maybe you could carry a gallon or two of water and a hockey bottle or a spray bottle? That stinks. Surprised to hear of overheating waaay up there, down here I'll ride the mud all day in 95F and sun and not overheat. Probably due to abundant water here with the mud! Just fyi i've always been told that you shouldn't wash your radiator with a pressure washer, the pressure may flatten or damage the fins of the radiator.

 

Lightman


I heard that also, but I tried washing the rad with the hose at the campground and it hardly took any mud out. I had to put $12 into the pressure washer to get it clean. Just to give you an idea of how dirty the rad was. It's surprising how much dirt a rad with hold.

 

I carry a can of PJ1 with me, when I find a place with water, I give the rad a few shots of it, let it sit and then hose or splash it down. Worked good for me. That burnt quad makes me sad, I cant imagine.

 

Excellent story and photos Kawidan.

On my last adventure to the Hatfield McCoy trails in WV, USA there were three of us coming back from a long day on and off the Rockhouse trail system; a Grizzly (mine), a Prairie 650 and a Rubicon. On the last 10 miles or so the 650 was overheating like you described, although the radiator wasn’t as caked with mud as your pictures illustrated but it doesn’t take much to impede the flow of air around the fins. So we had to stop every 10 minutes or so when his over temperature light came on to wait for it to cool down. That continued until he came upon a large puddle and blasted through it. After his big splash there were no more over temp lights that evening (for the remaining half hour or so back to the trail head).

The grizzly didn’t have a problem (this was it’s first day out on the last day of our 3 day ride, as my V-Force which I rode on the previous two days developed a mystery oil leak so it was parked that day). In fact the only time I have ever seen the over temp light on the Grizzly is when I tow a 628 lb trail mower behind it for hours at a time (going very slow, unsually in low range) on warm / hot days (on hilly ground too). The Rubicon didn’t have a problem either this time around, but on two previous trips (out of five to Hatfield McCoy) it did on the 3rd day of riding.

BTW did you find out any details as to why the Polaris 700 caught on fire (might be good to pass along some possible preventative tips to other unsuspecting riders)?

 

That is what I really hate about the liquid cooled machine !

Glad to hear all is fine !

We sure did not over heat this weekend !

http://ca.photos.yahoo.com/bc/rincon...c=ph%26.view=t

 

2TV

I didn't find out exactly what happened to the guys 700. I heard from someone that the bike was overheating a lot and next thing you know there was smoke. It happened really fast. All the guy was able to save was the seat.

 

goattrotter

Nice picture

If we would of had water holes like that on our trip Saturday, I don't think I would of had any problems. But unfortunatly, I wasn't that lucky.

 

Kawidan,

Nice photos and sounds like you had fun. I'm a long ways from you but my 650 does the same on dusty roads and when we hit a few mud holes. I carry a squirt bottle and spray it out occasionally, (we have an abundant of rivers, creeks, lakes, ponds, etc..). But, I think I'm going to buy the highlifter water pump, well worth the money I've heard.


That sucks for the "Poor"laris, my brothers 02 yamaha kodiak burnt up about 3 months ago and all he managed to get is the rack bag with some accessories in it. The rest, poof, up in smoke. So we know how this guy must feel. No insurance, warranty said they could find no fault in the machine, and 3 months later.............still no bike. Since then I've purchased my own insurance through progressive for these particular reasons. $180 a year sounds worth it if something like this happened to me.

See ya,

 

meangreenmudmachine

Do you have a link to the water pump on Highlifters site. I looked but couldn't find anything. I'd like to invest in one of these also.

 

Kawidan:

Here's the link to the Highlifter washer:

http://www.highlifter.com/store/ATV-...or-Washer.html

Also, I bought this 12 Volt water pump from USA Hardware to use priming our water line at my hunting camp in Maine (it's gravity fed from a well). It's 12 Volt and runs right off the battery connections from my 650:

http://www.usahardware.com/inet/shop...imer/bw85p.htm

It works very, very well and, although I haven't seen the Highlifter one in action, I'd recommend this Flo-Tec model. It has standard garden hose connections and works well.

Last year I accidentally pulled the wiring out from the electric motor inside the pump (wire got hung up as I was driving the quad with the pump in my lap) so it has been out of commission, but I just got it fixed. I have never used it to specifically clean out the radiator on my 650 but am definately going to keep it in my cargo box when I'm out riding though, it would have come in handy a bunch of times. It is slightly bigger and is more expensive, but I think it's perfomance would be better than the smaller HL model.

We have way more torque than other machines, I'll take the occassional overheating/radiator clogging problem for a trail ride that makes you smile for hours....and hours...and hours...