I overheated my 2000 SP500 after riding in deep (10-12") snow (packed into radiator) and lost lots of fluid right in front of the house in the fluffy white stuff.

After thawing, it still overheats after about 15 minutes at idle. The fluid comes out under pressure from the radiator overfill resevoir, no "hot" light.

I splurged and changed fan switch, thermostat, and almost the fan but re-tested it w/ better 12v source and it spins good.

I finally pulled the waterpump cover and the impellor is clean and spins.

A friend suggested that if I packed the radiator with snow and overheated the engine, my problem could be motor related. He said if I blew a head gasket, or cracked the head, pressure from the engine could pressurize the cooling system. No oil has crossed to the cooling system, coolant was clean.

Any suggestions? Motor seems to idle smooth, could I still have "hidden" serious engine problems causing the over-pressurization of the cooling system?

HELP.



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Your friend is right, you may have warped the head just enough so pressure from the cylinder is leaking into the coolant passages. You have to do a cylinder leak down test to check it.

 

Ricknzip:

So is that something I can do, or only at a shop? sounds like an expensive problem.

Also, would it make sense that it takes a while to pressurize; i.e. after the motor has run 15mins or so?