coolant in oil in a 2002 sportsman 700

[DIESELDAN]

I've heard there is a common problem with the water pump gasket going bad and allowing coolant to get in the oil. Anyone else ever heard of this or better yet fixed this problem. Any repair tips would be great.

Thanx DieselDan

[Dave S]

Although I've never fixed one, I have heard it is a common issue on the early 700 motors. I know there was a thread in here a couple years ago about this problem but haven't been able to bring it up.

[aczr2k]

Yep pretty common. Do some searching (google) you will find a lot of information on changing it. Fairly easy to do but be careful you don't bend the waterpump shaft taking the seal out because then you will be splitting the engine case. I took my first one to the dealer, around $300.

I have heard of the cylinder base gasket going bad also and causing the same thing.

[MNexpoler]

I had this problem on my 2003 700. I first replaced the seal between the water pump and the crank shaft, that did not fix it. I did some research on the web, found people were also having the base gaskets leaking, I installed a new base gasket and that fixed it.

Since you have a 2002 700 I'm going to warn you that your ignition system may go down soon, it happens to almost every 02-03 700 out there. My 03 just did it this weekend. The Ducati made ignition systems on the early 700s sucks, and polaris switched over to a different manufacturer(can't remember the name but its a Japan company) sometime in 2004. So when a part fails on you ignition system you now have to replace EVERYTHING, stator, regulator, cdi and all the wires, because they do not make replacement parts anymore for the Ducati system. Which at my local dealer costs 625 dollars in parts. Yup, thanks a lot Polaris!

[aczr2k]

Yeah that 2002 700 was sort of a prototype that led to a limited production run, so I'm not surprised on obsolete parts, but on the other hand it's going on 13 years old.

My buddy and I were riding with Polaris engineering one weekend when they were testing the first 700's. It sure was ahead of the Arctic Cats we were riding.

[1johntimm]

Yeah that 2002 700 was sort of a prototype that LED to a limited production run, so I'm not surprised on obsolete parts, but on the other hand it's going on 13 years old.

A 2002 that is 13 years old in 2012?

[Dave S]

A 2002 that is 13 years old in 2012?

It's just not quite there yet. Nice catch John. LMAO

[aczr2k]

Ha! bad math day...wow.