this is the problem I have, disconnect the wiring harness message goes away.

Today I let it warm up a while with the harness to the coolant sensor plugged in and the message came on the dash.

Traced the wire to the speedometer, no broken wires, or shorted wire.


The thing is there is also a sensor going to the radiator according to the parts supplier that sells them. how do you test that?!

Got a service manual, and tried testing the coolant sensor in hot water, got a low reading perhaps? +-5%

Called the Polaris dealer in my area, they said if it would have been a older model ECM. but ruled that out on a 2014.

Then they said coolant sensor, or thermostat,

I removed the thermostat and put in in boiling water, it opened up no problem.

I tried back probing the fan with a test light to find a hot wire, to see if I could jump the fan, but couldn't get the test light to the right wire, or was doing something wrong,

This fix could get expensive just in parts alone, just want to fix it asap and cheap.

I let it run as long as I could today, without thinking it was doing any damage, and around the radiator, it started to "steam" but never boiled over and the fan never came on.

 

Temp sensor just displays hot light on speedo. If it comes on when key is on,possible short in sensor itself. The radiator sensor completes the ground path for the fan to kick on.Resistance should be high on this sensor when cold,should drop as it warms up. If its tests ok,within range, try 12 volts directly to the fan motor to eliminate it as the problem since it doesn't kick on. Also has a fan relay next to the circuit board that supplies power to the fan fuse in the fuse block. Check the power to the relay(manual shows a test for this) plus check the fuse block for any shorts under the block which was another common area for problems,wiring pulling out,grounding against each other,etc.

 

My printer ran out of ink!

only tried to print pages needed to do the tests, but who knows whose been printing on it......always something.

The fan switch is also the coolant sensor? So many names for these sensors even though its the same thing. or is it?

I pulled the sensor from the side of the block, than runs to the dash warning light.

the manual calls it the "fan switch".

table 10-2: 149 degrees , DVOM set to read ohms OL displayed. ok.

table 10-2: 180 degrees and above I was only able to get the sensor to read at its lowest 152.75 ohms.

according to the table its suppose to read 0.0 at 180 degrees

also section 10 days : if the coolant temperature sensor or circuit components malfunction 'hot' will display but the fan will not operate.

what other components are there?

I cant print the electrical diagram , and still have figured out how to jump the fan.

is the relay behind the 5 fuses, behind the fuse block?

there is a huge black box that two wires hook to one blue and brown, is that the relay?

 

Get some more ink!! They call it a fan switch but it's just a sensor that displays the hot light on the speedo when the "sensor" reaches a certain temperature.Most trigger around 190-195 degrees or so. Very seldom does this sensor fail,but with electrical anything can happen. The radiator sensor acts in the same way. As resistance drops it completes a ground path for the fan to kick on.. That is if the fan relay and wiring along with the fuse block and fuse are ok that provide the power to the hot wire of the fan motor in the first place. Yes the relay is up from the fuse box.Again had very few of these fail. Mainly wiring problems if anything.

 

alright, so I had just enough ink to print the first page of the electrical diagram on the service manual.

Unhooked the cooling fan switch from the radiator, tested it in water, according to the chart it read OL up until 180 degrees then it read at 0 according to the manual what it should at 180 degrees , then read 0.2 and I stopped.

then I went out with my "redneck jumper box", a jumper box used for jumping car batteries and some spare wire that came with my warn winch, I hooked up the wires to the red/black on the jumper box.

On this sportsman the red wire is the hot wire, and the yellow with a black stripe wire is the ground.

I put the wires accordingly, yellow black stripe to negative on the jumper box, red wire on positive on jumper box. Note: this is the harness going to the 'cooling' fan sensor on the left side of the radiator.

then I skinned the wires on the cooling fan switch on the sensor, and hooked it back up to the harness and jumped the fan off again.

with the sensor in place and being able to start the fan with sensor attached, would that mean the sensor is still good?

I'm stumped.

but feel I'm getting closer to figuring it out, with your help of course.

 

not sure what parts to order, or to keep fishing.

 

if I try and test from the 4 wheelers battery,

from the battery to the coolant switch,

WITHOUT the key "on" and power supplied from the 4 wheelers own battery,

the speedometer light comes "on",

WITH the key "ON" and power supplied to the coolant switch, or just the fan harness, the fan will not come on.

what would make the light come on the speedometer with power supplied and the key OFF?

 

All you're doing is reverse feeding to the fan motor. Now you know the fan works! Check that you have power to the fan fuse at the fuse box. Pull the block up if necessary to check for any loose wiring if you don't have. Another way is to pull the fan connector. With a test light or meter you should have voltage to the fan harness hot lead with the key on. Just use a common brown(ground) wire usually gathered on the lower coil mount or use a good frame ground for the neg lead. The radiator sensor wire provides the ground path when operating normally. If you have power then possible the radiator sensor is faulty.Looks like Polaris has mounted the sensor back on top of the radiator instead of at the bottom. To me this just ensures one will short out if coolant level gets low just like the sensors did on the old 96 models.

 

so are you saying that when the sensor is operating, the test light should show no voltage (no light on the test light). is this with the 4-wheeler running? should I start it, and let it run a while, to do this test?

because I have the test light showing 'power' to the harness that goes to the fan and sensor with the key on. 4 wheeler not running, but key on.

 

Yes you should have power, But only on the hot wire from the harness to the sensor.No completed ground path. That means the fuse panel, is ok,fan relay is ok. The other wire from the sensor(ground) completes the circuit when resistance drops and the fan should kick on. If the fan isn't kicking on at all no matter how hot you get it,then I'd suspect the radiator sensor. Same as what happens on most of the other models.Just look at the wiring schematic and it should help show you how how this works.