My fan on my 96 sportsman 500 4x4 doesnt seem to running very fast.I can hear it click on,run maybe 10 sec and then shut off,and it isnt spinning very fast,and the temp light is blinking on/off,I also had the seat off and could hear a click then the fan would turn on,then off,I couldnt start the machine either till I heard this clicking noise,ALso how much does a new fan run and is it hard to install?? Thanks for the help

 

I just went through the some of the same pains last week with my 96 sp'500. I can't answer all of your questions, but here's what I can tell you. The fan motor on the 96 is switched on and off through the temp sensor located in the top of the radiator. When the temp rises above a certain point, the temp sensor goes from a normally open setting to a closed setting. The power to the radiator fan is controlled by the condition of the temp sensor (like a light switch).
Now, my problem was a little different but some of what I had to do may help you. My fan motor was whining when it would come on. I pretty much knew that the motor was due for service from the sound and the slow speed it was rotating. I removed the fan motor and opened it up. I wasn't surprised to find moisture and corrosion inside. The fam motor did not have sealed bearings on the ends of the motor shaft/fan housing. It had an old-style floating bushing seal that was non-replaceable. I took it to an auto electric shop that had previously managed to rebuild my starter and starter bendix. They weren't able to work on it and suggested I replace it anyway because of its condition. Polaris wants $99.99 for a replacement fan motor. I went to Advanced Auto Parts and purchased a 10" universal electric cooling fan for $55.99. Swap out was simple. It comes with a 1 year replacement warranty. If it turns out that your fan is bad, this may be an alternative for you.
Good Luck. Surfer Sam

 

yeah I saw water coming out of the fan,didnt think that was a good thing,have to see if I can get a new one,was yours running hot?? Mine wants to spit and sputter when it gets hot??

 

Mine did not overheat but once. It didn't spew coolant. Only the high temp light came on.

 

Interesting conversation. I have a 2000 sp500. While riding rather casually one day, I noticed what seem to be overheating ( smell of antifreeze, bubbles in antifreeze catch bottle, temp light, and no fan). I attributed this to a head gasket leak that was sending compression to my cooling system. Seems if this were the case, it would continue all of the time, but it doesn't.

Is spewing antifreeze a common symptom in these machines when overheated? Perhaps I too have a fan problem.

Any advise is appreciated.

Thanks

 

Madison,

My thinkin on your problem, if your headgasket is leaking, and you have a compression leak that is leaking into your antifreeze, my worry would be that it is also taking antifreeze into the motor on the intake stroke.
Does that make sense to anyone?

 

After reading this thread, I have re-thought my situation. Seems that these fans intermittently fail and allow the engine to overheat at which time some overflow could take place in the catch bottle. Apparently this is what happened. If it had been the head gasket, it would probably do it all the time, which it doesn't. Now I need to find out why the fan works at times and not others.

Thanks for your thoughts.

Any other comments or ideas would be appreciated.

 

Like Polarisman said, a blown head gasket could cause your quad to overheat. The quad would probably fail a compression test. If the leak is bad enough, you might even notice white smoke coming out the exhaust pipe. You should also lose coolant. Your oil might even turn muddy as the coolant mixes with it.

The intermittent fan problem might be caused by a faulty fan or a faulty temp sensor. You can test the fan by putting a jumper wire across the two contacts on the temp sensor. If the fan is in good condition, it will start turning without noise, without delay, and will turn smooth rpms. I think I read somewhere that the rpms on the stock fan motor is 500-600 rpms. You can also test the temp sensor by removing and testing the sensor with an Ohm meter. Clip your Ohm meter to the two contact points. At temperatures below approximately 190 degrees the sensor will be in an open condition (no continuity). Dip the end of the sensor in almost boiling water, give it a second, and the open condition should switch to closed. If it doesn't, the sensor is faulty and needs replacement.

I also added a temperature gauge to my quad to ease my cooling system concerns. I bought a temp gauge from Advanced Auto Parts. The gauge came with some SAE thread adapters. I used the 3/4" adapter. I went to home depot and bought some copper plumbing parts- a 3/4 by 3/4 by 1/2 tee; a 1/2 tubing to 1/2 PVC pipe thread adapter, a piece of 3/4 tubing, a piece of 1/2 tubing, solder, flux, a roll of tefon tape, and two 3/4 hose clamps. The 3/4" adapter threads from the temp gauge kit match the 1/2" pipe threads.

I mounted the 2" temp gauge in the headlight pod. I drilled a 2" hole with a hole saw at the 4:30 position (lower right corner) relative to the speedometer.

With my aftermarket cooling fan, my quad will heat up to about 192 degrees before the fan kicks on. The fan will cool things down to about 170 degrees and will cut off. I recommend the temp gauge install if you are worried about overheating.

SurferSam

 

how do I get to the temo sensor? I am having these same problems but do not know where sensor is located.

 

depends on your atv , but it's probably in the top of the radiator. you may have to trmove the plastic to get to it.