Sportsman 800 Overheating, fan won't come on

[levi'sford]

I've got a 2005 Sportsman 800 with around 40 hours on it. I use it to do a bit of trail ridding, snow plowing, and occasional work around our nursery. Yesterday I was plowing my driveway, and a few neighbors as well. Then decided to play a bit in a field with two of my buddies. We went thru some deep snow, water, slush, mud, sand, etc. A little while later the "hot" signal came on and I was loosing anitfreeze from the holding tank. I think I got so much ice/snow packed in around the fan that it wouldn't turn on. Got some antifreeze and limped back home. I never got the "hot" message again. Noticed today that there was no anifreeze in the holding tank. I cleaned all the ice from around the fan, and cleaned the machine. Filled holding tank with antifreeze and started it up. The fan never came on, and I can smell antifreeze, but nothing coming from the res. Turned it off and cleaned a bit more and noticed antifreeze was low again. Is it possible all the antifreeze blew out yesterday, and it is just that low? Could I have burned out the fan motor since it was stuck in ice, or hopefully there is a fuse somewhere? I've worked on other equipment, but not on atv's or motorcycles. Any help is much appreciated. This is my first post on this forum. I have found forums like these very helpful and useful. Thanks in advace! Levi

[Bruce!]

First off, welcome to the board!

[levi'sford]

Thanks!

[KKinder]

It's more than likely that since your fan didn't come on, your machine began to get hot and the antifreeze boiled out to a low level. Start your 800, let it sit for about 5 mins while watching to make sure it's not getting hot. Shut it off and look at your resivour. If it's low, fill it up to the max line and start it up again and let it run for 5 mins. Keep repeating this process until it either A) stays on full or B) you can see that you have a leak issue from somewhere else. Lay down a piece of cardboard under your wheeler before you start any of this; you'll be able to see where the a-freeze is coming from if you do have a leak issue. My guess is you don't--your radiator probably just boiled out a lot of it through your radiator cap and now you need to refill the whole system. Hope this helps.

[levi'sford]

Just a bit more info. No antifreeze in holding tank this am, so I filled to cold line before I left for work. I think when it overheated yesterday most of it shot out the top of the holding tank. I couldn't get the cap off the radiator to see if it was full or no. Thought about head gaskets, but no anti freeze in oil that I can see/smell, and exhaust seemed okay, no smoke, smelled normal. Fan will turn easily by hand. Normally, just letting it idle for 5-10 minutes will kick fan on, not anymore. The manual is very vague, no diagrams for wiring or fuses. Thanks in advance. Also foot brake stopped working, have same issue on my other 05 800. I think the master cylinder is bad on it. Also, the machine with the snow plow will die when turning sharp to the right, any ideas??? Levi

[messinaround]

Try hooking 12 volts to you fan directly and see if it works if it does then the problem is with a sensor or wire. The fan comes out fairly easy. But you should be able to power it up in the bike. The machine with the plow make sure your key is not turning off when you go hard right key chain turns off against the fuel cap or tank seen it a hundred times before.

[slyder01]

i had a fan go out on my 07 800. It just stopped working. What i did to limp it back was i took a stick and spun the fan and it would start working barely.It is possible your fan is bad, if it is, there is a place in california you can get one for 100.00 bucks which is good cause they are 250.00 from polaris. I'l have to get the link from a friend of mine who is at Hatfield and McCoy at the time,, lucky him!

I also had the foot brake problem,,lol... All i had to do was bleed the master cylinder which only took 5 minutes, a quick and easy job, try that first.

Pull on your throttle cable to see if the engine dies down, sometimes its just an easy solution with that

[Tumbleweed]

The thermal switchto tell the fanto come on is likely trying to read coolant temp.
No coolant and it doesn't know it's getting hot. So the fan doesn't come on.
Lots of folks have wired in a toggle switch to manually turn on the fan. Won't affect the auto turn on if wired properly.

[levi'sford]

okay so here is what I know

Fan does work when hooked to 12 volt power. Must be a fuse or Thermostat.

Got it filled with coolant finally, must have blown all out on Tues.

I ended up taking it to shop. It needed service anyway. I bet your right about the footbrake on this machine becasue it was working a little, however the other one was shot. We bled it and tried everything.

Thanks for all your help. Great site, looking forward to learning about my fourwheelers. Can't believe they are 5 years old, and only have 40 hours on them. I need to get out more...

Also can't beleive it cost $187 to service a fourwheeler. I can get my truck done for that much! Thanks, Levi

OH! The key was the clupret with the engine turning off on hard right turns. Thanks!

[slyder01]

187 isnt bad for a full service, dealer here wants about 250