The Yamaha Viking is your classic working UTV, making for one of the toughest working vehicles out there.
It’s well-known for being built tough with rugged body styling, very similar to one of the best used side-by-side models you can buy in the Yamaha Rhino 660.
And while it’s not one of the fastest UTVs in the industry like the Yamaha YXZ 1000, it does offer a good blend of recreational appeal.
But as well-rounded as the Yamaha Viking is, it is also known to suffer from six common problems that can drive owners up the wall.
These common problems include:
- Radiator cooling fan going bad
- Radiator causing overheating
- Rear spring sag
- Header pipe on the exhaust breaking off
- Rear brakes prone to squeaking
- Excessive engine noise in the cab
I’ll detail each problem in this guide, along with proven ways to overcome all of them.
Radiator Cooling Fan Going Bad
One of the weakest links of the Yamaha Vikings are the stock radiator cooling fans.
They have a tendency not to last too long, with the fan motor eventually giving out over time.
Obviously this is bad, and will lead to your engine overheating if it happens without warning while out on a long ride.
This problem is more relevant to models produced before 2016, as Yamaha was said to have installed an upgraded fan in all units since then.
Even so, fans in newer models do still reportedly go out from time to time.
Fix
Regardless of how old or new your Yamaha Viking is, I’d recommend looking into upgrading the radiator fan.
The Hunterworks Yamaha HO Radiator Fan is the best replacement option out there, and is sold by folks you can feel good about doing business with.
Throwing in this upgraded fan will help prevent your Viking from overheating due to a faulty stock cooling fan.
Radiator Causing Overheating
Piggy-backing off the last issue, the Yamaha Vikings are also prone to overheating for another reason unrelated to the faulty stock radiator fan.
The radiator in these models is located down low, and is prone to becoming easily caked up with mud, dirt, sand, grass, and other debris from off-road riding.
The Yamaha Wolverine RMAX models suffer from overheating as well.
The radiator fan is supposed to kick on at engine temps of around 205 degrees, which leaves little room for error when it comes to overheating as the Vikings will overheat at somewhere north of 220 degrees.
If your radiator is clogged, the temps will climb quite fast and can lead to overheating damage before you even realize what’s happening.
Fixes
Some folks have gone as far as relocating their radiator, but that’s a big undertaking.
If you’re proactive about constantly cleaning out your radiator fins after long rides or rides through the mud or tall grass, you should be fine.
You may even want to take off your grill and soak it in something like Simple Green occasionally to be sure it’s good to go though.
Rear Spring Sag
Another common problem in the Yamaha Vikings is the tendency to the rear stock springs to begin to sag over time.
This usually occurs after 500 to 1,000 miles of riding, and results in the rear of the vehicle starting to sag under any added weight, including you sitting in the seat to go for a drive.
A ground clearance of over 11 inches in new models is solid, but as the rear springs start to sag you’ll notice you won’t have nearly as much room to clear obstacles on the trail and your Viking may bottom out more frequently.
While the stock springs do offer some adjustability which will offset the sag for some time, eventually the sag will be enough to overcome this.
Fixes
The only real solution for this problem is installing aftermarket springs.
Both Shock Therapy and JBS Performance provide springs specific to the Viking that will fix the issue and never sag themselves.
These upgraded springs will also provide a slightly better ride than the stock ones, and can even increase your ground clearance.
Header Pipe on Exhaust Breaks Off
Another common issue with the Yamaha Vikings is with the stock exhaust system.
The header pipes on the exhaust set-up are known to brake at the head or the flange, right where they bolt onto the machine.
This happens because they are not well-supported, and due to the constant engine vibration over time.
The exhaust pipes are also prone to glowing red hot due to Yamaha Vikings running lean straight out of the box so that they can pass emissions standards for our fun friends in the state of California.
This adds to the problem with the header pipes breaking off over time.
Fixes
If you own a pre-2016 Yamaha Viking, your first course of action in overcoming the issue should be to add an engine vibration dampener to cut down on the engine vibration that lends to the header pipes eventually breaking.
Yamaha began adding engine vibration dampeners to new units starting in 2016, which has helped.
If you’re under warranty and your header pipe snaps, take it to the dealer where Yamaha will pretty much always replace it under warranty.
If you’re not under warranty and are handy, the only real solution to this problem is to do some welding of the header pipe where it connects to the vehicle to sturdy it up and offer more support.
Rear Brakes Are Prone To Squeaking
One of the most annoying common problems with the line of Yamaha Vikings is that the rear brakes have a tendency to squeak and squeal over time.
Sometimes they’ll even squeal when you’re not even applying the brake pedal, which can drive you mad and can be embarrassing when the whole neighborhood can hear you coming up the trail.
Fixes
There are a couple of ways to fix this.
The more thorough and long-lasting fix is to dismantle your brake calipers, clean them up real good, grease them, and then reinstall them.
This will eliminate the squealing for a long time, but can be a hassle.
The easier but more short-term fix is just to spray the calipers down real good with some type of brake cleaner and then apply WD-40 Grease while avoiding soaking the brake pads.
This route will keep your brakes quiet for somewhere around 1,000 miles, at which point you’ll likely need to repeat the process as you hear the squeal again.
Extreme Engine Noise
The Yamaha Viking models come equipped with a 686cc single-cylinder engine.
Now you’ll hear folks complain that these engines may be a bit underpowered, which may be true.
But good news for Yamaha is that you’ll have a hard time hearing this complaining over the excessive noise produced by the engine while riding.
The engine is noisy, but also reverberates off the plastics inside the cab to make it hard to hold any sort of conversation with your passenger(s) while accelerating or at speed.
Fixes
There are a couple of ways to muffle and reduce the engine noise in the cab.
Installing sound deadening mats under and behind the seats should make a noticeable difference.
But you may want to install soundproofing material on the inside of the half-doors and the underside of the roof, which are both areas that amplify the engine noise to begin with.
Final Word
There’s not a utility vehicle out there that doesn’t experience common problems, and the Yamaha Viking is unfortunately no different in that regard.
Even so, Yamaha is known to produce some of the best all-around UTVs available these days – and the Viking is certainly right up there.
