How hot is too hot? 900 RMK

[burny_30]

I have a new to me 06 900 RMK. It came to me with SLP pipe and high flow air box.

The radiator was removed for the air box.

I took it out for the first time the last 2 nights, last night I thought to check temp at the end of my ride and I had 167 deg. That was after 3 blocks of road from the lake to my garage.

The idiot / hot light never came on.

At what point does the hot light come on?

What is the safe operating range? 120-180?

At what temp is it cooked, lol. Cars run 190-210 all day long.

Thanks, Burny.

 

[sloan188]

From the manual...

Thermostat opens from 122 - 145 F

Temp light will come on at idle and coolant temp of 230F. Timing retard initiates at 176F and TPS of over 80%. For more severe conditions, the engine fail-safe is turned on at high TPS input and high temps.

Being a flat-lander, I've experienced operating temperatures similar to yours on numerous occasions....I get uncomfortable at about 160F and get really concerned at 190F.

Hope this helps...

 

[deanross]

Hey where you located? I had a 900 sled that I sold to a friend and he just sold it. Curious if it's you. I always rode with the guage set to read temp. It would run between 120- 140 in good powder. Then run up to 170 in spring snow when it was 60 degrees out. If it was hard pack It would start to climb above that so I would stop and let it cool quite a bit..

 

[burny_30]

I'm in Illinois, got the sled from someone in Albert Lee, MN.

Sloan 188, what manual are you looking at? I have a 2006 Polaris manual P/N 9919763
and I cant find anything on temperature.

hanks for both responses.

 

[sloan188]

2005 Deep Snow PN 9919302 under the electrical section where it talks about the 900 liberty temperature light.

 

[05900]

Should see in manual how to toggle between readings on dash..colors too!!
Never liked 180 for to long use scratchers, pack rails with snow for long pavement trip.
Nothing thrown on coolers..it'll climb in temp.

 

[94fordguy]

120-170 normal operation
170-190 throw on some snow on the boards and continue
190+ stop sled, throw on snow, allow to cool before continuing
215+ STOP IMMEDIATELY - ENGINE DAMAGE WILL OCCUR QUICKLY

 

[deanross]

Well, not the one I had. I think the new owner lives in Reno.

 

[RenoRider900]

I just bought an '05 900 in Reno in January. It has been consistently running right around 150F every ride.

 

[Assault-7c]

So is there any way to get more cooling?

 

[SnoBusMan]

I too am having cooling issues, 2005 Switchback 900. I am considering adding tunnel coolers to the heat exchanger in the rear in series. I also have a radiator to add but am unsure if the radiator will fit with the SLP intake. I am thinking that the 144 track doesn't hit the heat exchanger with enough snow when on groomed trails. it runs at about 150 on deep snow and i run harder then. on groomed trails it climbs to high 170's i usually pack it with snow at that point and it drops.

 

[Kajakartay]

Thanks for the temp issue. I've often wondered what the riding temp should be. i've been very nervous when it gets above 150 myself. At 160 I noticed that it didn't seem to run right.

Most people talk about the rad delete but from everything I've read and talking to Indy Dan, don't do it if most of your riding is in fields or hard pack with occasional deep snow. He said you can reroute the flow to be one circuit of cooling through both tunnel exchanger and rad as opposed to 2 separately (thanks IndyDan). Just finishing my rebuild and hope to do it.

 

[TrailRebel]

http://www.snowestonline.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-245015.html

This is the thread on the fix for the "dead loop". I hope it helps.

Tap'd from my GNex

 

[Kajakartay]

Thanks. I read through the post and a diagram was mentioned but I didn't see it. Have you seen it by chance or if anyone else has, can you post it? Thanks!

 

[Mech Engr]

Dead Loop

I haven't seen a diagram on the forum for getting rid of the dead loop but here is a good description of what you need to do:

You want to route it from the thermostat, to the radiator, then remove the T-Fitting and use a standard 90* elbow to attach to the line running to the PTO side rail. The upper hose coming out of the coolant bottle can be capped at the bottle. Use a 3/4" brass pipe plug and a standard screw-style hose clamp... This will plug your line and prevent leaks

I ride Little Truckee Summit near Tahoe CA and do about half and half trail/powder. I removed my radiator for one ride and put it back...got too hot on the trails. Run a radiator and take out the dead loop and it'll cool it down quite a bit. Also, I pretty much have my scratchers down all the time. I use the normal spring type scratchers as the flexible ones didn't work at all for me. I have seen temps on mine range from 120 to 195 with no damage (bought my 900 with 900 miles 3 years ago now it has over 3000). Typical is 120 to 170 for me. If it gets hotter I pull over and pack snow on the boards or just let it cool down.
John

 

[sloan188]

see post 10 by mountainhorse....

http://www.snowestonline.com/forum/showthread.php?t=55647&highlight=loop

whoops that's the rad delete which is slightly modified for the reroute...here's a pretty much complete diagram from HCS but I'm sure I remember seeing one on this site from mountainhorse...

This diagram is correct but you need to cap coolant bottle at 15 as shown in mountainhorse's post 10.

 

[wayan76]

warm 900s

My friend owns 2 900s and they have a tendency to be warm machines when accessing the higher grounds. When driving to the snowline, most the time there is a section of the trail that is hard pack before hitting the pow. Scratchers are a must for sure, they'll save your hyfax too. The fix we did to keep our sled cool is by carrying a milk crate. We fill it with snow and tie it down on the tunnel above the heat exchanger. When it melts, the sled go hot again, when it hit's 150, fill with snow again. Keeping it safe. He had a stator melt off on one of the 900 probably related to heat. We do keep them cool since. Prevention better than fixing ****.

 

[Rowboat]

On hard pack w/o scratchers down I'll run 150-160, otherwise 130's with scratchers down and 120-130's in fluff... radiator deleted, fully vented fyi.