new 05 warrior, venture overheat

[warrior63]

new to the site! have 05 warrior and 05 rs venture. been reading about overheat problems, here to tell ya they suck! out in UP this weekend with buddy who also has 05 warrior all sled with less than 500 mile on them, and all three sleds overheated within 3-5 minutes of each other on a icey snow covered trail. also notice melted plastic smell from skiis even though we have double carbides on. any suggestions other than take the sleds back to yamaha and get another brand? previously owned sxr 600's which never had this problem even when it was 40++ degrees out. Thanks for your help

 

[impalapower]

Welcome, sorry to hear about the problem. I don't have an answer for you, somebody will. Good luck with the problem.

 

[sledheadgeorge]

Every long track sled I have had in the past has always had heating problems with low snow conditions. Cat Polaris and Yamahas, no exeption. Best to do if you are going to run them in low snow condsitions is to add a heat exchanger or ice scrachers.

 

[impalapower]

Why would longer track sleds overheat easier?

 

[sledheadgeorge]

Just my experience. Ive had a Venture 600, Classic touring 600, AC Pantera 1000, and now the Warrior. The only thing in common that I see is that they have no heat exchanger in the rear. Wile riding these the 121" sleds with same conditions never had no issues.

 

[impalapower]

I figured if the snow gets thrown up through the top of the tunnel it wouldn't make a difference. I've never owned any long track sleds.

 

[stinx]

my warrior did the same thing, get the acc rear heat exchanger and make sure your cooling system is bled properly. The new rear exchanger should help a great deal.

 

[SoCoRX1]

If there is little snow on the trail, then of course it will overheat. You need to get some powder up in the track to cool it down. Mine has only overheated once because there wasnt enough powder on the side of the trail where i was. Just cut off the trail or stop and throw powder on it to cool it off.

 

[Boston RX1]

I feel the reason for the overheating with the longer track is that the snow gets thrown upwards behind the tunnel and misses most of the cooling that is needed, whereas the short track throws the snow up right under the tunnel. You guys think there is any validity to this idea? The only other thought is that I would think we would hear more of this problem with everyone. We only hear of it from a few. I also think the mixture is very important and has tended to be way off from Yamaha and that bleeding the system correctly is a hugh issue. It could be that with the long track, it puts you right on the edge and if your system is not calibrated perfect, there is less margin for error and overheats. Maybe I would start there. I am going to add a rear exchanger next year just to be safe.

 

[SuperStroker!]

Long Track Overheating

With a snowmibile that has a long track, the polyethelene slide rails are longer. More track on the ground, more friction between the plastic slides and the track clips generate more drag. More drag or load on the engine creates heat in the engine. Couple this with no snow on the exchangers, no additional rear tunnel exchangers and too much antifreeze (ratio of antifreeze to water should be 60/40) you overheat.

Clips melting hyfax (slides) gets worse and worse the farther you go with no lobrication.

Ya can't ride on ice trails and expect not to overheat!

 

[JDKRXW]

http://www.maxxperf.com/Ice_Scratch.htm
These will solve your slide rail melting problems and help with the engine overheating because they throw up ice spray under the running boards.....which is where the heat exchangers are (not in the rear part of the tunnel as mentioned above).

 

[smokeless1]

new to the site! have 05 warrior and 05 rs venture. been reading about overheat problems, here to tell ya they suck! out in UP this weekend with buddy who also has 05 warrior all sled with less than 500 mile on them, and all three sleds overheated within 3-5 minutes of each other on a icey snow covered trail. also notice melted plastic smell from skiis even though we have double carbides on. any suggestions other than take the sleds back to yamaha and get another brand? previously owned sxr 600's which never had this problem even when it was 40++ degrees out. Thanks for your help

You need to get to the auto parts store and by a 3 dollar specific gravity antifreeze checker. This devise, will tell you ....and I have no doubt about this....that your machine has nearly 100% antifreeze in the system.

This needs to be changed to 50/50 mix, unless you live in 40 below area of the world. Then buy some stuff called "water wetter" comes in a bottle and is florecent orange, or yellowish, and put the whole bottle in, then if you still get overheat issues, go buy the $100 rear heat exchanger and expand the capacity of the cooling system.

It goes without saying that you have already "burped" the sled. This purges it of air bubbles if there is any. Next time it over heats, you need to grab the left rail (left heat exchanger under the rail) and if it is not hot like the right rail, then you have a bubble. Burp the sled by lifting the front or back a couple times and getting all air out of the system. You can also crack the water bottle while the sled is hot and turned off, but be careful cause you can burn yourself if you don't know how to do this last one.

Finally, I love the guy who says, naturally the sled will overheat everytime you run on low snow....cause he must only own yamaha's. I own two four stroke articats and you can start them winter or summer and run them on the ice, and they only warm to the point of thermostat opening and stay there. I HAVE NEVER HAD IT OVER HEAT ON ME IN 3 YEARS. Seems the boys in Minnesota know how to calculate the proper amount of heat transferance to the exchangers. Since aluminum heat exchangers are pretty light and could be put all over the sled, it would have been a simple solution to add more at the time they were in development, but apparently they decided to save the extra 5 pounds.

 

[NY_Nytro]

As said above, be sure to check the coolant ratio. My 05 Warrior pegged my Prestone meter, hard to tell exactly but it appeared to be nearly pure ethylene glycol. I drained about a gallon and got the ratio between 50/50 and 60/40. I also added Redline Water Wetter.

I haven't had a chance to really ride mine yet but all this talk about overheating is making me nervous. On occasion we will hit a plowed logging road and have to ride it for a mile+. I have ice scratchers on the way so hopefully dropping them will help when that happens. If I have to add a rear heat exchanger I guess I will.

I bought a Yamaha to avoid problems but with all the doom & gloom stated on this site (trailer problems, exhaust fires, overheating) I'm seriously second guessing my decision.

 

[JDKRXW]

On occasion we will hit a plowed logging road and have to ride it for a mile+.

If your sled is running normally on the trail, it will never overheat in 1 mile down a road.

 

[NY_Nytro]

On occasion we will hit a plowed logging road and have to ride it for a mile+.

If your sled is running normally on the trail, it will never overheat in 1 mile down a road.

Thanks, thats good to know.

I was just starting to get a little gun shy from all the talk. But as most online forums go, for every one bad report there are much many more with no problems.