[nikpez]

Ok first of all you need to know that I am totally a car guy and completely ignorant in the world of snowmobiles. Anyway my brother bought a new Polaris X-Edge 600 or something like that and said if I wanted his old Indy 500 then to come and take it and get it back together, so I did. Its a 95 I THINK. Anyway I took it out today for the first ride and took it about 2 miles before it just cut out on me. I popped the Cowl (this is where my ignorance shines) and looked and saw that the piece that the radiator cap looking thing goes in to had cracked completely and was laying on top of the engine. Ill try to explain better. On a car you have a radiator cap andd it looks similiar to this but there is also a lever to lock it on the sled. The piece that comes out of the engine which this cap screws on to had cracked and come completely apart. I set the piece back where it belongs and waited about a half hour at which point it restarted and I was luckily able to get out of the woods and back to the gas station where it then cut out again. The engine was clearly overheating and when I took the cap off there looked to be no antifreeze in it, Im not sure if you can tell this way or not. I went to the gas station and bought some to pour in. I cant get it started now at all. I know I will need to replace the piece that broke but any ideas what else I could do or any other stuff that maybe I screwed up. Thanks in advance.

 

[strokez]

you can get a radiator cap at almost any kind of parts store....dont bother going to the dealer, if yours is like mine..he'll rip you off big time by buying a "polaris" cap. Just goto your local NAPA store and get one....they are much cheaper

 

[Administrator]

I unfortunately don't know what is causing the engine to die exactly, but I would recommend you get a POLARIS cap that you know will fit and also, never use the cap to check the level of the antifreeze if the engine is hot. If you take off a hot cap, hot antifreeze can shoot out at you and burn you badly... use the level in the antifreeze resevior (tank with the "hot" "cold" levels on it) to determine how much antifreeze you have.

I would recommend you consult a dealer about your problem. You don't have to have them fix it, but they are a big help in solving the problem... just talk to one of them about it. They can probably be a big help.

 

[dano]

I am confused, snowmobiles don't have regular radiator caps, well not like you would think on a car, the cap looks the same, but is conected to a resovior tank. the thing is, now there is air in your system, plus possible engine damage, before i go on, does your sled turnover, can you pull it, or doesn't it? My only concern now is scoring pistions and rings, thus the not starting, worst case senario. But i would agree with cobra, ask a dealer, go there in person and i think any cap would do fine, as long as it fits as it should. There is alot more to say, but first can you turn your sled over?

dano