A friend of my has a 2006 Sportsman 800 and it overheated, we checked the fan and it was working fine, we topped up the rad after it cooled and the water was circulating so it wasnt the water pump, i think it might be the thermostat. He rode the bike home but it was really hot and had to take a couple of breaks. Is this a common problem? if so how can it be remedied.

 

Well you can check the thermostat by removing it and putting it in a pan of water , and with a thermometer slowly start heating up the water ; taking note as what temp the thermostat open's up ! I don't know what the temp should be when it's suppose to open , so you would have to get this info from a repair manual or your dealer ; or maybe someone on the forum will jump in and let you know what the temp should be ! Anyway i hope you get to the bottom of the problem , and it's not anything costly ; i hope this is of some help to you ! Oh one other thing i forgot is to check to see if the radiator is stopped up with mud , both the front and back side of the rad ; i've heard often of other's running hot then finding out that it was a clouged rad on the outside front an rear ; and internaly also ! williebee

 

willie is correct about make 100% sure the rad. is not clogged on the back side behind the fan where you cant see very well. this is a very common problem w/ the hot running 800. i had to take mine out and completely clean it thru and thru to make sure it was clean as it was very plugged.

 

95% of the time, on a stock engine, overheating is caused by a plugged radiator. The other 5% are things like water pumps headgaskets and the like. A stock engine will run cool.

Stendori is giving you very good advice. Take the radiator out of the quad and inspect it for mud........ect.

 

trust me i learned it the hard way lol.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-blush.gif[/img]

 

also check the radiator cap once the bike over heats 2-3 times the cap can get riuned & seep coolant out into the over flow

 

One of our members has had good luck with his fix. He put a filter material, actually ridgevent material, in front of his radiator. It is a very coarse brillo-type material, which catches most of the mud. Then he took plastic material, the front end of a kids sled, and extended it up the sides of the radiator behind it, to keep mud from flowing in behind the radiator. When we take a break on the trail, he just pops the vent material out, and rinses it. I have a picture of the finished product on the website.

By the way, Sten, you going to be at the mud run next weekend?