Studs Bad! Coolant Go Buh Bye!

indy_500

indy_500

Well-known member
i was riding down the mountain bay trail in shawano (railroad grade) with my 99 xc 700 w/196 woody's studs and all of a sudden i felt this weird thing like something gave way but i kept riding as my dad was way ahead of me and the sled seemed to run fine. i pulled up to a road and the temp guage was on, and i lost all of my coolant. it seems the coolant is coming out of the front of the track, i looked up the part and it was $190. I'm assuming it's hard to replace, and i'll wait till summer to replace it since i have another sled and i don't have the money laying around for a dealer to do it. can anybody else make any different assumptions?
 
indy_500

indy_500

Well-known member
erkoehler said:
Stud may have hit front heat exchanger. Pull the skid, find the hole and have it welded.

$100 approximately.
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i was thinking the front heat exchanger when i saw the coolant coming out the front, i just hope since i ran it with not much coolant that i didn't heat the cylinders up too much and possibly scratch them or something.
 
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jim_golding

New member
I had a 99 XCSP 500 which did the same thing. Going down railbed hear a different ticking type of sound, I thought it was an ice chunk or something. A few miles later my temp light was on. Of course I was riding alone and 5 miles from a town. I just packed snow around the engine and rode to a town stopping twice along the way to throw more snow on it. There was no damage to the engine. What happened was a stud started to rip out of the track and tore a hole through the front heat exchanger. I bought a new used off of ebay for $27. You will need to remove the suspension and the drive axle to remove it. These heat exchangers are used on many different polaris sleds so look up what sleds use the same heat exchanger. My son still drives the sled and has put another 3500 miles on it since the HX was tore through. It will be a good summer project for you.
 
indy_500

indy_500

Well-known member
jim_golding said:
I had a 99 XCSP 500 which did the same thing. Going down railbed hear a different ticking type of sound, I thought it was an ice chunk or something. A few miles later my temp light was on. Of course I was riding alone and 5 miles from a town. I just packed snow around the engine and rode to a town stopping twice along the way to throw more snow on it. There was no damage to the engine. What happened was a stud started to rip out of the track and tore a hole through the front heat exchanger. I bought a new used off of ebay for $27. You will need to remove the suspension and the drive axle to remove it. These heat exchangers are used on many different polaris sleds so look up what sleds use the same heat exchanger. My son still drives the sled and has put another 3500 miles on it since the HX was tore through. It will be a good summer project for you.
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the way you described the noise is the exact same noise i heard.
 
indy_500

indy_500

Well-known member
how hard is it to replace the heat exchanger, i'll probably be looking for a used one rather than repairing the current one since i think it tore a good sized hole in it
 
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jim_golding

New member
If I remember it is just pop riveted in. It is not hard at all- takes about 8 hours or so. Remove supension, disassembly chain case, remove chain, gear, remove speedo side bearing, remove carbs, disconnect hoses to HX, drill out rivets and install new HX and reverse order. You should also replace the seal on the chain case side. While you are in there replace the drive axle bearings, check/replace the suspension bearings, if the track is losing studs get a new or new/used track.
 
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jim_golding

New member
The more I think about it I had to pull the motor also- I think - no big deal- give you a opportunity to clean it up under there!!
 
J

jim_golding

New member
You need to pull the carbs to get to the hoses. The motor because in addtion to the rivets there are a couple of nut/bolts holding it in under the motor plate. It is a good project to work on since there are no special tools needed and you get a real sense of accomplishment when it is done. My HX went in early March on my last ride so it was no big deal. If it happened to me in January I would be doing it now unless I had another sled to run. Good luck and post pics!
 
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dab102999

New member
Yea jim has got ya covered. Did it with my buddys sled a few years back. You said it got hot, did it shut if self down or did you shut it down?? I would bet you are allright under the plugs myself but would no that for sure unless you pull the head, which really wouldn't be that much more but a couple of bucks. we took the motor and just "rolled" it foward to get to those nuts, it really wasn't that hard. A case of beer and a good friend and a heated garage and it only took us about 10 hours...let me see, you can't drink beer and that shed of yours don't look that warm, you got a good 20 years on me so it should only take you about 6......
 
indy_500

indy_500

Well-known member
dab102999 said:
Yea jim has got ya covered. Did it with my buddys sled a few years back. You said it got hot, did it shut if self down or did you shut it down?? I would bet you are allright under the plugs myself but would no that for sure unless you pull the head, which really wouldn't be that much more but a couple of bucks. we took the motor and just "rolled" it foward to get to those nuts, it really wasn't that hard. A case of beer and a good friend and a heated garage and it only took us about 10 hours...let me see, you can't drink beer and that shed of yours don't look that warm, you got a good 20 years on me so it should only take you about 6......
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it was getting a little hot, i only rode 1 mile after it happened and when i stopped it was still leaking antifreeze and when i towed it into town, it wasn't leaking any antifreeze because there was none left. i shut the sled off myself because i noticed the temp guage. it was running fine though like i had all the power.
 
indy_500

indy_500

Well-known member
the part numbers do match. they're both 2511304. how much you looking to get for it? has it ever been repaired? why was it taken off? thanks
 
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simonsr1

New member
Had this happen to my buddys sled outside Hurley, we took the suspension, track and driveshaft out at the hotel we were at, drilled out the rivits and took the exchanger to a local welder to get it fixed, worked great
 
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whitedust

Well-known member
Indy you need to replace that track or next stud out could cause the same damage. When studs coming out it is just the beggining not the end. Maybe iceclaw or non studded track would serve you better. Always can find used track around.
 
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xc700LP

Member
i've a spare tunnel and bulk head that has one along with a rear flat cooler, and no it has never been repaired. I'd like to get $70 for it.
 
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