well, where do i start... i was running a wnyoa harescramble race and it was a sloppy muddy track. my radiator was packed solid w/ mud and the little "idiot light" that is suppost to tell the rider to stop and let his quad cool off. but i couldn't stop, and ran the last 2 laps with the light on. i thought as long as it's running, i'm going to run it!. monday, when i cleaned it up, i noticed there was no coolant in the ressy. and when i popped open the radiator, it was about a qt. low. the sucker must of been really hot !! what i'm asking is, what damage have i done by boiling out all the coolant and still running it?
it still runs, and seems to be okay, but what happens the next time? what tricks are there to help keep things cool?
btw, i finished 2nd in the vet class and 6th out of 83 in the overall. not bad for tippy raptor...
thanks

 

I'd think as long as you still had some flowing you'd be OK..
BTW, you're pics are very nice; looks like a ton of fun. How old do you have to be to be in the vet class?

 

ther is several requirements. you must be atleast 30 yrs.old., have gray hair or going bald. or be on a script of viagara... j/k thanks for the reply..

 

I dont think you did any damage. You only ran it for a relatively short time hot and you still had some coolant in the radiator. If it got hot, change the oil, clean the filter from that mud bog you were in, fill up the radiator and gun it. Banshees boil over all the time and dont do critical damage if the radiator is not dry. Glad to hear an ol man is still kicking it hard. I just lapped 40 this year and am out kicking it with a bunch of old farts on raptors, banshees, and 400ex's. Fighting getting old every day.

 

thanks for the reply's guys. this was the first time i've done this to my rappy. made me real nervous. i think i am going to run 2 layers of screen over the opening and peal them off during the race.
anyone have any other cooling ideas? water wetter? inline coolers? etc. etc.

 

i know the Redline water wetter works killer!!!!!!!!![img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

Hmm. Lets see. If my Raptor overheats and cooks the motor then my wife will have to let me get a new YFZ 450. Sound familiar Big Daddy? Congrats on your great run. Too bad you got robbed out of a win!

 

At what temp does the light come on?

 

Good job on your race!! Was it as muddy as Ohio? Are you still using the screen netting over the radiator? When I got home from Ohio, I had zero mud in my radiator, and not much on the inside netting. It looks like the mud stuck to the netting, then when I went through a water hole or got splashed it washed the mud off the netting.

Sorry to hear about your overheating. I think that if you still have 1/2 of the fluid left in the radiator then you should be fine. I use Water Wetter in the summertime. It lowers the freezing point, so change your fluid before the cold winter, but it is supposed to make the engine run quite a bit cooler. There is also a product called Liquid Ice or something like that, and it is supposed to do the same thing.

So will I see you at the next GNCC after the summer break? I have a new Edelbrock carb installed. I am going to give it a good test/breaking at the dunes here in MI over the 4th of July.

RR1

 

I think the first damage would of been a blown head gasket just like a car would do if you run it hot.
Since you didn't blow a gasket it should be fine.
next time run out front and you won't have to eat the leaders dirt and mud, that will prevent further problems.