Tips And Tricks For Cooling Your Maverick Engine

It doesn’t matter where you ride, be it in South Florida, Texas, or even the cooler northern states, your Can-Am Maverick engine can overheat regardless of the outside temperatures. While 3 to 4 bars is normal — even in warmer climates — if your machine stays in the mid-five-bar range or is overheating at idle, you’ve got an issue. Some riders might tell you that a thermostat delete is your best bet if you’re running hot, but others would argue that this is nothing more than a band-aid solution, and you’re better off finding the root problem and fixing that rather than the symptoms. Other heat-related remedies like radiator relocation kits, heat shields, aftermarket fans and pumps, as well as flashed ECUs / ECU tuners are also options. So if your rig is running hot, here’s what you should do to improve your Can-Am Maverick engine cooling.

Keeping Your Maverick Radiator In Working Order

Most people think that their Can-Am Maverick radiators are clean when they are actually blocked with crud. So if your rig is overheating and your Can-Am Maverick engine cooling just isn't hacking it, we’d suggest to first take your radiator fins out and give them a high-PSI cleaning. Using radiator covers and ensuring that your radiator is always clean and unobstructed is only half the battle. Can-Am Maverick engine cooling lines can also be the culprit. If you have an air bubble in your radiator system, proper cooling will likely not occur. So if your radiator is free of debris, make sure to “burb” your cooling lines to remove any air that might have gotten inside. Subsequently, you can put new engine ice (cooling fluid) in the reservoir if you’re running low — the engine ice in the purple containers works well. Alternatively, you can also run CLR (calcium, lime, and rust remover) through the cooling system if you suspect there might be built-up deposits within the coolant lines.

To bleed your Maverick's coolant lines, there is a process that Can-Am says you should use. They suggest jacking the whole bike up systematically, starting with the front, then the side, then the back, and then the front on the other side. Think of a water bottle when you tip it upside down and move it around. That is similar to what’s happening in your machine's coolant lines.

Once you know both your radiator fins and the coolant lines of your Maverick are clean, air free, and set up correctly, the next thing you might check are the temperature sensors and water pump. If your sensors are off, your machine’s computer won’t know that the engine is too hot, and if your water pump impeller is malfunctioning, it may not be circulating fluids properly. 

The Boysean high flow water pump kit is an option that many riders swear by, and companies like Moose make products like water pump repair kits. We’ve talked to riders that had brand new radiators, hoses, t-stats, and high volume fans, yet were still always on the verge of overheating. They  changed the coolant several times, thinking that they had the wrong mixture, bled the system, checked their filters, oils, and fluids, scrutinized their head gaskets, but to no avail. The only thing that worked was replacing the plastic stock water pump impeller with a billet aluminum impeller like the ones by Boysean and Quad Logic. 

Starting with the small stuff and getting progressively bigger will help you rule out potential issues to root out the exact cause of your Maverick's engine overheating problems. Things that aren’t inside the radiator or even part of the radiator system, can also affect engine temperatures. And a primary component that isn’t a part of the cooling system, yet plays a crucial roll in its performance, is your vehicle's electronic control unit.  

Reflashing Your Maverick’s Computer

Reflashing your Maverick’s electronic control unit (ECU) could be the solution to your overheating problems. By flashing your ECU, you are programming the computer to tell the radiator fan to kick on at a lower temperature. If you’ve noticed that your fan kicks on at around 5 bars, an ECU reflash or tuner would turn them on at, say, 3 bars instead. This is a simple solution and can be done for relatively little money. If you have an ECU turner on your Maverick, all it would take is a few pushes of a button. 

A fan override switch is another option for controlling your cooling fans to promote proper Can-Am Maverick engine cooling. Although the process is a bit more involved than an ECU reflash, a fan override switch lets you manually control your radiator fans. When things get too hot, simply flip a switch and your fans will start working full force.

Maverick Radiator Relocations And Dual Radiators

Thick clay and mud are the bane of any radiator, which is why some riders decide to bite the bullet and either relocate their radiator or add a secondary one. Specialized mudding radiators like the TCP Mudder edition radiator work well, but relocating the radiator to the back or top of your Maverick with a CYA or RT Pro radiator relocation kit is the best way to keep your it clean and mud free to ensure consistent Can-Am Maverick engine cooling!

If you don’t want to move your stock radiator, a dual-radiator setup can function in much the same way as a radiator relocation kit. However instead of moving your radiator away from the ground, you simply add another radiator where it won’t get crusted up and blocked by dirt, mud, and plant matter. You can route the lines at the motor, splicing the main to the rear and then from the second radiator back to the motor so they run in succession. Use a switch to turn your secondary radiator on after running your machine or when the front fans kick on. 

Closing Thoughts

We won’t get into t-stat deletions or the option of bypassing the t-stat with a crossover hose looping system, but the above information should get you going and be more than enough for you to avoid your overheating issues. A hot engine should never be ignored, and it’s well worth spending a little money on now for better Can-Am Maverick engine cooling in the future. After all, if you don't diagnose and fix your overheating issues, you could be out an engine, and new Maverick engines are far from cheep!