I had the same problem this weekend with overheating. I was up in Brule this weekend and I had went thru a really great trail, 2-rivers, logs and some deep mud holes. I went thru once no problem then came back thru and started with the overheating.
I got home yesterday and washed everything and it still overheats. I will buy a new thermostat and cap and see if this helps. I did check the water pump and fan and they are in working order.
If the mud is the problem I will be making some modifacations.
I had this same problem wheeling with Jamie and all it took was a bath, not so lucky this time.
Sparke SP 500

 

Hi Sparke, Ya, Jamie said you might have came up with us. Saturday was miserable cold and rainy but
sunday was very very nice. rangerchet

 

so rangerchet did jamie really get that sp500 stuck!! i thought it was unstopable with thoes mudrunners. is there any machine thats would be better in the mud than his sportsmans? i saw thoes pics of him in the mud and man thats deep. around hear we dont get mud that deep.

 

so rangerchet did jamie really get that sp500 stuck!! i thought it was unstopable with thoes mudrunners. is there any machine thats would be better in the mud than his sportsmans? i saw thoes pics of him in the mud and man thats deep. around hear we dont get mud that deep.

 

Of course i did not get stuck i was only temporarily slowed down. But i did manage to keep my boots on Right chet.

 

Yes, He got stuck. But you should see where he tries to go. He may be the only person that could get a hum-v stuck if he test drived one. I heard that they dont get stuck. They should let Jamie drive one. Hell, I even pulled his sp 500 out a couple of times. He pulled me out much more. He is also correct. there were several times, he was stuck but he jumped off and nursed it up out of the mud and the true awd drove out some how and away he went to find even deeper mud. Those pictures of his mudding were in my home town area of cloquet. When I went 4xwheeling with him, I made the dumb mistake of wearing knee high rubber boots. He laughed at me, each time I left them in the mud. I just put on some old boot the next day.
There was a couple of mud holes that we all got stuck in, and just to see what his sp 500 could do, he would go back and drive though it again.

rangerchet....

ps: Jamie, did you get the yellow sp's clean. It took me about 3 to 3 and 1/2 hours on monday.

 

thanks rangerchet and jamie for your responces.
do u guys ever spray down your machines with silicon before u go riding. espically the raditor? could anything out mud his sp500?
i wish we had mud that deep aroud hear. bye for now

 

I was in the same mud and dust Thor was, even more of it because I put 410 miles on my SP over the days surrounding the rally weekend. Today was the first chance I had to wash our quads down (my ‘99 and my wife’s ‘99 Mag500) and I’ve never seen either machine with so much crap stuck in every spot possible. And we ride those same trails every other weekend! Not only were our radiators clogged but mud caked our cylinder heads, engine cases, oil reservoirs, you name it. I had a pressure washer up there and blasted off what mud I could after each day’s ride but it still managed to accumulate. The point is, mud surrounded everything on our machines that was designed to help cool the motor, not just the radiator. Other’s experiences may have been different, but that’s what I found today.

My SP never overheated in all those miles. My wife’s Mag’s hot light went on about a mile from camp on our way back one night. She shut it down and waited a few minutes and the hot light stayed off for the remainder of her short trip. But like I said, we were fortunate enough to have the pressure washer to help keep our machines sort-of clean. The same new Kodiak Thor mentioned was one of our group and his hot light was going on at least once a day, usually more, and this was also with using my washer both before and after rides.

On the Rally two years ago, BPW (before pressure washer) we had a Grizzly in our group who we had to wait for all weekend long because his hot light would turn on every few miles. We had two 500 Suzuki’s in our group this year that didn’t seem to have this problem (they had other problems) but these guys didn’t put on near the miles we did. I didn’t hear of any Hondas overheating up there but we only rode with one on one day.

I’m not sure if there is a cure for the overheating when you’re in that kind of muck and dust, but I sure wish there was easier access to clean the radiator on Polaris machines. It’s well protected, which is great, but very difficult to get at to clean. Some kind of snap in panel like the engine side panels would be a big help. I think the mud and dust attracts more mud and dust in a radiator, so if you can start with it fairly clean and give it a shot with a garden hose after a muddy ride it wouldn’t be so hard to keep clean. But you have to be able to get at it to do it.

 

Thor
When I first got my 98 Scrambler 500 the first couple of rides were very muddy about 35 to 40 mi long. Hot light came on quite often. Wash in a stream as best I could but could only go another mile or 2 and the light would come on again. As the machine was still new I e-mailed Polaris about this problem, their customer service dept. e-mailed back and I quote "AVOID THESE CONDITIONS". Now I didnt expect a lot but that was ridiculous.

Now 2 years later still riding the same trails with the same conditions the hot light has only come on a few times. Maybe after the engine is broke in it runs cooler. Go fiqure!

I run the screen in front of the radiator and carry a 1 gallon sprayer with water that you pump by hand to pressurize on really muddy rides. It works pretty good. I think the screen helps a lot with the mud build up or lack of it anyway. Not sure how it would work in dust.

I have used my sprayer to clean a mud caked Warrior engine that was over heating. The Scramblers hot light didnt come on and we rode the same trail.

In conclusion (finally) The radiators do need better protection. I was disapointed with it always overheating at first but it seems to be better with age. Maybe someone could venture a quess as to why.

Theres my story on the subject.

98 SC 500

 

That is the veryfisr thing i do when i get a new wheeler i spray silicone on everything it works great i never have problems with overheating and it has helped in clean up also. Rangerchet i still have not got my sp 500 clean it has been raining since monday more mud for me . I just got the scrambler home tonight and have to prep it for riding NEED MORE SPRAY SILICONE try it it works .