm talking about. Once you've got that out you will be able to see between the oil cooler and radiator.

In regard to the water pump, what kind of coolant are you using? Automotive coolant often has silicates, abrasives held in suspension to control corrosion. Silicates in automotive coolant generally reduce the life of the smaller seals in motorcycle water pumps.

Anyway, if you have trouble seeing the side shroud I'm taking about, shoot me a PM with an E-mail and I think I can send you a photo.