Greetings:

I just got back from the ATV Rally in Hurley, Wisconsin over the Memorial Day Weekend. From what I could see everybody had a wonderful time out there in the mud and dust of Iron county.

One thing which I did notice was the amount of our dearly beloved Polaris machines with the Hot Lights on, and these were not old beaters either. One machine was two weeks old, one was 1 day old and more than one was a 2000 model Sportsman.

The trail conditions had to a play in the overheating. There was water and mud on the trails and dust on the roads. So one could blast through the trail get the radiator wet and then out on to a forest road where the wet radiator would collect dust like a magent. Then the trails could get muddy and that would not help either, but...

Couldn't Polaris design a double row radiator with more space between the fins so that this would not happen?

I also noticed that the 99 Xplorers without the newer fan shroud had no problems all weekend and the 99 magnum that I was with experienced no temp light turn ons.

But the Sportsman 500 models were another story. One couple we were with, both machines overheated at different times. The radiator heat on one machine even caused the fan blades to straighten out.

We drove through lakes and rivers to clean out the radiators but this didn't help. We hosed them off and that didn't work.

Is there something wrong with the Polaris design?
My machine fell victim to a defective temperature sensor/stripped out mounting hole on the aluminum fan blade.

 

I know you are telling the truth Thor but I just can't understand why so many people are having trouble with this problem I rode a 60 mile ride this week-end in some of the muckiest stuff you ever saw...on my Sportsman 500 2000 model I do have a winch mounted maybe this helps did any of the bikes have winches mounted and I do agree with you looks like Polaris could put on a screen that is not such fine mesh...funny though seems after they cleaned out the radiators looks like the cooling would have been restored could it have been something else beside the radiator being clogged....

 

I would like to hear more about what every one did
at that hurly wisconsin jamboree, since 1 person on this forum had invited me but previous plans were in place already.

I also had not heard about a yamaha atv parked on top of a dumster either that you put in a different post. Must be a pretty good story about that from the owner, I bet!?!

You are talking about our polaris radiators over heating very easily. I have this radiator too on my year 2000 polaris xpedition 425 cc 5-speed, liquid cooled atv. I also spent saturday and sunday with jamie's 2 yellow sp 500's that you have heard about. His are both brand new like the ones above that your talking about. Mine is about 1 year old.

Jamie likes mud, I can tell you that. We also had 1 yamaha 600 grizz with us as well. 4 atv's total.

all of our radiators were completely covered in mud and grass combined. Totally. Heck, I spent 3 and 1/2 hours on monday, cleaning my xpedition.
No body over heated. We were in the kind of mud that I call muddy quick sand. One time when my xpedition 425 was stuck. I steped off my atv so I could nurse it up out of the mud. Well when I steped down in the mud, it was up to my waist. Ya, that kind of black stinky mud. I think the canadians call it muskeg. And the real stinky kind. The grizz did not over heat either. So, in total - 2 sp 500's + 1 xpedition = 3 of 3 polaris atv's with radiators did not over heat in worse conditions then you experienced.

We had a good time this weekend. We all got stuck. I got stuck about 7 times my self. My xpedition did not go through more mud then the sp 500's as the ground clearance the sp 500 has is more then mine. Some mud holes the sp 500's barely made it through, my xpedition barely made it through also.
A few others the sp 500 barely made it through and I got stuck. My xpedition was equal to the grizz 600 mudding with one exception. twice we both got stuck in the same exact mud hole. The grizz had to
winch out but the polaris awd system could get nursed out with me off it but it did not work with
the grizz. So I saw first hand that polaris is ahead of the other brands with their awd system. I drove Jamies yellow sp 500 and it was smoother then my xpedition and cornered better then my xpedition. We did not race but my xpedition did go
a little bit slower the few times we opened them up together. Not too much though.

Over all, I thought my xpedition did very well in comparision with the sp500. And were talking the newer sp500, not a 98 or 99. I had one handy cap that Jamie wanted me to test out. I spent the whole weekend with my tamarrack utility box on the back and it is about 60 or 70 lbs. with all the stuff i have in it. I would be interesting to see how my xpedition would perform with that heavy box left behind???? I plan to check that out on some future trip. The polaris shop I had left my atv with for 2 weeks, never got around to putting on my progressive lift heavy duty springs yet, so I cannot report about how they work. I know, go some where else. You dont need to mention that.

