hey folks i bought a 98 500 sportsman with 2,500 miles on it from a local non polaris dealer. i got it home and rode it 10 minutes and it got hot. i only ran it about 30 to 45 seconds after the light came on. i pulled it into my garage and shut it down. i let it set for a few minutes and then started it back up when i did it was steaming from the exhaust. well i took it back to the dealer and told him it had a cracked head or a blown head gasket. they pulled it apart and the gasket was blown, so they replaced it, i brought it back home and put around 10 miles on it, and it started steaming again. every time i would ride it and park it, it would leak coolant into the cylinder. so i took it back again and they pulled it apart and checked it over, and said the head was warped, so they had it shaved and put it back on, along with another new gasket. i got it home and it was leaking coolant down the front of the head coming from between the head and the cylinder. i called my polaris dealer and asked if the cylinders was bad about warping on these and he said you need to get it extremely hot to warp it. he also said that there is 6 steps to torqing the head on a polaris 500 and i am not sure if the non polaris mechanic is aware of this. but they said bring it back in and they would re torque the head . well they told me the torque numbers were in specs but they went ahead and torqued it a little tighter. when i picked it up yesterday the mechanic had been riding it, and the overflow jug was full i let it cool down over night and checked it this morning and it was still full so i drained it downt to the cold full level i rode it 6 miles and it was blowing coolant everywhere, so i checked and the overflow was full again. to me it seems as if it is getting compression into the coolant system does anyone think that the torque just wasnt done right and if so do you think i could loosen the head off and retorque it in the correct sequence ? and if so does anyone have the correct torque specs for this machine ? folks any info would be healpful, because i cant afford to keep taking it to the shop and not getting anything fixed
thanks

 

welcome. in my opinion, once it has been torqued down which ever way the head gasket retains that impression so if it was done wrong it wouldnt do any good to redo it the correct way. but there again this just my thoughts. maybe someone esle will chime in w/ a differnt idear. whatthey ought to do at the dealership is to do a presssure test so see if its holding air pressure or where its blowing by.

 

thanks for the reply stendori. it may be possible for the gasket to have comformed to its permanent shape.



also does anyone know how bad a polaris head is about cracking due to heat ? the mechanic looked it over and said the head looked good. but things can be overlooked

 

ok folks another thought here. whats the odds of my radiator cap being weak and letting coolant release and fill my overflow bottle ?

 

actually it needs pressure i beleave to fill the coolant tank. when its warm it shoudnt be any higher then full hot, and the reverse for when its cold.

 

Hey did you ever fix this ? having smae simular problem.