M8 Coolant Cap Problem?

[Solby]

This is what happened this weekend to me. Day 1 mountain trail riding to pretty deep climbing. Everything was ok. More mountain trail riding to another hill and everything was ok. Rode slowly back down the trail a little bit at about mile 40 and TEMP was flashing and so was my light. Stopped and pulled the side panels. Can't see if there even any coolant in the system due to some terrific design work. Popped the cap and there was no back pressure. Inspected the cap, looked good. Monkied around trying to figure out if I had a real problem or just a sensor. Rode down the mountain and near the bottom saw the light flash on a couple times. Got back and was able to fill maybe a pint or so into the system. Definately did not take much to fill it back up.
Day 2. Rode on some rough trails and up into the powder. Rode just like normal and everything was ok. Then had to go on a section of trail that was really icey. I didn't put down my scratchers just to see what would happen. After a while the TEMP light came on and so did my dad's. Put down scratchers and the light went out. Stopped up higher on the mountain and noticed some overflow on the snow. Routed the overflow line so I could monitor it. This was about 40 miles into the ride. My sled is continually purging coolant. It does it while running and also after you shut off the sled for 30 seconds or so. Just little drips. Engine RPM has no affect on it. The coolant looks clean and normal.
Has anyone had cap problems? Could it be the funny bottle thing cracked or something so it's not sealing correctly with the cap?
Thanks guys

 

[Woody67]

You may have nothing wrong at all. To fill the 800 you fill it and then remove a certain amount. I don't have the amount in front of me but if you are filling it to the neck it will be purging some until it gets to the proper level. If you get a temp light and then put the scratchers down and it goes out I would say your sled is operating normally.

 

[Gxf800sphc2012]

I AM HAVING THIS VERY SAME ISSUE.... it happened last night on my way back to the truck.
rode all afternoon no prolems on trails or anything. warmed up to i think 155 once on SOLID trail then once i got off trail again back to 130ish.(where i like to see it) went up in some trees played around had to roll it over twice to get it back down the hill.... ONCE i got back down to the store and got back on the trail to head home..(temp outside had dropped alot) we tried to take the trail home and i couldnt do it. couldnt go 1/2 mile without it overheating at any speed or anything wouldnt cool it down.
STOPPED packed the tunnel with snow and rode the powerline home at night...lots of fun :/ needless to say my friends M8 2012 was not bothering one bit...... i feel like im losing antifreeze somehow. eihter when i roll it over or what but either way its SUPER ANNOYING, it takes over 20oz to fill it back up also. motor seems to run fine so not suspecting headgasket or anything... but WTF lol

 

[Solby]

I agree that the sled will purge down to an operating level. But I don't think mine started purging until I had about 35 miles on since the fill up. It seems like once it got hot the cap was not re-seating properly and it was continually purging. AND there isn't a good way to check the coolant level that I can see. Before the initial overheat warning I hadn't rolled it over and the snow was really good so it should have been cooling just fine, my dad's indentical sled was not showing any problems. The only thing I can think of that happened that was odd was it was around 30 degrees and really light powder. My entire sled was really covered and iced up. The ambient temperature dropped really fast and I noticed all my gear had suddenly iced over. Is it possible my coolers iced over too and were not able to get any fresh snow on them just long enough to overheat?

 

[Gxf800sphc2012]

I agree that the sled will purge down to an operating level. But I don't think mine started purging until I had about 35 miles on since the fill up. It seems like once it got hot the cap was not re-seating properly and it was continually purging. AND there isn't a good way to check the coolant level that I can see. Before the initial overheat warning I hadn't rolled it over and the snow was really good so it should have been cooling just fine, my dad's indentical sled was not showing any problems. The only thing I can think of that happened that was odd was it was around 30 degrees and really light powder. My entire sled was really covered and iced up. The ambient temperature dropped really fast and I noticed all my gear had suddenly iced over. Is it possible my coolers iced over too and were not able to get any fresh snow on them just long enough to overheat?

i would think if your coolers iced over it would mean its not circulating coolant at all. they should stay hot enough that they melt that off in no time specially if it is gettin as warm as that. i know when mine gets hott i reach up under with a big snowball in my hand and let it melt against the cooler to cool it down till i can re fill it or get in enough snow that it wont bother it... HMM guess ill let the cat dealer decide what they need to do with mine. new cap and im going to sugest flushing my antifreeze system since this has happened so much i dont know how good my mix ratio is in my coolant system.