Viper Overheating

S

SRXPete

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Jan 15, 2004
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Location
Gogama, Ontario
A friend of mine has an 04 mtn Viper. It overheats on the trails especially when it is cold outside and the trails are hard. We are not in mountain country. Anyway, is there a rad kit that you can put on the viper?? (ie extra heat exchanger to put somewhere). There is good coolant flow...all that has been checked, etc.

Thanks
 
you can add a Mountain Max Exchanger flat in the rear of the tunnel...if he is running a big paddle track it will overheat and eat the slides too...smaller lug track and exchanger is the way to go if your going to trail ride that.
 
mountain sleds are designed to run in deep snow, where cooling is sufficient... (snow under the sled and on heat exchangers) with the deep paddle track, you don't get the cooling you should (or the lubrication for the hyfax)

as far as the 04 viper goes, they did come with a rear heat exchanger!

just my .02
 
Yes, the 04 has an exchanger in the rear of the tunnel. I seem to remember something about the Viper's when they first came out that some had a overheating problem. There may have been a kit where you put another exchanger in the front...maybe I am just dreaming.

The machine is not trail (groomed) ridden. Used on bush trails and lakes with snow and slush to access my buddies remote camp and lakes to go fishing. The paddle track is awesome for breaking trail and ripping through slush when the lakes are bad. I don't have a overheating prob on my 03 MM with 2" lug.
 
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they had an update to add a rear one when the viper first came out,I think yami should have paid for that upgrade.-Harvey
 
My 2003 Mtn Viper has a very small exchanger at the back from the factory...

There were some issues about the overheat lamp comming on on 2002 Viper trails , what caused it I'm not sure, I do know however that it wasnt always actual overheating causing the light to come on.

Maybe somebody can shed some light on all this.
 
I just went to www.parts.yamaha-motor.com and cheked the ilustrated parts breakdonw for my 2003 Mtn Viper and it's easy to tell if you have a heat exchanger or not.

If your coolant bleeder screw is in the middle of the tunnel (at the rear) you don't have one, if the bleeder is on the Mag side at the rear of the tunnel you have a rear heat exchanger.
 
In 2002 models they had a service bulliten for overheating. If you had this condition Yamaha offered the rear heat exchanger to the customer for $50 and the dealer ate the labor, which is a good deal I think. I am pretty sure it was for 02 year only.
 
What jumped out at me is the fact it over-heats on cold days. What temp. and elevation is it jetted for? It is far more likely to over-heat with a lean mixture and if you're at lower elevation on a cold day that exactly what you'll have. A tall lug on hard pack snow is adding to the problem. It won't make alought of difference but carb heaters will help shed coolant heat and warm intake air as well
 
I use to over heat only on days that were well below 0... -40 and over heating sucks... What I found out is on the sleds without the rear cooler is that the front one can get block off and that is enough to kick the temp light on.. I also learned that the temp light comes on to quick. Your not truly over heating when the light comes on.

You have two quick and easy solutions. If you have front heat exchanger protectors take them off. They are welded to the front heat exchanger so you will need a drumel to remove them. This prevents ice from froming in front the the heat exchangers or get the rear cooler and that should cool you do some more. The whole reason on the cold days it happens is that the ice can build up easier on very cold days....


Quick solution on the trail is to pick up the sled and bang it on the ground a few times. It should break up the ice dam. or just reach in with the sled parking break set or sled off and break it up by hand.
 
I just installed a rear heat exchanger from Bender racing which was highly recommended by Bender for optimum performance and cooling, especially if you've triple piped your viper!. It was easy to install and not very expensive 150.00 or so. I checked a while ago...Yamaha is not offering a heat exchanger discount for viper's anymore, unless you have major heat issues, valid warranty and patience to put up a arguement.
 
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