my 13 sportsman 500 overheated this weekend. The HOT warning popped up on the display so I stopped. I shut it down and put the key to on to see if the fan was working. It was, but it sounded week and stumbling. I cycled the key a few times then it came back to life. I started the bike after a minute to get the coolant flowing and the message went away and I headed back. This happened one more time on the 20 mile ride back. I stopped again and cycled the key a few time and got the fan to run from barely to full rpm.
Is it common for the fans to fail on these? or is it likely a connection or intermittent temp sensor? Just curious where to start looking. It would be simpler to diagnose if the fan was just completely off.
Also is there any protection when overheated, such as the timing retarding? I did notice it was running funny for a second when i re-fired it up, but seemed to disappear real shortly (like in reverse without pressing the override button). Hoping it wasn't that hot that it was running bad, but just a protection feature