Overheating 2003 KDX 220R

[David Gilbert]

My 2003 KDX 220R has recently been overheating while riding it hard in the sloppy stuff. It has never done this before. I checked the oil, it is not milky, so I ruled out the water pump seal. There is no excess smoke being produced, so I ruled out the head gasket. I put pressure on the system to see if my rads were leaking, but there seems to be no leaks. I checked all of the hoses and fittings, everything seems to be in tact. I just don't understand.

Please help! Thanks

 

[mikdxer]

overheating 220

I don't know if this will apply in your case but on my 2002 kdx 200 I thought it was getting hot after riding hard through whoops and rough terrain. I would notice my coolant bottle a little low and anti-freeze dripping out of the hose. Put my hand on cylinder and wasn't all that hot. I came to the conclusion that it must be slopping out the over flow tube. I raised the tube a couple inches and its never happened again. Good luck.

 

[davidg]

When I still had my 02 kdx 220, I started using water wetter after it over heated. It worked for me, use it in my new bike also.

 

[Braahp]

Evans NPG+ coolant. The only real solution. It will never overheat again.
http://www.evanscooling.com/main27.htm

 

[Zerotact]

Don't get me wrong, evans NPG is great, and evans won't Boil over because it does not contain water. But if you bike does over heat you will not know because of the lack of steam. Thus resulting in the possibility of the Impeller melting. I'm not saying don't use it, just realize that it has a boiling temp way higher than your bike can probably produce. A while back someone was hawking a simple little temp strip that stuck onto the eingine, and or radiator and would tell you what temps you were at.

 

[Braahp]

I have those very temp strips you are talking about. Stuck right on radiator. I tried block but they wouldn't stay glued. With Evans NPG+ my bike has never gotten over 210 degrees.

 

[David Gilbert]

Thank You everyone for your help. I will try the Evans coolant and see if this helps.

DG

 

[Canadian Dave]

David are you overheating i.e. rads are boiling over into the overflow tank or are you finding that the tank is empty after your ride?

Any chance that you are running lean? Next time you are overheating pull the plug and see what it looks like just to be sure. I'd do a plug reading at WOT under normal conditions too just to make ensure all is well.

David

 

[know_fear]

You said this happens while riding hard in the sloppy stuff. Could it just be that the rads are plugged with mud?

 

[David Gilbert]

Hi Canadian Dave,
The bike losses coolant from boiling over. The pressure pushes the fluid out of the reservoir through the vent tube down to the bottom of the bike.

I did not even think about the bike running too lean. That is a good point. I will check it out.

Thanks a lot!

DG

 

[BJH]

Colder weather does mean richer jetting. I'm with C. Dave on this one. Also check the seal and spring on your radiator cap. Your bike is a 2003 so it's not really old enough for a rad cap problem but it's worth a look.
Combined with cooler weather and over heating in the slop I'd bet it's a jetting issue.