Overheating and coolant puking

[Pinchecharlie]

My sled puked a bunch of coolant up today and I don’t really know why. We where in deep snow all day and the trails where soft I had my scratchers down. I never got a overheating warning or had the bars pegged out. It puked all over the clutches and now the clutch belt slips real bad. So what’s going on and how should o fix it? Is the belt going to be ok after the glycol bath?

 

[IDspud]

Deep snow probably had compartment and gauge covered so you missed temp warning from no air flow and burped the bottle.

 

[Pinchecharlie]

hmmm…I guess iam confused, I thought the snow was what cooled the little radiator and engine. Shoot you need snow and air lol. I dunno I can’t see the dumb gauge cause it’s fogged up lol. I’ve gotten the engine hot every matinee I’ve ridden it, worried iam doing damage?

 

[IDspud]

Snow is cooling the cooler and coolant and internals. If you trap all your heat in the engine compartment your pipe, clutch, etc, can still raise your temps.

 

[line8]

Was/is the cap on all the way? Could have it not fully seated or crossed.


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[Pinchecharlie]

Maybe I guess. I’ll try and figure it out today. Just because I never really was a good mechanic, why and when does a coolant reservoir over flow or boil over? There’s a water pump a thermostat and a coolant reservoir and the piping and radiator. The engine runs till it’s hot , thermorest opens, coolant flows through radiator , engine cools and thermostat closes and that’s how it works?

 

[IDspud]

Cap has a spring rated to release as coolant expands excessively to temps.

 

[IDspud]

If you’re sitting still, engine is running, compartment is sealed off with snow, you have no moving air and no snow cooling cooler.
It’s getting hot.

 

[IDspud]

Have you ever seen water boil on a stove?

 

[Pinchecharlie]

Yes and I have a fair amount of training with boilers at work lol. But just so I know. What? Water gets hot, it expands, then it boils and creates steam which is very expandy, introduce cold water and it blows up if there is no pressure relief . The cap is pressure relief on a car . Maybe these are too? It’s seems off to me because it can be cooled off . I can have it blink hot and go ripping around in deep snow and it cools, same on a groomed trail going 25+ . So I just don’t get what’s causing it but like I said iam not a great mechanic. I read the coolant could be over full. I read a stuck thermostat? But could you cool a stuck thermostat? In my old circle track car we had no thermostat and restrictor, in Hawaii we just ran water . Would a machine with dead water pump cool? Seriously asking. I feel like the engine is suffering real damage every time and I was stuck in a way the sled could easily pull out and the clutches and belt where acting weird and it wouldn’t rev and turn the track? I thought it was “slipping “ but maybe I have more problems. Funny thing is after digging it out and then just a few seconds of throttle I was in deep snow and carving around and it cooled and was like nothing happened? It happened enough for the other guys to want it to be fixed so we didn’t get stuck out there lol. It was a awsome day otherwise. Everyone ran to one spot and the lot was so full we couldn’t park. Went to the less desirable spot and it was great and. No one there!

 

[IDspud]

In Hawaii you had a fan forcing air through the radiator.

Slow down and read…..

If there’s no cool air getting in because your vents are blocked, no new snow hitting cooler, NOTHING cools the coolant.
It’s gonna get hot sitting still and suffocated.

 

[Pinchecharlie]

Ok that sounds right for sure. I’ll make sure I allways try and get air flowing in and out. I never buried the hood it wasn’t that deep but iam not a real ripper and I do go slower than even when I am able to carve it up.

 

[IDspud]

If it happens once and you’re now low on coolant it’ll happen more frequently until you’re properly burped and refilled.

Yes, this type of overheating is more likely to happen to the rider poking along, watching, waiting on other riders, etc.

 

[Pinchecharlie]

Ever damage a thermostat just getting it to hot? I have got the gauge blinking hot several times

 

[IDspud]

Yes.
Heat can alter expansion properties.
Thermostats AND spring loaded expansion reservoir caps are replacement items.

We keep spare t-stats on hand for spud harvest equipment due to inevitable radiator plugging and overheating.

 

[ratlover]

it puked numerous times? Did you top it off with coolant after it puked? Or have you added coolant? If you have too much coolant it will puke a bit till it it kinda finds it level. If its low on coolant that can make it run hot. Cap on right? Most times if it just pukes a bit it pukes out the small overflow line. Or did it gush out the cap if it covered your clutch?

I would definitely scrub the belt with some soapy water and clean the clutches if it puked all over em.

Can put a tstat in a pot of water on the stove and start raising the temp with a probe in there to see where it starts opening. And caps can take a **** and cause it to puke before it should.

 

[Pinchecharlie]

Hard to say we just saw a bunch of coolant on my running board snow (boards are icy) then a few times I need to be rolled up and it was running out the side panel into snow. I may have to much I dunno I haven’t checked it cold today yet. Ok I’ll clean the belt and clutches too. Was worried I’d ruin the belt there so expensive .
Another question, ho can I tell if the t-stay is opening with the engine running. I knje on a car you can feel the hose but…is it obvious if I watch ? Thanks
.

 

[IDspud]

If that’s the case you could have a cracked hose or reservoir or loose clamp, lots of options.
You need to find where it came from.

 

[Pinchecharlie]

Well iam hoping that it’s just because the guy who put it in was ready for lunch on Friday cause I THINK the cap was just on wrong and cross threaded. I had cranked it down but after I did all the stuff , I went to put it on and it was really fussy and I had to do it several times to get it on right. Fingers crossed. I checked the lines I could see and tried to inspect everything. Took off the belt and cleaned it and both clutches with soap and water and blew out the primary and air dried yada yada. Belt was a slippery mess and now not so hope that’s that. Did notice a weird little green washer on the primary clutch that is just in its own space on the shaft? I dunno was a chore to clean it all up it’s so slippery. While I was there I did the recall repair lol. The glycol ruined the foam stuff on the side panel and that’s to bad.
How do I burp it? Just run it cap off till it get on the thermostat then put it back ?

 

[Hawkster]

Reroute the hose, who was the genius that thought if you have overflow it best be dumped on the clutches.



If you question this forget I even posted it
Adding some water wetter wouldn't be a bad thing.
Run your scratchers, these running warmer then the ascender chassis.
They have a logical reason for lack of heat exchanger and in deep snow you'll see compared to the other manufactures the difference.