'02 SXVIPER Overheating

MikeA

New member
Joined
Jan 3, 2010
Messages
1
Age
62
Location
Wisconsin
Hi,
I have an 02 SXViper and the last 2 times that I went out the overheat warning lights came on. It was only 5 degrees outside today when we went for a ride and there was plenty of snow on the trail. It was mainly field driving so we were going anywhere between 30 and 45 mph. (It was just too cold to go any faster.) I checked the coolant level and it was slightly below the "cold" line. Any ideas on what could be wrong?
 

Is this sled new to you? Have you had problems before with overheating. The 02 vipers are known for their overheating. The fix is a rear heat exchanger. I just put one on mine. Havent had it out yet for a test but im sure its fine. Do a search on viper overheating and you can read and learn till next week.
 
If it was to cold to only go 30-45 mph you may have been running lean,,,, not big enough jetting for temperature....
 
X3 on the heat exchanger. I Have a 02 viper thats new to me with no rear exchanger. I put 200mi on it so far with no heat problems, but I have read many threads on the over heating problem with the viper.
 
I had the same problem with my 02 Viper. If you look under the tunnel on the back of the machine you will see a coolant tube that runs from 1 side to the other. When mine started to overheat I found this tube covered with Ice build-up. I broke that away & the temp. light went off. I didn't want to deal with this
when ever this happens so I installed a rear heat exchanger.
 
we have over 700 miles this year on the Viper, no extra exchanger. No over heating either. maybe just lucky i guess. the track is a long track 1.25 ripsaw. I wonder if the extra lugs move more air and snow. Has anyone ever put on a temp gauge instead of the dummy light? Al
 
I saw a cool artical on SF about installing a fixed temp gage. It seemed pretty easy and it cost next to nothing. I'll post the link if i can find it again. I guess they had good luck with it.
 
It seems like my 02 Viper would be prone to overheat if I was riding it at a 30-40 mph speed for a period of time. If you rode it faster it would not overheat. I always assumed it was running a bit lean in the mid-range and tried to avoid running it there. I would try the heat exchanger as suggested. Maybe add some water wetter to the coolant. I also had a layer of ice build up in front of my front heat exchanger that kept fresh snow from coming on contact with it which I thought added to my overheating troubles a couple times. I just tipped the sled on it's side and knocked it out. Good luck.
 
There are other potential issues with the '02 Viper cooling. The rear heat exchanger doesn't hurt and is very easy to add, but the following can also occur.
  • Coolant system has air bubbles in the system and needs to have the air bled out. The procedure is on this site in the Tech Pages and in the manuals and Tech Update docs.
  • The water pump impeller spins on the shaft. There is a tech bulletin on this and a good dealer should replace this free of charge if the symptoms match. There was a link on this site to the tech bulletin, but I forget where.
  • The temperature sensor is out of tolerance. The procedure for testing this is in the service manual and some years Tech Update manuals.
 


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