[exp2000]

My 2000 explorer 400 4x4 overheat light comes on after riding 10 minutes or so. The cooling fan is not kicking on before the light comes on. I hooked the fan direct to a 12v battery and let it run for about 20 minutes and it worked ok. The coolant is full and radiator fins are clean. There are thermal switches on the radiator and water pump. If one of these are the problem how would I check/test them. Thanks for your help

 

[talldaddy]

I'm having a similar issue on my 2014 sportsman 400. I actually made a jumper wire to plug into the contact locations on the fan relay socket. Mine overheated this week, I pulled the relay and installed my jumper. The fan ran about 3 seconds and shut off. I then pulled the 20 amp fan circuit breaker out of the connectors and it was full of water. I'm not sure the water would be an issue but it seems my problem is the fan circuit breaker. It must be a little weak and when I ride the fan cycles on and off. I suspect that the thermal / auto reset breaker is opening prematurely. I ordered another breaker. I will waterproof it the best I can and see if the new breaker solves my problem.

I let my ride cool for about 10 minutes and drove it to my trailer. When I got it loaded and strapped down, I turned on the switch and the fan ran. This tells me the breaker had reset itself.

 

[Bruce!]

Welcome to the board!

 

[Russ C]

with key on, if you unplug thermal switch , fan should come on, if not bad switch.

 

[polman500]

The fan won't default to "on" for a 2000 Xplorer. The thermal fan switch in the radiator needs replaced for it to work as designed. Another thing that can happen is if the coolant level in the radiator gets below the level of the switch, it will not turn the fan on since the switch in that particular model is at the top of the radiator. It takes hot liquid to turn the switch on...air won't do it.
The alternative would be to just pull the wires off the switch and wire them together so the fan runs all the time when the key is on....or add a toggle switch to turn it on when you want it.