I need some help...bad! I have a '99 Grizzly & it overheats all the time except for winter. I live in Mississippi & we have some pretty humid weather. But like tonight for instance...we were riding and the air temperature was only around 75 degrees. After about two miles the oil light comes on. It does this all the time & I'm about ready to trade the $%#@ thing off! How much will it help to wire the fan up so it'll come on as soon as I turn the ignition on? I personally don't think Yamaha made the fan & oil cooler big enough. And after 3 years of production you'd think Yamaha would take a notion from all the customer complaints & make it liquid cooled. I would really like to hear from other Grizzly owners that had this same problem. Tell me what you did to it & what worked & what didn't work.

 

Well i have a 2000 and that puppy does get hot but does never over heat. I did inquire about it though because i have heard it happen. Here is a pointer
1 Use synthetic oil
2 Make sure that your oil cooler rad is never plugged up with mud or anything else.
3 Make sure nothing is in front of your bumper that will stop air from flowing in to the oil cooler.
Hope this can help a bit. One bike i heard of was a 98 and the guy brought it in to the dealer because it was over heating, well when they checked, it turned out that his rad was plugged up with MUD. Never did it again after being cleaned.
I have had mine out in 28 C weather and it has never overheated.
I love that bike, except for that gas milage. What can you expect with the most powerful Sport/Utility on the planet.
Hope this helps.
Hear the RORE!

 

i'm right next door to you in southern louisiana and ride in the sam econditions with my 00 grizz and have never had it overheat. i haven't taken any measures to prevent it either, i.e. synthetic oil. i have heard of the oil cooler being clogged with anything from mud to weeds and causing problems.

 

I am above you guys near St Louis Missouri and latly its been around 90+ and I have never overheated. Yes it does get hot. But my light has never come on yet. When you stop and shut it off does your fan run? Maybe your sensors are bad. I hear my fan turn off and on almost everytime I ride it. Now my neighbor down the rode says his light comes on all the time. What he found was a ton of grass and weads jambed between the engine case and the belly pan/skid plates. Make sure this is free from any obstructions.

Once he cleared all that junk out it runs fine.

 

Check you radiator. It most likely is clogged with mud. I ride with a '98, he has similiar problems.

 

I hear ya,

I too have a 98 Grizzly that I use for a tractor, more or less, and I see the little red light all the time. I am considering getting the radiator kit from Yamaha that raises the radiator up higher and out of the way of weeds and junk. The 99/00 Grizzly are installed up high from the factory, I just don't know it it is worth it.

I also run Yamalube 4R synthetic blend and that helped. I had a winch added last year. The winch mount was a Moose, and it mounts right smack in front of the radiator. It has ventilation holes in it, but I can't think it helps.

I am considering going totally synthetic with Mobil 1 or something similair just not sure what brand/weight to buy. I have heard other guys mentioning going to auto parts stores and getting larger CFM fans, but I don't think its as easy as just taking the original off and bolting up the one from the auto parts store.

I tow a 400# Cycle Country brush cutter to mow the acreage. I can run for about and hour before it starts running for crap and then RED LIGHT time. It's pretty sad when I can't even run a tank of gas through the mower before the Grizzly overheats.

If anyone can reccomend an GOOD synthetic sytle and weight I will gladly accept the assistance.

Allen L. Grooms
98 Grizzly - 1700 miles - One HOT machine

 

I think something out of the ordinary must be wrong with mine. Because the only thing I use mine for is fun & sometimes I can only ride for a mile or so & the red light will come on. I try to make sure the oil cooler is not clogged up with debris & junk. And it IS getting hot. My feet & legs can tell you all about that. I wondered if it was just a faulty switch or something at first. But after I burnt the crap out of my foot yesterday I found out otherwise. I guess I'll carry it to the Yamaha dealership tomorrow & pray that the extended warranty on it will cover all or at least most of the cost.

 

I live in central Louisiana and have had the Griz overheat, once, on the Suicide Swamp Ride but never once again. But even liquid cooled ATV's (like the Polaris 500) overheated there. It takes a heck of a machine to make it through the suicide ride. Many options are left to owners about the heat problem. I have installed a new set of 99 Grizzly heat guards, installed a switch to turn my fan on automaticially, applied synthetic oil to my engine, and I am about to go install a new bigger fan off of a truck. I would like to install liquid cooling, but I am still looking out for that option. One one day I will install it on my giz. With the little heat it does exchange, it makes up for brute strenght, and sure pulling power.

 

I have a Grizz 99 with 2500 km on it . I had overheathing . I am putting full synthetic oil, it helps but will not do it . I have tried many things to finally find out that my oil radiator was full of mud. The best way is to un bolt the 2 radiator bolts ,pull the rad horizontaly and wash it perfectly . The next ride , temperature was hot but never overheated, also I have covered the inside fender as they did on Kodiac 2000 to prevent mud coming out of my tires splashing the rad . I fermly beleived that the secret is having a "real" clean oil rad. Good Luck ! Charlie

 

You Better Check This,
I have a Y2K Kodiak. I have had the tank off a few times doing some jetting and running wires for accessories and such. I have also looped her over on me and had to work on the steering stem.
After the last time I had the tank off I rode a short distance and the Temp light came on. No Fan.
I went home and looked around and found the wire for the temp sender leaning against the exhaust pipe melted a little. That was it. On the Y2k Kodiak this wire will easily do this on it's own. Any Kodiak owners reading this may want to take precautions.


Good Luck