Nothing held against you at all. And I very sincerely appreciate any follow up if you have some personal contact with Yamaha reps. Most of us are not so fortunate.
As you're new here, you probably are not aware that this whole antifreeze debate has been hammered to death here MANY, MANY times...which is why some may seem a little grumpy about it coming up again. If you do a search I'm sure you'll find a bunch of threads. Here's a brief summary of the history:
The common consensus here has been that Yamaha simply preloads these things from the factory with too strong an Eth/glycol mixture...some say 100%, others 80%...and on many of these sleds, their overheat lights were coming on. Many people reported fixing this overheat issue by simply diluting the mixure...taking some of the strong mixture out and putting plain water in, while still making sure it had adequate 50/50 or 60/40 freeze protection. Others simply drained the system and refilled with a known quality coolant and proper ratio. With either solution, the greater amount of water carries more heat away from the engine (water transfers heat much more efficiently than glycol), and the overheat light problem is gone forever. Then others, like myself, simply read these reports and tested our AF ratio before even taking the first ride...only to find the reports were absolutely correct and that the mixture is indeed seemingly way too strong. Therefore I corrected mine before the first ride to hopefully circumvent any overheat problem.
Of course there's a few who disagree with all this...as with any topic. But that's pretty much my take on what's been reported here most consistently. If you have some sort of more official answer from Yamaha that makes sense with what many here have found, I guarantee you'll be hailed as a hero for putting the issue to bed!
By the way...welcome to the site!. And I certainly welcome your input on any topic you can contribute to.
As you're new here, you probably are not aware that this whole antifreeze debate has been hammered to death here MANY, MANY times...which is why some may seem a little grumpy about it coming up again. If you do a search I'm sure you'll find a bunch of threads. Here's a brief summary of the history:
The common consensus here has been that Yamaha simply preloads these things from the factory with too strong an Eth/glycol mixture...some say 100%, others 80%...and on many of these sleds, their overheat lights were coming on. Many people reported fixing this overheat issue by simply diluting the mixure...taking some of the strong mixture out and putting plain water in, while still making sure it had adequate 50/50 or 60/40 freeze protection. Others simply drained the system and refilled with a known quality coolant and proper ratio. With either solution, the greater amount of water carries more heat away from the engine (water transfers heat much more efficiently than glycol), and the overheat light problem is gone forever. Then others, like myself, simply read these reports and tested our AF ratio before even taking the first ride...only to find the reports were absolutely correct and that the mixture is indeed seemingly way too strong. Therefore I corrected mine before the first ride to hopefully circumvent any overheat problem.
Of course there's a few who disagree with all this...as with any topic. But that's pretty much my take on what's been reported here most consistently. If you have some sort of more official answer from Yamaha that makes sense with what many here have found, I guarantee you'll be hailed as a hero for putting the issue to bed!
By the way...welcome to the site!. And I certainly welcome your input on any topic you can contribute to.
Mikecam
TY 4 Stroke Junkie
Well everybody else on this site seems to have a post on this thread so thought I might join in. Not sure what this offers but pulled out my manual for my 07 RTX and the page that shows the coolant has had pasted stickers put over the original text on all langages. Anybody else notice this and I wonder what is under it. Tried to peel it back but can't and looking thru the back side also does not work. The plot thickens.
Attachments
The Snow D.O.
Lifetime Member
c1c-
is your attak an '07? I don't own any equipment to test my AF and I'm hoping that I don't have to worry. ?Maybe they fixed this problem for '07?
Tell me your attak is '06. If '07, can I take a sample of my AF to a garage and have them test it?
is your attak an '07? I don't own any equipment to test my AF and I'm hoping that I don't have to worry. ?Maybe they fixed this problem for '07?
Tell me your attak is '06. If '07, can I take a sample of my AF to a garage and have them test it?
LOL some threads just seem to take on a life of their own. I love it.
My Attak is an 07. After I tested mine brand new and found it way too strong, I felt the need to fix the ratio.
Mikecam said:
I guess I'm more curious what is printed ON the sitckers as opposed to what's underneath. Do the new stickers in your 07 RTX manual reference the type of coolant?
Genesis Extreme
Extreme
Sled Dog said:
LOL!! I'm with you Sled Dog!! LOL!!
After reading posts like this last year...........and having my 2006 Attak over heat several times in warm temps............I put on a rear heat exchanger...poured the same coolant back in the sled......and never had any more over heating issues in marginal or warm conditions. I have no idea what my current mixture is......and don't really care..... now that I have the heat exchanger installed.
REDSLED1
Extreme
now for the60/40 question; wait for it, who put the worms in the can in the first place?
Cap'tAttack
Newbie
I got a hold of our Service rep today. Asked him to clarify his statement at the service school. I asked him directly if the new sleds come with polypropylene glycol in them. His reply after some hesitation was no. It is ethylene glycol he said, but it is a reformulated version. Which requires testing with a refractometer to get an accurate test. I believe after some back and forth bantering, Yamaha wants their service people to just use the refractometer for testing. Accuracy. The service manuals all call for ethylene glycol. I checked a few of them today as well. So go green , till your hearts content. I apologize for my previous posts. I think Yamaha should be reading the posts on this site. They might learn something. 
Really appreciate the follow-up...very interesting. And I very much agree with their recommendation for using refractometers for accurate testing. Probably too expensive for most home mechanics, but the only way to get a truly accurate reading.
XDooMan
Extreme
Mikecam said:
The way I read it the only wording that has been changed is for Europe.
XDooMan
Extreme
I went to my dealer and they didn't have a refractometer to compare the readings from my "Prestone Tester" and my Kleen-flo coolant test stripsCap'tAttack said:I got a hold of our Service rep today. Asked him to clarify his statement at the service school. I asked him directly if the new sleds come with polypropylene glycol in them. His reply after some hesitation was no. It is ethylene glycol he said, but it is a reformulated version. Which requires testing with a refractometer to get an accurate test. I believe after some back and forth bantering, Yamaha wants their service people to just use the refractometer for testing. Accuracy. The service manuals all call for ethylene glycol. I checked a few of them today as well. So go green , till your hearts content. I apologize for my previous posts. I think Yamaha should be reading the posts on this site. They might learn something.
ReX
TY 4 Stroke God
craze1cars said:
I did a little experiment tonight.
I carefully mixed up some Prestone, generic antifreeze, and Dex-Cool at 60:40 and 50:50 and then measured them with my Prestone tester (it sells for about $20 Cdn). Each one measured extremely close to what the bottle says it should (showing about 1 degree better protection). This was all done at about 60°F.
The instructions for the tester says the coolant must be cold which I always assumed meant close to room temperature.
SnoWarrior
Lifetime Member
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- Snowmobile
- 2024 Sidewinder L-TX LE
Bought one of these off Ebay. Will post results, should be here in a day or 2.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayI ... mot_widget
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayI ... mot_widget
Wartsnuff
Extreme
Bigger Hammer said:
after 15 years being on the bench, i would not trust that type of antifreeze strength tester
this is what you should be using if you want a accurate reading
The solution to all of these problems is to throw away your hydrometer and get yourself a refractometer. Refractometers measure how much light slows down as it passes through the antifreeze - it's refractive index. It then converts this refractive index into a percentage of concentration number and projects it on a scale visible through the eyepiece. Refractometers can be affected by the temperature of the solution, but only to a minimal degree compared to a hydrometer. The other drawbacks are that refractometers are more expensive ($45 - $400), and much more fragile than hydrometers. But, they can usually pay for themselves rather quickly, given the cost of antifreeze today.
