I was running my '90 LT250R around the yard yesterday in the snow. All of a sudden it "died" and a puff of smoke came from the front of the motor, it turned out it was radiator fluid. I could not get it started after that. Later in the evening I tried to start it one more time when putting it away and it fired up on the second try. It seemed to run just fine.

At first I thought maybe I had blown a head gasket, but since it started later and seems to be running fine I don't think this is the case. Any ideas? I'm just wondering if it's possible that it just overheated and when the engine cooled down it would then fire. I was riding in 20 degree weather in the snow. Could it be that while sliding around in the snow (couldn't get much speed) that there wasn't sufficient air flow to cool the motor?

I've only had this quad for a few weeks and haven't had a chance to ride it very much. I'm just looking for possible reasons as to why this happened and if there is something I can do to prevent it from happening again.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

It's possible that snow could have blocked any air from getting to your radiator. Do you see any leaks around the head gasket, and is your fluid level still OK? Check to ensure that your water pump is circulating and drain your oil to see if there is any anti-freeze in it. Hope it's OK!