Evening All,
So bought a 700 xtc knowing that it had a hole in the front exchanger. Ehh no big deal pulled the track and skid jacked her up and tig welded the hole. Pressure tested it and found its leaking at both sides. guessing it was overheated and blew the seams on either side. Doing a search i see it a major PITA to remove from the sled. So i gotta ask be fore i begin rivet removal. Has anyone bypassed the front exchanger and not had a overheating issue?? MY gut says no but as i said gotta ask....
So bought a 700 xtc knowing that it had a hole in the front exchanger. Ehh no big deal pulled the track and skid jacked her up and tig welded the hole. Pressure tested it and found its leaking at both sides. guessing it was overheated and blew the seams on either side. Doing a search i see it a major PITA to remove from the sled. So i gotta ask be fore i begin rivet removal. Has anyone bypassed the front exchanger and not had a overheating issue?? MY gut says no but as i said gotta ask....
I would say bad idea.
To remove and replace. Motor and rear suspension come out.
To remove and replace. Motor and rear suspension come out.
super1c
Super Moderator
Don’t bypass. Sounds like your a pretty good weld, no chance of fixing? Otherwise it’s got to be replaced.
Welding it is not the issue, its laying on the floor drilling out rivets swearing all the way. Thought there might be a slim chance Yamaha over engineered the cooling system and it wasn't necessary....lol
So long as we're on this subject, t let's talk about rivets. Should I get from Yamaha or somewhere else I'm guessing these aren't the run of the mill ribets you pickup at home cheapo??
I have always used Yamaha rivets for anything structural.
i use 3/16" stavex pop rivets that i get from fastenall here in ontario. barnes supposedly sells them in the usa. i do reccomend one thing when using the, get a hydraulic pop rivet gun from princess auto or harbour freight as it sucks pulling those rivits with a hand pop riviter.
Agreed, air riveter is one of he best things I own !
Especially when replacing belly pans and bulkheads!
Thanks guys, i ordered the Avdel Stavex rivets today and i have a "industrial" manual rivet gun. pops 3/16 rivets with ease. Im counting about 15 rivets that hold the exchanger itself in does that sound about right?
that could be correct. never replaced one myself. but have re rivited the tunnel to the bulkhead and done tunnel extensions quite a few times. i did one by hand and bought the 1st riviter the next day. wore that one out and onto a good one now.
i do have acess to a big daddy riviter but it does not fit in some places well.
i do have acess to a big daddy riviter but it does not fit in some places well.
Well i finally got that heat exchanger out of the sled. Actually wasnt as bad as i thought it was going to be. And i found my leaks... Well this is perplexing Nearly identical holes on either side and no idea what caused them. Anyone have any thoughts??
looks like something went through there and punched the holes.
That was my first thought till i cleaned up the tunnel and there is no signs of wear or damage. working theory right now is wear from the inside. im thinking there must be "runners" on the inside to make the coolant go back and forth horizontally. Or something was introduced into the coolant that caused erosion
shaggyzr2
Active member
Could be from corrosion. Its important to keep fresh coolant in these sleds, old coolant gets corrosive over time. About every five years I drain mine and flush the system with distilled water, you must used distilled water, tap water has minerals that can cause corrosion. I always use Honda HP coolant, regular coolant has silicates in it that can wear on your water pump. The honda coolant has organic corrosion protection.
So after much research and a lucky find of a ten year old post on this forum, turns out those hole are supposed to be there. The top section of the exchanger is just an air space. The problem was when the stud went in the cooler it created a hole between the coolant part and the air space part. Ended up cutting top of open to get the Tig torch in the air space to weld up the leak. Pressure tested to 25 psi for 20 minutes, ready to go back in. 
Nice work, wish I had a welder, ( and knew how to weld) lol
Hit me up if you ever need anything welded
super1c
Super Moderator
Wow great job!