when i got my 05 sportsman 500 it had barely any antifreeze in it, i couldn't even see any. i filled it up and went for a ride and it went down a tiny bit. but it looked wet on the reservoir, but does it sound like a leak if the reservoir was empty, or is it maybe burning coolant? it has 5000 miles on it

 

Is your exhaust blowing smoke?
What does your oil look like? Is it tan colored?
Fill the reservoir and run it. While running observe for any leaks.

 

While it's running look under the recoil area beneath the water pump cover to see if there are any wet spots where the water pump seal may be leaking out of the weep hole.If no leaking is noticed, jack the front end up with the tires off the ground,fill the radiator,leave the cap off until the fan cycles on and off several times. The coolant should go down as it purges any air.Top off the radiator and reservoir bottle.

 

it smokes a little, normal white smoke and the oil looks normal, i'll have to take a better look at it when it warms up abit, fresh snow on the ground today.

 

any use in trying a radiator stop-leak product off the shelf?

 

I used the gray/silver stop leak in my 500 sportsman '01...it was leaking at the radiator. i fixed it...had a lot of good luck with this stuff over the years...on a small system like an atv use it sparingly. the type i use is in a medicine bottle sized container..only needed like a 1/4".

 

if it was burning abit of coolant could stop-leak get in the engine and ruin it?

 

I dont know about it ruining the engine. It would probably burn off with the coolant.

 

if the coolant isnt ruining the engine the stop leak surely isn't ...the coolant problem comes after the engine is shut down not while its running... when turned off things aren't burning or being blown out and the coolant "drains" into the cylinder, possibly hydrolocking the engine (had a boat motor do this) and finally draining past the rings & into the oil pan...this would be thru a bad head gasket situation.
and all this is assuming it is going into the engine and being disposed of there...could be a leak somewhere in the system..i don't think you have diagnosed where the coolant is going yet have you ?

 

no i gotta look at it good when i get it back