Does anyboby know what the coolant temp. is when the display on the newer polaris's flashes HOT.....Is this a early warning or is the temp at a very dangerous level. I just want to know for future use if it still ok to drive a few miles until a spot can be found to clean out the rad. EX. pond,lake clean water hole......It happened once to my wife's 450 and we shut it off for about 10min until HOT was not on the display any more. Found a lake .......I drove the frount end in and leaned over the front rack to flush out the rad with my hand, lucky I had room though I did not install her winch yet........ My was installed and I don't think there was room to clean my on the trail like that.....Thanks.......

 

Let it cool. Don't ride any longer than you have to. Don't hold me to this but i think the light comes on at around 220 to 230 degrees. That's what they use to be anyway. Same basic engine so im sure the hot light is the same. Cut it off and switch the key on and let the fan run. When the fan cuts off start it back up and let the coolant circulate some more. Most likely the fan will come back on. Repeat this a time or 2 and it should cool off pretty fast

 

I agree, let it cool. A temp gauge will tell you a whole lot more about how your cooling system is functioning than that idiot light. It’s very difficult to improve the condition of your radiator by splashing water on it or driving through water, and it’s impossible to “clean” it that way. To be sure it’s clean and functioning properly you should pull the fan and fan shroud to clean the back side of it as well as the front. 4 bolts hold the fan in and 4 four bolts hold the shroud in. They both come out through the right side with the front tires off. It’s a simple, fast process. I can have the fan and shroud out of the way in less time than it takes to jack up the machine and take the tires off.

I mean no disrespect but I’ve always been curious about why people think they are cooling their engine down by running the fan with the engine turned off. I know it kind'a seems like it might work but the reality is without the engine running the water pump isn’t circulating coolant through the radiator so at best all you’re cooling with the fan is the coolant that’s trapped in the radiator, and with the radiator plugged you’re not even doing that! I’ve done it too, as an act of desperation in an overheating situation but the only real benefit is it made me feel better to hear the fan running, it actually does very little if anything.

Some guys we ride with do this habitually on a hot day. Whenever they shut their machine off they’ll turn the ignition back on to let the fan run. Assuming their radiators are clean all they’re doing is cooling down the contents of the radiator. If you really want to cool the machine off before shutting it down keep the motor running just above idle so it’s circulating coolant and wait for the cooling fan to shut off. Either way, if you watch the temp gauge you’ll see that the engine temp will rise after its shut off due to the lack of coolant circulation, then it will begin to drop after a few minutes.

 

The Fan comes on at 190 and the hot light at 210 ... note the fan turns off once the temp drops to 170-175.


Most of the time ... i've found the fan stuck with mud and just needs a little turn to get it spining.

 

If it is overheating. Running the fan may be a mute point. The radiator is probably pluged up. So running the fan does not do much good.

 

Over a 100 degrees here today..I was riding my 800 the hot light came on I stopped immediatley and it put fluid out the top of the bottle..I wash the radiator out and it seems fine..I hope It didnt hurt anything..THe power is ok and...I dont no what the pound rating on the radiator cap is maybe it dont take much to push it out when it gets warm...Ill definitley pay more attention to my Radiator now..I though I was washing it out but I wasnt doing a too good a job..

 

Not to be disrespectful but running the cooling fan while off does help cool your bike down. Heat transfers through the coolant even if its not flowing. Where you get the real band for you buck is if you start your quad up and run it for a min after 3 or 4 minutes of fan time. I also never shut my engine off while the fan is running. Just some extra insurance for me. I now have a functioning temp gauge and while experimenting in my garagge I knocked about 15 deg off my coolant temp by doing that. I know 2 things for sure. My waterpump is working and my radiator is clear becasue I've not done any mudding since Feb and I pressure clean it on a regular basis. I also think it a very smart thing to get a temp guage so you know exactly whats going on. I have mine post T-stat and right before the fan sensor. I noticed that I typically run 190. That is since I've got my temp sensor working. We'll see what happens on a really hot day. I'll also get to see if Cermaic coating the exhaust helps with the temp issues since I'm going to the 800 header pipe and a white bros can.

 

They say (polaris manual) NOT to clean out rad with a pressure washer!!!!It can damage the cooling fins.....They can bend over with the pressure and not allow any air to pass through.. I would check to make sure you did not damage any.....Bye for now!!!

 

Thanks for the info Caper I also read the manual and understand what can be dammaged so I use only low pressure.