Over all, my xpedition did not embarras its self at all. I ran with the big boys speed wise and my xpedition 425's mudding ability was a small amount better then the yamaha 600 grizz, only because of the awd. The grizz for sure, had A LOT more power then my machine but does not translate into better
mudding. I was impressed too that my xpedition was
only some what not as good as the sp 500 for mud. Of course my mud bugs and alluminum rims work well. rangerchet polaris xpedition 425 cc 5 speed.....

 

Two of the Sportsman 500s had winches on them. One of the drivers removed the mesh screen after the first day. I was going to pull mine but was reminded by my son that the main function of that screen is to stop grasses from getting into the radiator.

I think that it might have been the dust and the amount of miles that were driven. Each day for three days was over 100 miles and the dust was very thick and choking. So maybe the watered down radiators attracted dust and built a base for clogs to start.

 

"3 of 3 polaris atv's with radiators did not over
heat in worse conditions then you experienced."

?????

We were in dust so bad it was clogging air filters and stopping machines from running. AVE's Polaris was completely sold out of air filters on late Friday and had to airfreight in some filters from Moose. (poor planning on his part I'd say)

I think that the wet radiators were acting like dust magnets. I looked at my radiator screen one time and it was at least 40% blocked, and that was after the radiator had been pressure washed just 30 miles before.

Some of our party was in the muskeg alias loon s*#t also. Out of curiosity I looked up the word "radiator" on the Polaris threads and 119 messages showed up. So I would guess that this is not an isolated phenomenon.

I also saw a brand new Kodiak's temperature light come on.

 

We were more water/mud then anything, but going to and comming back the logging road was so dusty that we all spread out, so we were not in dust as long as you but our radiators were completely cloged with grass,mud,and dirt. What can I say. How dirty is dirty? I was just wondering if something else was wrong, thats all? Also, is it possible that the red lights go on but your not really overheating? One time in the past when my red light came on, I drove my engine into a creek and the red light stayed on. It made me think that it was just a false indication at the time as it seemed to me that with part of my engine in cool water it should have cooled down if it really had been hot? The light stayed on untill I drove out of the water and shut it off for a short while.

It just bothers me that the radiator too me dont look like it has enough protection. When my atv was in the shop last because my backup fan has not been working. They found that I had a busted wire which they fixed for nothing but the fan still dont work. They have ordered a sensor for me. Quite a few people in here have talked about this type of problem and in my mind, maybe its because our radiators need to be protected better. I drive
through trees, brush over bumps, down in the deep water/mud and that small screen is all thats protecting the radiator and that bar on the bottom that looks like its part of the radiator? We may need a design change or better protection. What do you think ??? rangerchet

 

Ya'll should try quad_mans idea on fixing the radiator problem...
Put fiberglass window screen (like for a screen door that you buy at Lowes, Home Depot..etc..)across the front of the machine and hold it in place with two bungie cords.... When the screen gets stopped up, you just remove it and ride to the hearest water hole and rinse it out...
It will keep the mud out of the radiator... I've gotten grey clay into the fins on the radiator and had to take the grille guard off use Air conditioning coil cleaner to break the mud down, and a thin flat strip of metal to push the mud out the back of the radiator.. and rinse it out. The addition of another row of cooling tubes would only complicate matters..
When some of that mud dries, its like cement!!..

 

Supposedly from what I garnered from other threads the hot lite comes on at 221 degrees, the fan comes on at 185 degrees and shuts off at 165 degrees.

You know when it oveheats because the radiator cap will release coolant at 13 PSI. This release can be very spectacular if you are doing about 40 MPH.
at the time. You hear this loud woomph as the cloud of steam envelopes your quad and the trail immediately behind you.

When the radiator cap releases pressure you know that you have truely oveheated and immediately need to shut the machine down.

 

I will give it a try mudmachine, We have a home depot not too far from where I live. rangerchet

To thor, that explosion has never happened to me yet but I would agree when it does that there is sure know dought they over heated. I bet mud machines idea will work for your situation. rangerchet

 

We've never had this happen because of dust, but have had it happen when we do some serious mudding. I imagine that if your raditor gets wet then the dust must stick to it pretty easily! My one buddy carrys a 1.5 gallon pressure washer with him sometimes.

I find this an interesting point because many Polaris riders including myself were sold on liquid cooling, now I question whether or not I need it. I have never seen a air cooled foreman, wolverine, king quad - overheat . . .????