I have been lurking around gathering information on ATV's for the past few months before picking up a used atv. I really appreciate all the info so far.

Anyways, here is the problem. I bought an 05 King quad with 500 miles on it. The original owner changed the engine oil, but that was about it, so I changed the final gear oil, the differential oil, the spark plug, and I am now stuck on the coolant.

I drained the coolant and then added distilled water to the reservior in an attempt to flush the system. I obviously did something wrong because I can't get the engine to suck the water into the radiator. I then tried to squeeze out any air and even disconntected the hose to see if it was blocked. I started the engine and let it idle until the water temp light came on, then i turned it back off. I jacked up the front, reved it a little trying to break up any bubbles, nothing. Then I filled the radiator through the radiator cap at 50/50. The light doesn't come on, but the fan kicked in and there was smoke coming out from the radiator cap after 2 minutes at idle.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

 

UPDATE:

So I might have it figured out...

When I let it warm up and then increase the RPM's it looks like the coolant is moving around inside the radiator (cap off). I drove it down the street and back and the fan kicked on a couple times and when I brought it back, ran for a total of 5 minutes and parked it, there was some steam coming from the radiator cap. The water temp light never came on.

Does that sound OK or does it sound like it is running hot?

 

i am no expert by any means, but it does sound like you are ok. do you have one of those laser temp guages? you can check actual temp of engine with it. those air pockets can be a real pain to get out sometimes. keep a close eye on levels. good luck. keep us up to date.