I purchased my 2016 1000-5 last year, to ride in the mountains of Colorado. The previous owner did some mudding, and added the bumper, winch, lights, and sound system. I replaced his Highlifter Outlaw2 mud tires with Sedona Rip-Saw R/T Radial 28x10-14 since most all of my driving will be on rocky mountain roads and trail with little mud. I leave this machine at our cabin in Pagosa Springs, to utilize each summer.
Before riding, I replaced the oil/transmission fluids and filters, as well as the radiator fluid all with genuine Honda fluids. I also washed the outside of the radiator with coil cleaner, and thought it was in good shape.
My first trip was about 80 miles round trip, from about 8,000' - 11,000' from outside Creede to Silverton. On that trip, I found out that my machine overheats and boils over. Numerous times. 4 bars on the temperature display and even the low oil pressure light came on. I thought that maybe the problem was that I had not tightened the radiator cap enough, and the fluid boiled out. I did tighten the cap a little more, and added water numerous times to the overflow tank. So, I tried to minimize the overheating on the journey back. The engine still runs just fine.
So, I burped the radiator as recommended and filled up the overflow tank with good fluid. I also cleaned the exterior coils again.
The next trail ride I took was from about 7,000'-10,000', and the radiator still overheated (4 bars).
After reading and learning about all the others with this problem, I figured Honda did not adequately design the cooling system. So, I decided to make a modification. The easiest and cheapest modification I could do was to add a 2nd radiator fan, in front of the radiator, and push the air through, to help the factory radiator. I got the fan off Amazon, and had a spare switch on dash to control its relay.
Note that I have a large bumper that blocks a lot of the incoming air.
My next ride I took, I tried to keep the temperature at 2 bars. When the temperature went to 3 bars, I turned on the new fan, and it brought the temperature back down to 2 bars. Even though this ride did not involve much power, I feel I may have resolved my over heating problem. And just so you know, my factory fan does kick on and off as it should.
I will not know this completely works for sure until this coming summer when I get back up to Colorado and try some more difficult trails.
I wanted to pass this information on so if anyone else wants to get rid of their over heating issue, here is another option.
Before riding, I replaced the oil/transmission fluids and filters, as well as the radiator fluid all with genuine Honda fluids. I also washed the outside of the radiator with coil cleaner, and thought it was in good shape.
My first trip was about 80 miles round trip, from about 8,000' - 11,000' from outside Creede to Silverton. On that trip, I found out that my machine overheats and boils over. Numerous times. 4 bars on the temperature display and even the low oil pressure light came on. I thought that maybe the problem was that I had not tightened the radiator cap enough, and the fluid boiled out. I did tighten the cap a little more, and added water numerous times to the overflow tank. So, I tried to minimize the overheating on the journey back. The engine still runs just fine.
So, I burped the radiator as recommended and filled up the overflow tank with good fluid. I also cleaned the exterior coils again.
The next trail ride I took was from about 7,000'-10,000', and the radiator still overheated (4 bars).
After reading and learning about all the others with this problem, I figured Honda did not adequately design the cooling system. So, I decided to make a modification. The easiest and cheapest modification I could do was to add a 2nd radiator fan, in front of the radiator, and push the air through, to help the factory radiator. I got the fan off Amazon, and had a spare switch on dash to control its relay.
Note that I have a large bumper that blocks a lot of the incoming air.
My next ride I took, I tried to keep the temperature at 2 bars. When the temperature went to 3 bars, I turned on the new fan, and it brought the temperature back down to 2 bars. Even though this ride did not involve much power, I feel I may have resolved my over heating problem. And just so you know, my factory fan does kick on and off as it should.
I will not know this completely works for sure until this coming summer when I get back up to Colorado and try some more difficult trails.
I wanted to pass this information on so if anyone else wants to get rid of their over heating issue, here is another option.
