Went to Hatfield McCoy last weekend and had a blast untill my quad started overheating. My warning light never came on and I realized it was overheating when i smelled the antifreeze. I brought the bike home and tore the radiator out and cleaned it checked all of the lines and put the radiator back in, When I took it for a ride I felt quite a bit of vibration at 4500 rpm and over and I could tell it wasnt runnig right even though I havent lost any power or speed. I brought the quad back to my garage and put it in park and reved the engine up while looking under it at the same time and watched coolant dripping out of the bottom of the motor. Im not sure what is wrong but I assume that this is going to be costly. I guess im just venting here. Out of warrenty and it has 700 miles on it. This is why I bought a new quad so I didnt have to worry about something like this. At 49 bucks an hour for labor at the polaris shop I better get a second job. At least this didnt happen untill the end of the day while we were riding. Any one ever here of this happening? The coolent doesnt leak untill the engine is reved up and it is leaking on the bottom of the motor? looks like there is a gasket there but what is with the vibration?

 

[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]Catdaddy YOUR PROBLEM IS THAT THE WATER PUMP COVER HAS WARPED AND IS LEAKING COOLANT THIS IS COMMON ON THE 600 THE GOOD NEWS IS POLARIS MAKES A UPDATE KIT TO FIX THIS PROBLEM IT IS A NEW COVER (PLASTIC LIKE OLD ONE) A METAL PLATE TO PUT ON OUTSIDE OF COVER NEW BOLTS AND A NEW ORING FOR AROUND 25.99 GOOD LUCK

 

Couple things come to mind, but really need more details. 1) Are you sure the engine was really overheating? I don't doubt you saw coolant, but I think that you might just have a leak and that is why you smelled the coolant and figured it was boiling over. 2) The waterpump cover and waterpump seal (in my opinion) are kind of a weak link on that motor. That is where I suspect you are losing the coolant from. Can you get a better look at the leak and let us know? My guess is that it is coming from the weep hole or the cover.

If you did not get the over temp indicator and your fan was not turning on frequently, I think you were not truly overheating. Test your temp sensor switch (on the radiator and on the cylinder) to make sure they are working. If you had not heard your fan turn on lately, then test that too. You can bypass the switch/sensor on the radiator. If the fan turns on, then you know the fan is good. Then you just have to make sure your sensor is OK also.

If it turns out your leak is from the waterpump cover (or weep hole), it should not be too expensive to fix. If you are somewhat mechanically inclined, it's very easy to fix yourself.

My brother has an 03 SP 600 and his waterpump area leaks a drop or two when you first start it up. It will only do this if the machine has not been ridden in a long time. Once the engine warms up, it quits leaking and you won't see it happen again unless he lets it sit for a long time (maybe like 3-4 weeks). Two other SP 600s in our group are kind of similar and my wife's 700 does the same thing. I asked the Polaris dealer about it and he said he has seen a few do it under the same circumstance.

Sorry for the long-winded opinion. Hope things work out for you. If you wanna tear into it yourself, I can supply you with diagrams from my manual.

Good luck.

 

My 03 600 leaks coolant also from the weap hole under the water pump cover...only a drop or two so far, and only after it sits and hasn't been ridden in about a month or more...first time i saw it was last november when it got below freezing...itleaked a lot then, so i took it into my dealer, he said they couldn't get to leak...so they couldn't
fix it. but even though my bike is out of waranty they assured me that they would get it covered for me if it
continues or gets worse... i noticed mine has that extra metal plate over the plastic pump housing... but i also
noticed the 04.5's now have a cast aluminum housing... makes you wonder???? let us all know what you
find out! good luck.

 

For those of you that ride in mud or flooded conditions you might be interested in a modification I made to my HO to increase the life of the water pump seal. When you have coolant leaking continuously (steady drip) from the weep hole it is almost for sure the mechanical seal is gone. The main reason for this is when riding in muddy water above the floor boards water enters the weep hole and contaminates the mechanical seal and after a while causes it to leak.
I posted a write-up on this in one of the other forums so if anyone is interested I'll post it here. Since I made this mod I have not had to replaced my mechanical seal again.

 

Look close to see where the coolant is coming from, I had a similar leak on my 03 700. It only dripped after sitting a few days when it was cold, no leak after starting and warmed up. It was dripping off the bottom of the water pump cover but was actually leaking where the radiator hose attaches to the water pump, all it needed was the hose clamp tightened.

 

Traildog - I would be curious what your fix was. Would you mind posting it here?

thanks

 

[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]i dont know what Traildog fix is but on the 650 cat there is a hose that goes from the weep hole to a bottle then out to the ground i take it that the bottle will fill up before getting anything into the weep hole

 

OK here are the mods I made to reduce/eliminate seal failures.

There are 2 areas that need attention.
1. The overflow bottle has a small hole in the top that draws in muddy water when the engine is cooled, as it would be going through a mud hole. This contaminates the coolant and will in time damage the water pump seal.
The Fix
Find a piece of clear Tygon (clear plastic) tubing of no more than 1/4", you will also need to find/make a hose connector that will fit snugly into the tubing.
Drill the out the hole large enough to insert the hose connector and fix it in place (no leaks) then attach the Tygon tubing to it and run the other end up to the air intake tube and hold in place with a tie wrap.
2. (Most important) The main reason the water pump seal fails is contamination from muddy water entering the weep hole under the seal. Muddy water has direct access to the seal via this hole.
The Fix
Find a piece of 1/4" metal tubing (I used stainless steel) about 1" long and about 2 foot of 1/4" Tygon (plastic) tubing.
You will need to taper one end of the metal tubing for approx 1/4" so that it fit's into the weep hole. With a little 5 min epoxy applied to the tapered end, place the tapered end into the weep hole and with a small hammer gently tap into place until snug. Allowing 15 mins for the epoxy to cure properly, slip one end of the Tygon tubing on to the newly made hose connector and run the other end up behind the engine to the frame. Tie wrap at 4 to 6" higher than the weep hole and the let the end hang down at a convenient location.
Most automotive parts stores carry clear plastic tubing and a variety of connectors that can be adapted to do the job.

 

Thanks for all the replies everyone! I actually did overheat the engine because when I stopped there was steam coming off of the engine and I turned the quad off but left the power on and the fan was running for about 15 minutes. We were riding on the road, which is legal there, and we went at abot 50mph for 5 minutes and when we pulled off of the road my buddy came up and told me that the whole time I was spraying coolant onto him as he was behind me. Wish he would of told me a little sooner! That was right when i noticed the steam and smell. After I brought the quad home and tore the radiator out there was about a half inch of mud caked on the front of the radiator and it was plugged solid. My guess is that whatever warns you that you are overheating just doesnt work on my quad. I ride in mud once in a while but that day was mostly mud riding. I think that it just kept plugging the fins up little by little as the day went on because I took it to the dealer before I left for the trip and had them check all of the fluids and everything before I left. The raditor was clean before I left. I dont know too much about motors or anything so it is hard for me to explain where it is leaking from. I will have to look again and double check to see exactly where the coolant is coming from but I think it is all the way on the bottom of the motor about an inch up from the skid plate there is a gasket there and when i rev it up it just starts dripping from there. I explained it to my one friend and he said it sounded like the base gasket but I dont know for sure. I also noticed what sounds like an exaust leak coming from the front of the engine when the motor revs high and this seems to be when it vibrates quite a bit as well. I should have known something was up because the fan was running a heck of a lot. Well im taking it to my friends house tommarrow to have him take a look at it. He used to work on Hondas and knows more than I do but if anyone has any feed back im very interested in anything that might help. Thanks