Overheating MP

[The Perreaults]

New to this forum and love it so far. My husband and I each have a 2011 MP, his sled overheated this weekend and blew all the antifreeze out! Rad cap was still in place and the only thing we can come up with is the fan is going on it... if you turn it by hand it "clicks" and doesn't really roll smoothly! Anyone have other thoughts, appreciate any help.

 

[Mooseman]

Welcome to TY!

The fan clicks only when turned by hand in one direction (reverse). In the other, it rolls smooth. If yours doesn't then I would assume it's bad. Try unplugging it and applying 12V directly to it to see if it works.

The rad and fan are really only effective when it's idling. Otherwise, it uses more the heat exchanger in the tunnel when moving. If you were both running exactly the same and only his overheated, then I'd check for sure. Might be the thermostat stuck closed. Take it out and test it in boiling water. Has the coolant ever been replaced? And adding Water Wetter helps.

And I personally recommend adding a temp gauge. Idiot lights are for, well, idiots. Having a gauge allows you to be more proactive.
Temp gauge install

 

[The Perreaults]

Welcome to TY!

The fan clicks only when turned by hand in one direction (reverse). In the other, it rolls smooth. If yours doesn't then I would assume it's bad. Try unplugging it and applying 12V directly to it to see if it works.

The rad and fan are really only effective when it's idling. Otherwise, it uses more the heat exchanger in the tunnel when moving. If you were both running exactly the same and only his overheated, then I'd check for sure. Might be the thermostat stuck closed. Take it out and test it in boiling water. Has the coolant ever been replaced? And adding Water Wetter helps.

And I personally recommend adding a temp gauge. Idiot lights are for, well, idiots. Having a gauge allows you to be more proactive.
Temp gauge install

Thank you Mooseman. We can hear the thermostat opening... assume it's good. The antifreeze has been changed but will definitely pick up some Water Wetter and I think we will be installing gauges on both sleds as well. Do you think it's possible the rads cap is weak? Have to also say the lake isn't in the best condition. .. have over 3 feet of ice but daytime snow is very hard so definitely no "boogers" lol!

 

[Mooseman]

It's possible. Check it by getting the motor hot and pinch a hose. It should be firm

Good idea on the gauges, especially if running on ice often. The Water Wetter will definitely help. I found it made a difference. Ice scratchers may also be a good idea.

 

[The Perreaults]

It's possible. Check it by getting the motor hot and pinch a hose. It should be firm

Good idea on the gauges, especially if running on ice often. The Water Wetter will definitely help. I found it made a difference. Ice scratchers may also be a good idea.

Thanks for your help, hope to solve this issue this weekend.

 

[Surestick]

You can hear the thermostat opening?!?

 

[Mooseman]

Maybe the rush of coolant out of it?

 

[The Perreaults]

Well... I thought that's what my husband said but maybe not but we know it's working because he thought he needed to run it with the rad cap off to bleed the air and of course it puked all over ! Have since found out the proper way to remove the air.

 

[Mooseman]

Definitely shouldn't run it without the cap. Lowers the boiling point and, well, cause the puking coolant.

 

[The Perreaults]

Yep figured that one out pretty quick.

 

[The Perreaults]

Just picked up a new fan and water wetter... how much do you suggest we put in? Just go by the recommendations on the bottle?

 

[Mooseman]

Yeah, just follow the directions. If the system is full, you might have to remove some coolant so you don't overfill.

So your fan was really borked? I haven't heard of any of these failing before.

 

[The Perreaults]

Mooseman, the fan was ordered because we think it's going and we really wanted to head out this weekend - not too many left for this year! Will be hooking it up to 12 volts to test before changing it and will post the results after the weekend - no service in the bush !!! Thanks for your help, much appreciated .

 

[YukonMP]

I've had my eye on this thread for a couple days now and something just occurred to me. Test the overheating sled with your rad cap. Something has changed for that sled to start overheating/loosing coolant. I've overheated a handful of times and never lost coolant. Might be the fan but I'm wary of that rad cap. Any chance it was off recently and maybe wasn't put back on correctly?

Either way, good luck. I know how big of a deal the end of the season is.

 

[The Perreaults]

We were thinking the same thing so we picked up a new rad cap. The snow conditions look like they will be better this weekend so we will start with Water Wetter and the new rad cap after testing the fan. Will post our weekend results on our return. Thanks for your suggestions. Happy sledding everyone.