hey I may have a problem,and if anyone can help its you guys...HELP PLEASE !

oK I have a 2001 sportsman 400 it only has 500 miles on it,well taken care of.
when my fan comes on I smell anifreeze.I looked and looked and the only thing
I found was the top of the overflow tank (red cap) would have a few drops on the cap or had dripped off the cap (only a couple drops) and sometimes it doesnt even have anything on the cap but can still smell the coolant~! Is it a problem???? If I watch the coolant level..it comes to the top of the red cap on the overflow when it gets warm, The fan kicks in and the coolant level drops back down.
so its not over heating! But I just wonder about the smell or the few drops that sometimes shows up on the top of the cap of the overflow.

Any help is much appriciated THANKS GUYS!

 

Look under the hood, the radiator cap seal may be dried up and needs replaced.

 

I checked it its all good,the only place any antifreeze comes out is that little tiny
hole in the red cap of the overflow bottle...
I meen it runs fine and everything is good all except that little bit of antifreeze
that comes out of that hole "sometimes" Im stumped!
thank you for your reply

 

You could goto my web site and look at the coolant bottle reroute ... maybe that will help.

 

yeah I did that! good idea too.But I didnt get the part about the other end and what you did???
and also where abouts should the tubing be mounted too,height etc.?
thanks And Im going to get a new radiator cap in the morning too.
But am very interested in the mod. I had seen it before in detail but couldnt
find it.But I came across your set up,I just need to finger out them couple things I asked you about.

thanks man

 

I ran the tubing up to the hood and tied it to the right side shock tower (there was a hole already there) ... in the end under the hood i put an plastic fitting that i could glue alittle screen to ... the screen is a scrap of door screen rolled and glued in to the plastic fitting. I just tired to get the hose in an high arc under the hood, this keeps muddy water out but allows the collant to vent. Don't make a loop as that will cause you to suck in muddy water when the cooling system get super cooled from riding in the water.

 

alright,so what happens if I cant find anything to put in the end??
just have some type of plug with a small hole for venting??
and when you did the mod to the cap..did you leave in the little blue
thingy under the red cap? thanks alot for your help

 

I got all the parts at the local ACE hardware ...
Yes i left the sub-cap on, so make sure you take it with so your brass fitting in the red cap isn't too long.
Anything thing that will hold a screen in the upper end of the hose will work. Just make sure you don't clog it with to much screen.

 

Chris,
Great idea. I have always smelled coolant when my 2001 Sportsman 500 gets hot. I have noticed that it comes out of the top of the overflow. It probably needs a larger overflow bottle, but they probably had space constraints to work with when designing.

The re-route is a great idea.

rich

 

ok THANKS I'll let ya know in the morning how It works out, when I get back from getting my radiator cap I'll hit my local hardware store..their used to me coming in and spending about nothing to
buy things for what ever it is Im buliding haha