P500 Overheating with P500 AT HIGH SPEEDS

[Steve00]

To get more horsepower and torque I decided to go back down to a 24 inch tire. I also put a dual snorkel kit to get more air into the airbox. The result was better horsepower at the trails, especially in the Sugar Sand with two people riding big Improvement for me. Not a big mud. So smaller tires, don't bother me. Live in Florida with a lot of long deep Sugar Sand trails now When I hit a flat Road. Lime Rock for example and I run in 5th gear at over 35 miles an hour for a long time to get to a campsite for example. P500 will overheat. Even with fan on and clean radiator I've tested it. With a temp gun And come to the conclusion from reading the other forms with overheating issues that these machines are not built for high-speed long-distance Flat Road runs. They're just geared too low. Now the people that aren't having this problem seem to have bigger tires, which raises the gear ratio. And allows it to run cooler over long distance flat roads. But then run the risk of the other problems when in rough sand like when I had bigger tires. Long distances weren't a problem on Flat Road when sporting biger tires but sugar sand was a problem. I'm happy where I'm at now. I don't need to go faster than 30 miles an hour. I noticed for long distances if I keep it under 30 like 25. I can run as long as I want without overheating. But there's a lot of people talking about overheating and their radiators being clean from.mud The p500 can be over RPMed And that will overheat the engine or overwork it end result causing damage

 

[Admin]

 

[ehart814]

clean radiator, flush coolant, purge cooling system of all air. Something is wrong with your machine causing it to overheat. With radiator cold, soak it down with Super Clean. Let it sit a few minutes and flush with a hose. If you see any dirt coming out, repeat the process. Sometimes that mud will get baked in there between the fins and water alone will not get it out.

 

[Mudder]

My similar purchase after a Lesson Learned at the Takeover. Product offerings have gotten better and cheaper.

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[trigger]

clean radiator, flush coolant, purge cooling system of all air. Something is wrong with your machine causing it to overheat. With radiator cold, soak it down with Super Clean. Let it sit a few minutes and flush with a hose. If you see any dirt coming out, repeat the process. Sometimes that mud will get baked in there between the fins and water alone will not get it out.

I agree, there's something wrong. If you don't do mud then there's probably an air bubble in the system. I've ran a tank and a half of gas through mine on a ride that was over 35 all day in the humid MI summer heat, never been over 3 bars. Also been reading about the 24" tire thing in a couple of threads. To each his own but I'd argue that I run as much or more sugar sand than anyone as most of our trails up here are made of it. It'll bog you down sure but not to the point where I'd change tires. There's videos out there of P5's with 32's and no gear reduction and the wheels never stop churning. That machine can handle 26's with ease. FWIW

 

[Duckhunt]

I'm now running 561cc's with 11.5:1 compression, and tracks that have 14" sprockets, but higher final gears. Basically when the speedo says 20 I'm GPS 14mph, just an fyi for this story. I installed an inline temp gauge 2" in the hose right off the thermostat. Regardless of RPM, the temp barely breaks 180 (which is about where thermostat starts to open) when going 15mph or faster gps. When I'm in 2nd gear going about 5mph, working the engine in deep snow but mid rpm, you can watch the temp gauge rise to about 215 + or - and then the fan will kick on and drop it to about 200, then it climbs back up, fan will kick on, back to 200. Then I hit a trail or road, hit 4th-5th gear and spin the engine +7000rpm, the temp will drop to low 180's again. No time ever has it gone passed 2 bars on oem gauge with this setup!!!

I have hit 4 bars once and I had a solid-mud radiator two years ago. I'm just pointing this out because I too think you have an issue, as I have clearly proven that speed, or airflow through the radiator, cools better than low speed and lower rpm. I'm creating a lot more engine heat than stock and the factory cooling system can cool it. Only way I can see if you're overheating at high speed is plugged radiator or stuck thermostat as they also say. If it's also low speed than could be those two and/or fan.

 

[NitroxDiver]

First how do you know it’s overheating? Is the warning light coming on or is it boiling over? Just trying to understand exactly what your experiencing. I run my machine at max speed 35+ mph for long distances up to regularly for over 5 miles at a time and have gone over 15 miles at this speed with no heating problems. I have done this with 24”, 25” and 27” tires with no problems. I actually find I build more engine heat trail riding steep terrain where I labor the engine more than I do running high speed. I would expect the heavy load on your machine in the sand would also build more heat than high speed driving would too.

 

[Alan_Vander]

Jack it up and purge the radiator. This is the same problem a few of the 700s had when they first came out. Its got an air bubble somewhere in the system

Sent from my moto z4 using Tapatalk

 

[ShotgunClay]

My similar purchase after a Lesson Learned at the Takeover. Product offerings have gotten better and cheaper.

