Gator 850D Cooling System Issue

[kmjohndeere44]

I'm new to the forum, and am very excited to see most of my experiences with my Gator are shared (i.e. front end rattle - replaced the front diff). I love the Gator and have really enjoyed it with my family since buying it in April. Reason for my post is an issue I ran into Thursday evening that I hope someone can give me some guidance on. I was driving through the woods, climbing a steep incline in 2wd, and spun up the rear tires. I made the climb and turned onto my subdivision road and heard a sound under the gator and the battery light came on. I drove it back to my garage and all of the coolant emptied, coming from the front of the Gator. I inspected all of the hoses, radiator etc. and could not find the source of the leak. I bought new coolant and plan to refill the system today to see if I had a one time boil over (caused by the overfill hose bottoming out in the reservoir?) or at least to find the source of the leak.

Has anyone else heard of an issue like this? I know ultimately it is under warranty, but I hate being without it for the two weeks I expect it would be at the dealership if I take it in (that is my last resort).

 

[TOMMYHPX4X4]

sorry about the problem butthats the good and bad things about warranties one you get your stuff fixed and two you have to go without it for a week or two. as for as the coolant problem maybe she was running warm when you shut her off and that caused her to flow over .is the temp light working?was the fan running when you shut her off? and how is the oil level in the engine?you said you climbed a steep hill you could be low on oil and when you climbed the hill because of the incline it didn't get around the pump and for a few minutes you didn't have any oil curculating.

 

[kmjohndeere44]

Mystery solved! I had time today to dig into it and found the accessory drive belt broke and caused the cooling fans to not function (I'm assuming because of low battery state of charge) and overheated the engine. I'll buy a new belt tomorrow and install. BTW - getting the belt's plastic guard off was a MAJOR pain! (Also made it difficult to diagnose because you can't see the belt). Hopefully I won't have to do this too often!