Wait until everything is assembled correctly.

 

Ok so I got the waterpump all back together, filled the engine oil, filled the coolant and let it idle while I kept adding coolant until the coolant level wasn't going down anymore. Put the cap on and let it idle for a good 10 min to make sure fan kicked on which it did. Checked for any leaks including waterpump weep hole, all good. Noticed rattling coming from the recoil I believe so I was trying to pinpoint that as well. Then as I went to turn it off, I noticed the temp indicator flashing so I killed it.
what do I check from here? What else would cause it to overheat?

 

More than likely still some trapped air in the system. On some machines it may take awhile to remove all of it to keep the hot light from triggering before the fan kicks on. Jack the front end up with tires off the ground a little and remove the radiator cap.Let the fan cycle on and off several times. Squeezing radiator hoses may help in any air removal also. Then top off radiator and overflow bottle.

 

OPT i actually did that last night after I let it cool down, topped off coolant and ran it for a bit, this time the fan kicked in several times and I didn't get the temp light. So I should fill overflow bottle while engine is cold correct? Also I noticed after I shut it off it was making a ton of noise from the coolant, my 600 doesn't do this. Still air trapped maybe? Sounds like gurgling. Again thank you for the help, you're a true asset to this forum

 

Gurgling is usually still some trapped air pockets. These models were the worst on bleeding because the coolant return line fed back to the filler neck and not straight into the radiator. They changed that in 2005 I believe and bleeding was so much easier. I've spent close on an hr on some machines trying to burp all the air out.You can see the difference between your 2003 model and the changes they made on the 2005 cooling system as far as the coolant return line and the filler neck.

 

OPT you were right again. Gurgling is gone, buried it again. Took it for a short ride and no power, backfiring through carb. Also how does the awd work on this model? Again it's different from my 600 with the hubs. I changed hub oil, jacked it up and when I turn the switch on front wheels don't spin but when I kind of rock the awd switch it will kick in? Any thoughts?

 

Could be a ground loss from the speedo to the front hubs.The fix was to jump the brown/white wire to the brown wire in the speedo harness connector which bypassed the awd ground from going into the speedo.If that doesn't solve it then a good ground on the hub wires was another fix.

 

Ok I will look into awd this afternoon, any pointers on where to start on coughing and small muffled backfires through carb? Also won't rev out due ton this, no power

 

Just to confirm, I haven't done the carbest rebuild kit yet, I was holding off until I made.made sure the overheating issue was good and I was trying to find a complete used carb with no luck. This one has the broken idle **** and messed up air fuel screw so that's why I was trying to find a used one to rebuild first. I also just changed oil couple days ago and I believe gas is getting in the oil, oil is thin and gas a hint of gas smell. Any obvious things I can check before I continue would be helpful

 

Gas in the oil.. get the carb kit.Shindy Carburetor Kit Polaris Scrambler 500 2003-2005 Sportsman 500 03-05 Carb | eBay