I have a problem with a 02 sportsman 700. It want to overheat within 10-15 min of riding. The radiator appears to be clean and can see through it. I put anti freeze in it, and within a week you can tell that some has disappeared. There are no puddles of anti freeze anywhere.

What do you think?

 

Must be a head gasket and you are burning the coolant. They do get hot when a head gasket is out I think. Just my 2 cents.

 

any symptoms of a bad head gasket?

 

white smoke out the exhaust. Exhaust may have a sweet smell to it at a distance. Notice any of these?

 

hate to say it, but no. and the water pump is working.

 

How fast does the coolant get removed ?

 

never notcied the amount, just that the rad goes empty along with the res.

 

Try filling the radiator,leave the cap off while running at idle,add fluid as needed,when fan kicks on a lot of air is removed and level usually drops,keep topping off radiator and let fan cycle on and off several times,replace cap, top off coolant bottle and then ride and see if ok. Any air at all in the system will cause it to bubble out coolant bottle and can cause problems. Just food for thought! OPT

 

check the oil dipstick to see if it is just oil or if there is coolant mixing. I had the oil seal and water pump seal go bad and that was causing the machine to lose coolant and overheat but it did not get burned out the exhaust like a bad head gasket.

 

Your water pump seal could be going, it happened on mine about a year and a half ago. you will lose a little coolant at a time look under the bike at idle on the right side just in front of the foot brake