I haven't been active on this forum for quite some time but I have an 06 Outlander 800 still labeled as a Bombardier!
We were out at the Oregon Dunes this past weekend, rode for a few hours Friday evening then quite a bit of riding on Saturday, many miles on sand dunes and the beach. Late Saturday afternoon I came d own a dune and was cornered in by drifted sand, I got off to assess the situation and noticed radiator fluid coming from the overflow, so I shut it down and waited for my friend.
We pulled it up and out, I added some water and rode it back to the campground with one eye on the the dash lights.
Got back to campground, I pulled off the front cover and fluid is bubbling out of the weep hole in the black overflow cap, so I shut it down assuming it was over heating.
Some observations that puzzled me but might be obvious now. The fan wasn't staying on and in fact as I recall had just kicked on when I got cornered in the dunes, when I got it home the fan wasn't staying on, I never got any indication on the dash lights there was a problem, no engine light and no limp home mode. Popped the radiator cap carefully and fluid came gushing out, my friend and I both came to the assumption it was overheating. My "maintainence soon" message has been on my display for a couple of years. What was confusing me was why I wasn't getting any indication on my dash? No limp home, no engine light? We ended up deciding to come home a day early, hindsight being 20/20 I wish we had slept on it!
After getting home and sleeping on it, I hosed the quad down and popped the front cover and fired it up, within a few minutes water started bubbling out of the weephole, fan hadn't even come on yet, I let it idle for 12 minutes before the fan came on which is about normal, fluid still bubbling from the cap and the fan cycles off! WTF? So I remove the black over flow cap and the white insert inside the cap and checked the water which was warm/hot but hardly overheating hot, WTF? After further inspection I noticed a pin hole in the white insert which goes inside the overflow with the black cap over that, the pinhole doesn't look natural. Now my thoughts are that somehow this pinhole developed while riding and that is how I was losing fluid and not overheating? I put a piece of tinfoil over the insert and clearly it's not bubbling out fluid and I'm about to scream if that is all the problem was but at this point I can't find any other conclusion to draw?
I know this was kind of long and I think the conclusion is obvious but PLEASE if I'm missing something please let me know. We drove 1,000 miles for this trip and it was disappointing to have left a day early and devestating if all I had to do was plug that damn pin hole! Yet kind of relieved that's all it is at the same time!
We were out at the Oregon Dunes this past weekend, rode for a few hours Friday evening then quite a bit of riding on Saturday, many miles on sand dunes and the beach. Late Saturday afternoon I came d own a dune and was cornered in by drifted sand, I got off to assess the situation and noticed radiator fluid coming from the overflow, so I shut it down and waited for my friend.
We pulled it up and out, I added some water and rode it back to the campground with one eye on the the dash lights.
Got back to campground, I pulled off the front cover and fluid is bubbling out of the weep hole in the black overflow cap, so I shut it down assuming it was over heating.
Some observations that puzzled me but might be obvious now. The fan wasn't staying on and in fact as I recall had just kicked on when I got cornered in the dunes, when I got it home the fan wasn't staying on, I never got any indication on the dash lights there was a problem, no engine light and no limp home mode. Popped the radiator cap carefully and fluid came gushing out, my friend and I both came to the assumption it was overheating. My "maintainence soon" message has been on my display for a couple of years. What was confusing me was why I wasn't getting any indication on my dash? No limp home, no engine light? We ended up deciding to come home a day early, hindsight being 20/20 I wish we had slept on it!
After getting home and sleeping on it, I hosed the quad down and popped the front cover and fired it up, within a few minutes water started bubbling out of the weephole, fan hadn't even come on yet, I let it idle for 12 minutes before the fan came on which is about normal, fluid still bubbling from the cap and the fan cycles off! WTF? So I remove the black over flow cap and the white insert inside the cap and checked the water which was warm/hot but hardly overheating hot, WTF? After further inspection I noticed a pin hole in the white insert which goes inside the overflow with the black cap over that, the pinhole doesn't look natural. Now my thoughts are that somehow this pinhole developed while riding and that is how I was losing fluid and not overheating? I put a piece of tinfoil over the insert and clearly it's not bubbling out fluid and I'm about to scream if that is all the problem was but at this point I can't find any other conclusion to draw?
I know this was kind of long and I think the conclusion is obvious but PLEASE if I'm missing something please let me know. We drove 1,000 miles for this trip and it was disappointing to have left a day early and devestating if all I had to do was plug that damn pin hole! Yet kind of relieved that's all it is at the same time!
