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Overheat/Head Gasket thoughts?

FoxFire227

Veteran
Joined
Nov 24, 2019
Messages
28
Location
Ottawa
Country
Canada
Snowmobile
2014 Viper LTX SE / MCX190
Hello and Happy Monday!

I own a 2014 LTX SE and had a MCX190 kit stalled roughly 3 years ago. I rarely get to ride the sled due to lack of snow in my area in recent years. I finally got to get out Saturday, not a long ride but a ride. I would say it was maybe 70km round trip. Snow conditions were not ideal but the trail was open (yellow, not green). Ride to the restaurant was great, no issues. Ride home, was the same with the exception for the last 8km...code P0217 showed itself (thought it was not an issue anymore) and went into limp mode. Code would go away and it would ride fine, then repeat this on/off.

When we got back, i took the panels off to help cool the engine...about 5-10 minutes into its cooldown, the black stopper popped off and shot some coolant out. I am really hoping this isn't a head gasket issue but am prepared for the worse case scenario. I ordered a leak down kit that should be here tonight. When the high temp light does'nt come on, the sled runs amazingly.

IF it's not a head gasket, what else should i be looking for?

TIA
 

Hello and Happy Monday!

I own a 2014 LTX SE and had a MCX190 kit stalled roughly 3 years ago. I rarely get to ride the sled due to lack of snow in my area in recent years. I finally got to get out Saturday, not a long ride but a ride. I would say it was maybe 70km round trip. Snow conditions were not ideal but the trail was open (yellow, not green). Ride to the restaurant was great, no issues. Ride home, was the same with the exception for the last 8km...code P0217 showed itself (thought it was not an issue anymore) and went into limp mode. Code would go away and it would ride fine, then repeat this on/off.

When we got back, i took the panels off to help cool the engine...about 5-10 minutes into its cooldown, the black stopper popped off and shot some coolant out. I am really hoping this isn't a head gasket issue but am prepared for the worse case scenario. I ordered a leak down kit that should be here tonight. When the high temp light does'nt come on, the sled runs amazingly.

IF it's not a head gasket, what else should i be looking for?

TIA

Could be the water pump.
 
Usually it’s just the impeller.
So I did the leak down test, fluid remained blue. What i noticed was the radiator was smoking and the coolant was trying to push up the tester tube.
 
I did that test on mine and it didn't change neither however I did have a blown head gasket. It would puke coolant out the overflow tube whenever I went WOT. I confirmed this by putting the tube in a bottle and rode it easy, which produced no coolant, however it did puke out whenever I went WOT. I also didn't burn coolant. I think the gasket acted as a one way valve, allowing high pressure exhaust gasses out into the cooling system.

By the way, that isn't a leakdown test but an exhaust gas leakage test. However I did an actual leakdown test and that was also inconclusive. Only once I saw I was puking coolant at WOT, then I knew it was the head gasket. The head did have a bit of warpage but I sanded it down flat using emery cloth on a piece of glass, and I also took the time to clean and lap all the valves and then adjust valve lash, which most were out of spec.
 
I did that test on mine and it didn't change neither however I did have a blown head gasket. It would puke coolant out the overflow tube whenever I went WOT. I confirmed this by putting the tube in a bottle and rode it easy, which produced no coolant, however it did puke out whenever I went WOT. I also didn't burn coolant. I think the gasket acted as a one way valve, allowing high pressure exhaust gasses out into the cooling system.

By the way, that isn't a leakdown test but an exhaust gas leakage test. However I did an actual leakdown test and that was also inconclusive. Only once I saw I was puking coolant at WOT, then I knew it was the head gasket. The head did have a bit of warpage but I sanded it down flat using emery cloth on a piece of glass, and I also took the time to clean and lap all the valves and then adjust valve lash, which most were out of spec.
Mine doesn't spew coolant when riding. It did it during 10 mins of being off. This is the first time it had actually done that, hopefully the last.
Going to take the water pump off tonight and inspect. Really hoping its this.
 
It could be a coolant air lock. Mine did this earlier this year and I did a leak down test and blue test and also put overflow in a bottle and all were good. Mine would be fine idling down the hard trail but overheat when in full throttle. I finally vacuum filled the coolant system and have not had problems with it since. Mine is a 2016 viper turbo as well
 
It could be a coolant air lock. Mine did this earlier this year and I did a leak down test and blue test and also put overflow in a bottle and all were good. Mine would be fine idling down the hard trail but overheat when in full throttle. I finally vacuum filled the coolant system and have not had problems with it since. Mine is a 2016 viper turbo as well
Can you msg me how you vacuum filled the coolant, please
 
there is a tool for vac filling a coolant system. it probably can be bought on amazon/ebay but some of the auto parts stores rent them out.
 
there is a tool for vac filling a coolant system. it probably can be bought on amazon/ebay but some of the auto parts stores rent them out.
Ya I bought one off Amazon for $100 worked well solved my problem. Fox I pm ‘d you
 


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