I was just wondering if anyone out there was having an overheating problem with their Honda Rubicon. Mine has been an issue since I bought it new in 06, and the dealer fails to see a problem with it

 

they all over heat my grizzly 700 the suzuki 700 kawi polaris all of them u must clean your rad right out and if you have room a some shrouds to protect your rad and keep some of the mud away from plugging it off..

 

I accidentally hit the wrong button before I was able to complete my posting. The machine, however, overheats when it is 100% free of dirt. The day I picked it up from the dealership I took it home and started with the break in procedure. After allowing it to idle for a short time I took it for a ride. After about a 5 mile run the overheat/high oil light came on. Immediately I shut the engine off, which was quite hot and started to investigate the problem. The owner's manual stated that the radiator should never be opened and that the fluid level could be checked through the overflow bottle. It, however, was full so I checked the oil level which was too high.

I dumped almost 1 pint of oil out of it but the engine still continued to run hot. After removing the rad cap I discovered that it was quite low on fluid, and it took almost a pint of fluid to fill it. After that it ran much better but that darn overheat light still comes on periodically - even when the machine is totally free of dirt, and I still continue to get that antifreeze smell. I took it to the dealer but their response was "it is a Honda and there is nothing wrong with it." They refused to do anything about it. To this day the problem continues from time to time.

Another issue that this machine has is that it is a hard starter. Do you think that the engine is damaged or is the carb a piece of crap or is this an issue that the Rubicon has?

 

i have a kodiak and two things have happend to me. first i had a over heating lite come on and off a couple of times during a ride but no boil over. the next ride a week later i rode about an hour and i had a boil over. we looked at radiator level and it was full could not see where the anti freeze came from. i rode an hour back home with no overheat lite or boil over. i took the t stat out to find it had a bent center rod whitch caused the stat to stay half open and half closed. second part to this is i tried to run quad with stripped internal stat parts because t stat was not in stock and found that running quad at decent speeds was fine but crawling around on rocks going slow quad would show temp lite with smell of anti freeze. let cool it was fine to get home. new stat cleared problem. your intermited problem sounds like sticking t stat. hope that this helps ride on.

 

On the Honda Rubicon I had I could smell antifreeze all the time but my light never came on. I had it for only 3 months (I hated it) and I did have to add anti freeze once in that 3 months.
Buck

 

Is it modified in anyway...or totally stock.
Its posible the hard starting and overheating are related. The carb jetting may be off, Id try a bigger pilot jet.
Is the oil level ok? Has the oil been changed? Has the oil filter been changed, and was it installed correctly? If its backwards, youll end up with issues like this.

 

Things to try:
Replace thermostat like hutch42 said.
Flush out the engine and radiator. Could be clogged.
Test water pump-replace as needed. I've read of broken impellers on pump. Defiantly flush system if impeller broken, that piece is somewhere.
Check radiator mounted fan sensor, could be bad. You could rig an override switch to turn fan off when riding through mud and water, (they like to short out if fan is running and bike goes through water), and to turn it on when riding slow in difficult terrain. And check fan for proper operation, of course.
Add some Engine Ice to coolant.
Find a new dealer, the one you have doesn't seem to want to help you.

 

heftylefty has a good point. the fan sensor can be checked to make sure the fan is working. if you take a small piece of wire and unplug the wires to the radiator sensor and push the short piece of wire in conectors of both wires going to sensor that acts like the sensor calling because of hot water in radiator and should call for the fan to come on. if the fan comes on the sensor is bad. this test is only good if the fan has not been comming on during riding. quick note on my kodiak i have two sensors,one is in the radiator and the other is in the head. radiator controls fan and the head sends a signal to the high temp lite on my digital display panel. remember this test is only good if you know that the fan was not coming on when the water was hot enuff to call for fan to opperate. hondabuster also has some good points.

 

Thanks for the advise. The machine did overheat when it was still new due to dealer neglect. I put about a pint of fluid in it then. Maybe the overheating caused the t stat to bend causing this intermittent problem. I have purchased the shop manual but need to sit down and read up before i pull anything apart.

Thanks

 

Yes the oil has been changed twice. I dont know if it is possible to put the filter incorrectly or not, but I will consider that as a possible sollution. Others have also suggested that I look at the pump and the t stat because of the initial overheating problem that I had.

Thanks