I ride with people with old air cooled quads some even with no oil coolers.These machines, some 10 years and older work hard to get in some of our fishing spots and never seem to act up or need to stop to cool off.With liguid cooling you have to think about water level,anti-freeze,radators,hose connections,water pumps,thermostates and fan motors.Is it needed or just a selling feature?

 

I think it is and here is why;

I dirve a 2000 GMC Sierra with a transmission oil cooler. 99% of the time that needle on my tran temp gauge never moves. Then in the winter I throw the plow on and start fooling around and all of a sudden that gauge starts climbing. Sure am glad I have an oil cooler then. My point is you are likely to never be in a situation that the liquid cooled offers much advantage over an air-cooled, but suppose you are in a situation that you need it.

Probably a better set-up would be an air-cooled with liquid cooling backup, or a combination of the two (like a car).

 

2YellowSportsman
I am from and have relatives in Corning. They live on Caton rd. and Baily Creek rd. What part do you live in? I`ve never riden in the area and would like to we should get together sometime. e-mail me.

As for the liquid cooled it`s nice to have like you say but it is a lot of extra`s that we lived without for many years. When you can`t ride because your radiator is packed with mud out on the trail you may think differently.
My feelings are mixed it`s a catch 22.

98 Scrambler 500
00 Trailblazer 250

 

One of the primary for liquid cooling is that you can run more compression hence more horsepower.In 1993,when Suzuki began liquid cooling on the GSXR1100, they told us that on endurance racing motorcycles,after 5-6 hours of racing,the liquid cooled bikes made much more horsepower.BTW our dealership has NOT had many failures of liquid cooled components on ATV's or motorcycles.

 

The advantages of liquid cooling are these:
1. More power from higher compression ratios. Air cooled engines have to be "detuned" to prevent pre-ignition (pinging) when the engine is running hotter than normal such as heavy load, low speed situations. Also engine tolerances can be closer.

2. More reliability. Extreme engine temp variations causes more expansion/contraction of engine components which can increase wear.

3. Less noise. Liquid cooled engines have the cylinder head/combustion chamber noise insulated by the coolant chamber which lowers noise from the engine itself, but not of course from the exhaust system. The overall net effect is lower noise.

4. Lower emissions and better fuel economy. By nature of the controlled operating temps. The engine can run leaner without risk of damage. Less fuel in the fuel/air mix equals better fuel economy and less unburned hydrocarbons out the exhaust. If emissions regulations continue to tighten, i.e. the impending death of 2-strokes, you will see all high performance engines utilizing liquid cooling in order to make the most power while passing emission regulations. A good example of this is the Porsche 911/993. The main reason they switched to liquid cooling 2 years ago after 35 years of air/oil cooling was emissions.

There are disadvantages, of course, if a leak develops, or cooling system component fails or is damaged, but overall the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.

 

tim1,

it's kinda like taking a large caliber handgun on a hike where you might have an encounter with a bear or the texas seven in my case.

texascat

 

my first quad was a quad racer which was liquid cooled. then i bought a warrior which was air cooled and i noticed in the summer the heat from the engine was very noticable on your legs on long rides. now i have a xplorer and the heat is not there.

 

all good points