I will be brutally honest:

The 650 really disapointed me today. Big time disapointment. Let me start by saying that today was definately not my day. On the way to a riding area, I got a flat tire in my trailer. So I had to leave the trailer and head home for the spare tire because I forgot to bring it. I changed the tire and made it to the dice run. Fine.

I start riding and about 3 miles in, I get a flat in my rear stock tire on the 650. I can't believe it. Those tires are absolutely terrible. I fix it and continue on.

After about 10 miles, I pull over because my temperature guage light is on. What??? I looked at the radiator and it had mud on it, but really not that bad. I don't understand it because there were about 1000 riders and I was the only one to overheat. So every mile or so I would have to stop and let the motor cool off.

While waiting for my motor to cool off, my buddy says the exhaust is blowing smoke. I asked him what color and he said blue or white. I took the airbox lid off and there was about 1/4-1/2 qt. of motor oil in the airbox. Apparently the oil was coming up the crankcase breather and into the airbox. (at least I hope thats the case). Anyways, I soak up the access oil and continue on with the ride.

I ended up heading back because I was so frustrated with the quad.

 

sorry to hear about your troubles fellow rider. I dont know much about mechanics but i do know that white smoke from an exhaust pipe in a car means head gasket probs. that usually occurs after an over-heating incident . i've seen othe posts about the kawi's having oil in the breather , so i'd be more worried 'bout water internally ...hope it turns out ok..keep us "posted" (ha'ha)

 

I drained the oil and it turns out that it had way too much oil. It was overfilled from the dealer. Could this be the reason that it was overheating? I'm certain that the smoke was due to the oil in the airbox because I cleaned all the oil out of the airbox and it doesn't smoke anymore.

 

Too much oil churns like a whirlwind around the crank, robbing power, heating up, foaming, blowing out the breather into the airbox. Most probably it was both things at the same time: partly the mud on the radiator, but mostly too much oil caused enough extra work to overheat. Mine has not overheated yet, but some people say that redline coolant additive makes the 2 cylinder ATV spanker run 20 degrees cooler. I am going to do it. May give you some extra leeway for the next time there is mud on the radiator.

 

I've heard good things about the redline additive. I'm going to try it too.

 

For a run like that you want to do your best to keep the radiator clean.
You also might consider running a cooler plug to take the extra heat out of the engine. This may or may not work depending on certain variables. For sure, the radiator must stay as clean as possible. The other riders probably don't have a temp light and have no idea they are running as hot as they are.

 

For a run like that you want to do your best to keep the radiator clean.
for special events like that one you also might consider running a cooler plug to take the extra heat out of the engine. This may or may not work depending on certain variables. For sure, the radiator must stay as clean as possible. The other riders probably don't have a temp light and have no idea they are running as hot as they are.
You also could have been running lean at cruise which would really make the engine run hot. In this case you would adjust the carb to run a more rich cruise now that the weather is cooler and the air is more dense.
So, these small factors all add up. Good Luck !

 

sounds like a blown head gasket, sorry 92LT. i dont think the mud on the radiator had much of anything to do with it. about a week after i got my 650 me and my gf were mudding near the lake and got the quad COVERED in mud, i mean everything (including us) was a uniform brown!! we got to the boat ramp afterwards and i drove in the lake(it was real shallow there). anyways, i got crap loads of mud in the radiator and it just ran a little warmer than normal. maybe its because mine is running a tad rich, or im just lucky. who knows.