Well now what? Ok here goes, please help if you can.

My son bought a 2001 Sportsman 500. He came home with it, I soon figured out it had a blown head gasket. Go figure. I took the head out sent to machine shop. had it magnafluxed for cracks and checked for square. came back needing milled slightly. cool. done.

Reassembled the bike. Hit on the first stroke. done deal. Now still smells like antifreeze in the exhaust. My thought is a cracked block? Is this common on these bikes?

Second- The fan didnt kick on. Did some research on this. Yes the input side was hot and sensor side was not. Is there a better solution to fix this or just replace? Can this radiator be saved or is it a throw away?

Thanx for help guys.

Jay

 

First off did you torque the head bolts in sequence according to the manual? There probably would be a little burnt coolant smell for awhile if any residue was still in the exhaust. Hook the fan up direct and see if the fan motor works. If it does most of the time the radiator sensor is the problem. This model up until the 2006 models were the hardest to get all the air out of the cooling system. Jack the front end up,leave the cap off and add coolant as the radiator level drops. When the fan kicks on,most of the air will be expelled and the coolant level should drop even more in the radiator. Top off the coolant and the overflow bottle. Plus make sure the radiator is clean front to back especially around the fan area,bad area for caked on dirt/mud. Torque head bolts first to 22 foot pounds,then 51 foot pounds,loosen 180 degrees (1/2 turn) then torque to 11 foot pounds,then finally tighten 90 degrees (1/4) turn. The two small 6mm bolts torque to 6 foot pounds. Plus something a lot of people forget to check is the weep hole at the water pump cover(water pump seal) to see if it's the source of the problem on any coolant loss and overheating along with the impeller itself. If it's gotten hot enough in the past the impeller fins can melt from the heat. OPT

 

I could not find the the correct torque sequence. I did cris cros the head when torquing it down. I also did the 25 then 50 then 90 on the torque. I made sure to fill rad slow. i read about the rad coming apart, and not flowing.

Do you have torque sequence? Or tell me where to find.

 

Torque sequence is in my post above(in crisscross fashion). Once you torque the metal head gasket it's not advisable to loosen and try to torque again. Radiators can get internally blocked,but not very often. Most of the time overheating occurs is because of trapped air,fan motors bad,or temp sensor in radiator shorted out not allowing the fan to kick on. Plus what I mentioned about checking the water pump cover weep hole for a leaking water pump seal along with checking the water pump impeller itself. You can temp wire the fan to run while you bleed the cooling system to help narrow down problems. OPT

 

I did check the fan prior to the install. It ran well. I guess I was close on the torque without knowing for sure. I did open the impeller case. It looked fine. Blades seemed in shape. No leaking at the weep hole. I wonder if the jug has a crack? I would think for the amount of time it ran there would not be any left over residue in the exhaust but who knows.

I will try jacking the bike up and getting any air out. Recheck. Will post back later. Thanx for help