My sp500 overheated last night. Fan did not come on, Jumpered the fan switch and came on. Checked radiator was nothing showing. Put about a quart of water in, took for ride fan came on ok, checked radiator low again. The machine is 10 months old and has over 600 miles on it. Would not have thought was still purging air from system. Nothing seems to be leaking on the ground, parked it on the cement and is dry yet.

 

is it realy white smoke coming out of it? if it is then it is burning the coolant, but that seems like alot of it, maybe you have a cracked head? but yah i would see if it is leaking out somewere first.....just my idea..

 

No smoke, oil looks normal, needs changing though.

 

The most common problem for the Sportsman to loose coolant is the water pump seal leaking. To check it look under the right side of the engine just being the foot brake pedal. There you will see a 1/4" weep hole, touch it with finger to see if there is any coolant leaking from that hole. If you find any coolant there your water pump seal is leaking and must be replaced.

 

I have a 2002 Sportsman 500 HO and I overheated it. I found that the water pump mechanical seal was leakin only when the engine was running. There is a special tool to remove the water pump shaft and mechanical seal or you will bend the shaft. If you bend the shaft then you will haft to split the motor to fix the bent shaft.

As for filling the radiator and burping the air out I was instructed to fill the radiator, let the bike run work out as much air as possible. Then cap the radiator and fill the resivor. keep running the bike for 2 cycles of the cooling fan. if the cap is left off the entire process the radiator will suck in air.

with the cap on and 2 fan cycles watch the resivor make sure it don't go dry.

Then you are good to go.

Dacota

 

Ok it is coming out the weep hole. So the mechanical seal will have to be replaced, not just the one behind the impeller? Guess have to call the dealer tomorrow. BUMMER.

 

The flat rate book says 2 hours for that job. Real world time probably a little longer. The seal itself is about 40.00 dollars.

 

<FONT size=2>
To replace the water pump seal is not a difficult job but you will need the special extraction tool, which of course is not cheap. They also call for a special tool for installing the new seal but you can do as I did and make one from a few pipefittings. If you decide to do the job yourself be very careful not to bend the pump shaft because to replace it the engine has to be split, big job!
My figuring was that if I bought the special tool, which would cost about the same as having the dealer do the job, I would have it if it ever failed again.
A couple of months ago I posted a few tips to help prevent this failure from happening. If you search the site you should be able to find it.</FONT>

 

My 00/sp500 was doing the same thing, everytime I rode it was out of coolant, no white smoke , no smell nothing. So I pulled out the t'stat, and cut off the spring and support around it, so it would flow better. After another 100 miles or so I have not had to add a drop of coolant. Remember you want to keep the rubber seal intact so it won't leak.

 

do you have a warrenty upnort?