Have 2003 Sportsman 700 with 220hrs.started having to add antifreeze to reserve tank.checked oil and found level high. drained oil and found alot of antifreeze. My friend has a 2004 700 with 51hrs, he found the same problem. Talked to another friend thats in a 4-wheeler club, another member had the same problem. Called Polaris and they said this wasn't a issue.Talked to a local dealer and they had a 2003 in their shop with the same issue, also had to replace a crankcase on another 700. I can't believe this isn't a issue. Do you know of this problem or defect.

 

the waterpump seal went bad, had to replace mine. have you ever overheated the engine? that would cause it, or if you get dirt into your coolant res that would also cause the seal to go bad.

 

Thanks for the fast reply about my problem. Was there any visble damage on your waterpump seal, also did Polaris change this seal to fix this problem.I looked back in the forum and found this problem alot. But no one at Polaris is giving this info out. Before finding this site I already pulled the head and had it resurfaced, next time I'll use this site before taking any action.


again thanks alot for your help
HAACKMAN

 

I know this is on a different machine, but I have noticed that my coolant level will go down slightly over time on my Scrambler 500. Is there a good way to check if it is your waterpump seal, head gasket, or something else? How much coolant does it have to drink to get to the point that it is doing serious damage and I should look into it?

 

i noticed no damage on my seal, but changed it and havn't had any coolant in my oil since, before the change i had alot of coolant in the oil, as well as oil in the coolant.

i don't know of any ways to see if it is a different problem or not, besides taking it apart and looking for defects.

if you arn't getting alot of coolant in your oil in a long period of time, you should be fine as long as you change the oil regularly, or sooner than usual. but i would sugguest to fix it before you put alot more miles on it, so it doesn't go bad and possibly take other stuff out with it.

 

one more thing, no they did not change the seals at all. the 02 and some 03's had a bad waterpump cover(the bad ones are composite) which can be upgraded to the aluminum cover for free if taken into a dealer. the 04+ machines have the upgraded covers from the factory.

 

Have you guys snorkled your coolent overflow bottle? The main cause of waterpump/oil seal failure on the twins is dirty/muddy water entering the cooling system through the stock overflow cap. When a hot engine is rapidly cooled in a muddy puddle the cooling system draws in dirty water through the small hole in the overflow cap and contaminates the coolent and wears out the pump seals.

I had the pump cover upgraded on my 03. With the old cover design the coolent was lost outside of the engine onto the ground, but I suppose muddy water could get in that way too. Good luck.

 

yeah, once you fix the problem, you should snorkel the overflow bottle. i havn't done so on mine yet, but i plan too in the future.

 

One other thought, Service Bulletin # ATV-03-05 Model Years 2002-2004 Subject Sportsman 600-700 Breather Line replacement. Just a thought. Loss of oil/antifreeze? Take Care!!

 

Hey man I logged in just to tell you that your problem is your water pump seals are gone.I just had mine replaced after the mud nats last year.Mine got really hot.All my antifreeze was in the oil.There is an oil seal and a water seal.Both have to be replaced.It was about 365 at dealer.Next time I'll probably do it myself.The dealer said it was pretty common on 700s mine is an 04.