Sounds like you may have lucked into another decent forgotten machine. Yes seals are affected the most when setting up for extended periods of time. Crack,swell up and leak.

 

I filled everything up this morning and bled the system rebuilt the carb after that and she fired right up. No leaks and it runs great. The only thing I want to check is the fan sensor on the radiator. I ran the machine quite a bit and let it idle for a good 15 minutes but the fan didn't kick on. I don't think it gets hot enough to kick it on but I want to make sure the sensor works so it will engage the fan when it does get hot. I took temp readings with my handheld thermometer and the hottest I got was a little close to 150 at the head outlet but nothing hotter anywhere else. The fan works if I jump it so I know it works. My other liquid cooled 2 strokes will kick the fan on, but rarely and it has to be hot out. My xplorer has the fan wire hooked together so the fan runs all the time, a problem I plan on fixing in the next few weeks when I pick up a new sensor for it. Is there a way of testing this sensor?

Next question is about the charging system. When I bought this machine, the battery was stone dead. It won't even charge so I ordered a brand new one. That won't be here till tomorrow, but I noticed when I ran the machine, the bulbs for the indicators would get very bright and one actually got so bright, that it burnt out. I have more bulbs but won't put them in until I have a new battery installed. Is this common when the battery is completely junk? Does the charging system go into a full bore charge since the battery isn't able to soak up the voltage from the stator?

Thanks,
Mike

 

I know they can blow bulbs if you don't have a battery. All that electricity has to go somewhere. I guess a dead battery can cause the same thing. It must be really dead.

 

Sensors are easy to check.Check resistance on the two spade ends at room temp and then drop in hot water. Resistance levels should drop. If they don't then the sensor is bad. All the sensor does is close it's contacts when a certain temp is reached(around 190 degree) and provides the ground path for the fan to kick on. If the battery is weak or dead, can't hold a charge,the voltage from the regulator has to go somewhere else and the bulbs offer the least resistance and will pop.