Coolant and temp light,what i did to help problem

[ROCKERDAN]

hey guys,

last week my temp light came on running hardpack for about 4-5 miles at about 60-70mph....there was plenty to cool the sled and all others had no issues,by no mean was the snow tight or frozen....so i was abit worried.

I used the search button from this AWESOME site and found all kinds of threads on coolant,water wetter ect ect...

As i read from others here about coolant being straight anti freeze,I figured i should check mine out...I tested it and sure enough it was good till 65 below F or in other words,straight anti-freeze!...you can tell just by the feel and look of it...So,next thing to do was get about half of it out of there to create a nice 50/50 mix.Easier said then done!.

I first syphoned out as much as i could from the reservoir,this was not even equal to 1 liter,so i had to do more...I removed a hose from small radiator and got more out..still wasnt enough...So what i did was started adding deionized water to the reservoir,running sled to mix it,then syphoning...what a pain in butt...

anyway,i ended up getting about 3 liters out,which is about half as the manual shows the total coolant capacity to be 6 liters.

I then added 6 oz of water wetter(made by redline) and finished up,checked to be sure and it is now set for about minus 30f which should be plenty for my region.

I can see now why it overheated,straight antifreeze is terrable at cooling,while a 50/50 or 60/40 mix with deionized water works much better...that along with the extra insurance of water wetter should take care of my problem.

If any of you guys have had temp light come on,i would first do what i did here,before adding another heat exchanger....if you still have cooling issues then you might need the extra exchanger.

Dan

 

[SledFreak]

1400 miles and my temp light has never came on, but I have heard from alot that they do come on before they should.

 

[Len Todd]

On my 04 Rx, the temp lite came on once. It was this year, which surprised me. It was on fresh groomed trail with very cold air temp, about 50 miles from everywhere. So, ... I spent the better part of two days putting in a temp gauge. The hardest part was getting a good fitting to install in the coolant line. I welded a 1/2 coupling to a cut down 1" metal sprinkler system coupling. Getting all that galvinizing out of the weld was no easy feat!

Although, getting that 2" guage in the dash was no easy feat either. However, it is now in.

I now see that my idiot light comes on at 215 degrees F, on my new guage. The sled appears to run at ~ 170-175 under normal conditions, with the coolant still good at -50 below. (I'll be doing what you did tomorrow.)

If I had to do it over, I would just do exactly as you did; Dilute the coolant and let it go at that!

 

[fourload]

Hey Dan I went that route but would still have my light go on sometimes on those long low snow roads.The final cure was the rear heat exchanger with all of the above.The rear heat exchanger also helps with that ice buildup at the rear on those cold days and seems to help slider wear by dripping water on the track on those low snow rides..My dealer only charged me 41.50 for it and it weighs maybe 3 lbs.My slides have almost 1600 miles on them and still look great.

 

[welterracer]

I told ya that would work.. LOL


I talked to a yamaha rep about this problem and he didnt know they antifreeze was strait.. But he was going to check into it..

Yamaha sends the sleds with antifreeze already installed

Brian

 

[SSShop]

I found something interesting this weekend while cleaning my GT...The bottom of the heat exchangers where gold colored, almost brown...I cleaned them with foaming bathroom cleaner and a brush for cleaning tires. I was thinking the coating might be blocking some of the heat transfer that is taking place. I them check my 03 RX-1 with 5800 miles on it...it was atleast as bad..now no snow..

Speedy

 

[SledFreak]

I found something interesting this weekend while cleaning my GT...The bottom of the heat exchangers where gold colored, almost brown...I cleaned them with foaming bathroom cleaner and a brush for cleaning tires. I was thinking the coating might be blocking some of the heat transfer that is taking place. I them check my 03 RX-1 with 5800 miles on it...it was atleast as bad..now no snow..

Speedy

How would that effect anything?

 

[ROCKERDAN]

Hey Dan I went that route but would still have my light go on sometimes on those long low snow roads.The final cure was the rear heat exchanger with all of the above.The rear heat exchanger also helps with that ice buildup at the rear on those cold days and seems to help slider wear by dripping water on the track on those low snow rides..My dealer only charged me 41.50 for it and it weighs maybe 3 lbs.My slides have almost 1600 miles on them and still look great.

fourload,

can you please take some pics of your rear exchanger installed?...i would like to do this since it seems cheap and probably not too hard to do...alot of times around spring like now,when ice gets glare we like to ride lakes alot,and it would be nice to have extra cooling under there...

please show us some pics.

thanks
dan

 

[SSShop]

I found something interesting this weekend while cleaning my GT...The bottom of the heat exchangers where gold colored, almost brown...I cleaned them with foaming bathroom cleaner and a brush for cleaning tires. I was thinking the coating might be blocking some of the heat transfer that is taking place. I them check my 03 RX-1 with 5800 miles on it...it was atleast as bad..now no snow..

Speedy

How would that effect anything?

Well, I know a muddy atv motor runs hotter than a clean one!!!!!
! Do ya think a clean heat exchanger might run cooler???

 

[Sledboy]

I heard the Attaks will NOT come with rear heat exchangers in 2007, so I will put one on and change out the antifreeze too.