rx1 blinking temp light

[Sled Dog]

heres the order of events:
1.bought used rx1
2. noticed temp light blinking on idle
3. rode for 25 minutes in marginal conditions and 40degrees F; during the course of the ride, the light turned off
4. let sled idle for 3-5 minutes before putting it away for the day
5. temp light and engine light came on and engine was steamy
6. drained and replaced coolant; but the temp light is still flashing.

Ok it is normal for the temp light to blink on start up. It will blink until the engine is warm enough to ride in Yamaha's engineers mind I let mine get hotter before I ride it. Like others have said don't let it sit idling unattended as it will over heat and shut off on its own.

You most likely have a air bubble in your coolant system. Here is what I have done in the past and it seems to work good. Park your sled on an incline like a sharp ditch with the front of the sled on the high side. Keep blipping the throttle but not enough to make you move sit and do this for a minute then go for a little ride to cool things down. Do this about five times and any air bubbles should have worked its way to your coolant reservoir go home park on a level spot and add 50/50 coolant to the full line. You should be good to go from there. When checking your oil unclip the electrical connector on the oil tank unscrew wipe clean and stick back in without threading it back in pull out and read the oil level.

 

[spr5088]

heres the order of events:
1.bought used rx1
2. noticed temp light blinking on idle
3. rode for 25 minutes in marginal conditions and 40degrees F; during the course of the ride, the light turned off
4. let sled idle for 3-5 minutes before putting it away for the day
5. temp light and engine light came on and engine was steamy
6. drained and replaced coolant; but the temp light is still flashing.

Ok it is normal for the temp light to blink on start up. It will blink until the engine is warm enough to ride in Yamaha's engineers mind I let mine get hotter before I ride it. Like others have said don't let it sit idling unattended as it will over heat and shut off on its own.

You most likely have a air bubble in your coolant system. Here is what I have done in the past and it seems to work good. Park your sled on an incline like a sharp ditch with the front of the sled on the high side. Keep blipping the throttle but not enough to make you move sit and do this for a minute then go for a little ride to cool things down. Do this about five times and any air bubbles should have worked its way to your coolant reservoir go home park on a level spot and add 50/50 coolant to the full line. You should be good to go from there. When checking your oil unclip the electrical connector on the oil tank unscrew wipe clean and stick back in without threading it back in pull out and read the oil level.

Sled dog, should I leave the cap to the reservoir off during that process to allow any air bubbles to escape through the reservoir ..?

 

[Sled Dog]

Yes leave the cap on and locked in place. The air bubbles will stay at the reservoir once it gets there and cause the coolant level to go down as the air is displaced with coolant. The amount of coolant you have to add is the amount of air that was trapped in the system. Do not overfill the reservoir as it will just spit it out and then you will think you have a leak.

 

[Phaze]

As far as keeping it cool, you can add a rear heat exchanger too. If I remember, about $180....

 

[Phaze]

Another thing that I think helps to keep them cool is to bend the rubber flap that's over the head onto the airbox when the air temp is warmer. It will help the head dissipate the heat better. I put it back down over the head in colder temps. This is on a '05 with a stock airbox. Don't want to cover air inlets on the box. Which is a none issue on mine.....

 

[smokingcrater]

As far as keeping it cool, you can add a rear heat exchanger too. If I remember, about $180....

The air-radiator is cheaper and probably more effective. ESPECIALLY if moving slow on hard trail, or in bad snow conditions in general.

I just spent a weekend of trail riding on hard trails in 45 degree weather with my warrior and nytro. The warrior had no issues at all, but I was packing snow on the nytro to keep things cool.

 

[BlkHawk73]

I thought about adding a radiator to my '05 over the last summer but put it off. Have a rear heat exchanger but these last two days of mid-30's and marginal trail conditions (little loose snow for cooling) have me thinking it'll be added this off season. I'm one that starts to really worry when that "hey, you're running hot" light comes on. I'll start trying to dip a ski off trail and stop and pack the running boards. If possible find an area to get some soft stuff but I'm thinking "please cool down, please cool down" the whole time.
Just how long can it stay on, running hot until something serious occurs?

 

[Bigfish]

With a temp gauge installed you can keep an eye on the coolant temp, and when it stats to climb pack some snow or ice on the rear of the running boards, and it will bring the temp back down
I've found that it will heat up faster at low speed (idling through town) but once you start moving quickly again it will resume normal temps