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View attachment 183423

Very cool Mudder. I'm going to look into one of those. One problem with the ranch is that there is really no water. (There is a gravity fed tank for the longhorns, but it gives no pressure so a real pressure washer is out). I've been using a homemade gizmo that combines a pump up garden sprayer with a Harbor Freight engine cleaning gun hooked to a compressor, but it leaves a bit to be desired.

 

[Splorin]

I've had to remove a radiator before and soak it before pressure washing.The percentage of radiator outside of the 'fan circle' is usually where the problem is. Never tried any Pam to prevent baked on, stuck on....

 

[Mudder]

Very cool Mudder. I'm going to look into one of those. One problem with the ranch is that there is really no water. (There is a gravity fed tank for the longhorns, but it gives no pressure so a real pressure washer is out). I've been using a homemade gizmo that combines a pump up garden sprayer with a Harbor Freight engine cleaning gun hooked to a compressor, but it leaves a bit to be desired.

I carry a container of water in the under seat trash can mod. And a larger water brick (if you want something fancy) if anticipating the need like a long ride to nowhere. The 12v sprayer puts out a decent spray and the metal wand is better than mine which is just a garden trigger nozzle.

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[cochran223]

Did you ever get a solution to the overheating at high speeds? Riding up in Michigan this weekend mine was doing the same thing at 30 and under it was totally fine but at 35 heading back to the cabin or in the deep sand on the snowmobile trails at 30+ it would just heat right up at high rpm.

Cleaned the radiator fins,fluid was good and still overheating when riding at high speed. I'm planning on pulling the radiator cleaning real good and flush the system.

What's the best way to burp the system?

Thanks

 

[trigger]

Did you ever get a solution to the overheating at high speeds? Riding up in Michigan this weekend mine was doing the same thing at 30 and under it was totally fine but at 35 heading back to the cabin or in the deep sand on the snowmobile trails at 30+ it would just heat right up at high rpm.

Cleaned the radiator fins,fluid was good and still overheating when riding at high speed. I'm planning on pulling the radiator cleaning real good and flush the system.

What's the best way to burp the system?

Thanks

Check to make sure the fan is working.

 

[cochran223]

On mine the fan was working properly and had coolant.

 

[pappyo]

Rule out :
Fan working?
Air pocket?

TRY a New Radiator
eBay only $ 98.00 Inc tax & shipping

Dynamaicradiators ( eBay )

 

[DG Rider]

Did you ever get a solution to the overheating at high speeds? Riding up in Michigan this weekend mine was doing the same thing at 30 and under it was totally fine but at 35 heading back to the cabin or in the deep sand on the snowmobile trails at 30+ it would just heat right up at high rpm.

Cleaned the radiator fins,fluid was good and still overheating when riding at high speed. I'm planning on pulling the radiator cleaning real good and flush the system.

What's the best way to burp the system?

Thanks

Someone didn't pull the thermostat out, did they?

The usual way to burp is to get the front and up in the air and run it, maybe blipping the throttle several times after the t-stat opens. There is also a bleed screw on the metal pipe going into the head, though that might be gone on later models.
If you have shop air, one of those vacuum fill devices works well and can be had for like $70 on the interwebs.

 

[sqduc]

I have same issue with my daughters P500. We ride Tug Hill, sometimes over an hour at 35 mph plus. I have 27" tires on it so gearing is up a bit. I have pressure washed radiator, changed it over to engine ice coolant, ect. Temp light always comes on after a while....fan runs...... thinking about fan upgrade even if have to rewire/ make mounts....does not happen on yxz1000 or Sportsman we also ride.

 

[Fischer]

Jack it up and purge the radiator. This is the same problem a few of the 700s had when they first came out. Its got an air bubble somewhere in the system

Sent from my moto z4 using Tapatalk

Whats are the steps for purging.Seems to be all different opinions on the CORRECT process.

 

[trigger]

I have same issue with my daughters P500. We ride Tug Hill, sometimes over an hour at 35 mph plus. I have 27" tires on it so gearing is up a bit. I have pressure washed radiator, changed it over to engine ice coolant, ect. Temp light always comes on after a while....fan runs...... thinking about fan upgrade even if have to rewire/ make mounts....does not happen on yxz1000 or Sportsman we also ride.

You must have something else going on. I've ran mine at 35 plus and bouncing off the the rev limiter all day long several times, and that's turning 28's on a heavy P5. Sucks fuel like crazy pushing it that hard but never even close to overheating. Maybe you have an air bubble in the system?

 

[futzin]

[ pro tip: nerf bars provide extra cooling ]

 

[JACKAL]

Never in the history of P500 has the term high speed been affiliated with this machine. SMV signs required at 35 mph and below.