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Showing results for tags 'coolant'.
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I just spent a couple of hours in the garage doing various things (first time I have been able to do that in a couple of months, boy was it nice); One of which was changing the coolant (and flushing the system, replacing those stupid little rubber plugs). I read over the article in the Tech section and it made changing the coolant a breeze. The coke bottle method worked great except for the front left cylinder which Pheonex had warned it wouldn't work. But an old T-shirt did the trick So, just wanted to say thanks for that great write up. Don: thanks to you for keeping this place up and running. For those of you that haven't done this yet, I think the hardest part was refilling the coolant slow enough so that it didn't come up and out of the filler opening. Me, being impatient, had a few spills. Luckily it was just distilled water that I spilled (I got some practice since I flushed the system twice).
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Replacing the coolant, filled to the top of radiator, ran it, let it cool, filled to top again, ran it, still needs more. How do you know when you do not need anymore? When the coolant gets hot, I assume it bubbles to the overflow tank under the seat, but how does the coolant in the overflow tank get back to the radiator? there is only 1 tube to the overflow tank.
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Ok.....I'm at that point. Got all my other stuff done and pulled the valve covers to replace the seals and gaskets due to a seep on the rear head and check the valve lash. Thought I was being the bright guy and removed the "hard" one first. The front. Only had to remove the bolts from the radiator and pull it ahead a bit. Pretty much slid out except for a little drag across the chain sprockets. Then the "easy" one....the rear.....oh yeah! Not so easy. Hung up pretty good on the sprockets and was a bear to work out of there. (Should have done this when I had the gas tank out) Now I got the covers all cleaned up.....got the 2nd gen gaskets sealed into the covers....got all 16 of the plugs on the bolts replaced. So.....any advice on what else I can do to give myself a little more room to work the covers back into place without scraping the gaskets back off? Bike is naked.....fuel line and overflow lines are out of the way. Do I need to pull the coolant lines to the heads? Maybe take the coolant hose off the top of the radiator to give me more room? Suggestion? Just trying to avoid a fist fight with my sweety. She does give me a hard time now and then. LOL! Thanks Mike -
I have just finished rebuilding the clutch slave cylinder, new O ring, pin and compression spring on the nautral safety switch, all new exhaust gaskets and silencers., but still getting this coolant smell. Looks like the light smoke is coming from the exhaust chamber and rising up. There isn't any oil in the coolant and no coolant in the oil. While I had the exhause off, I did a good cleaning of the bottom of the engine and all parts I had off. I did all of the fore mentioned to find this burning coolant smell problem. What lead me to tearing the exhaust off is I thought I had a coolant leak, but never any puddles. Before doing all this along with the burning coolant smell, there was also water coming out of the exhaust mufflers,(still is). This is a 1989 XVZ1300 I bought about a year and a half ago and only ridden maybe 7 or 8 miles,(been trying to get things done to get a sidecar on it). I noticed it at first and the previous owner had told me he had just spilt some coolant when filling it, I think he knew better and that's why he sold it. But my problem now and need to get it taken care of so I can finish it. Any help would be great.
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I have done a little more research on this leak, but still dont know what the cover is called, see the pics. The first one shows the cover, and the second shows where the oil is coming from after removing the cover. I changed the valve cover gaskets a few weeks ago. It wasn't leaking until after I did this. I don't see any oil in the coolant, nor is there any coolant in the oil. Whats coming out of the hole is pure oil as near as I can tell. I'm running BelRay EXL 10-40 motorcycle oil. I don't remember the name of the coolant, but it was orange and wasn't cheap. Is it possible that I have a blockage and thats why it's leaking out of the hole? I have an air compressor and was considering blowing 30-40 psi into the hole where the oil is coming out to see if I can dislodge whatever it is. Or is this not a good idea? Any suggestions would be a help.
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My choke cable broke or came loose at the handlebar. I got another cable and I'm about to dive in. Does anyone have any hints that the manual won't tell me? I also noticed a small coolant leak from somewhere near the top of the engine when it is parked. At least now it is warm enough to get in the shop and do it!
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Any ides on alternate cooling hose sections (there sure are a lot of em!) while I have my scoot apart vs buying expensive OEM parts. How many have had problems with coolant hoses or am I Just being anal. They look fine but are over 20 years old now.
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Found a puddle of coolant on the garage floor, It is running down from the Head area of the right back cyclinder. Took it to dealer and it will be approx a week before they get to it, service manger said he have to wait until the tech breaks it down to see if the warranty covers it ?????????. Is there any reason they shouldn't cover it? the warranty is good until Aug 2010. they replaced the stator under warranty so I would it would cover the coolant leak 05 Venture
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I just bought a used 2005 RSTD (which I absolutely love), and am now learning how to perform all of the maintenance myself (which I am really enjoying). However I'm at the point where I want to change (flush/fill) my radiator coolant, but do not know specifically which brand of coolant to use on the cycle? I hear Yamacool is very expensive, yet others I believe use a low Silicate or Silicate free fluid made for aluminum engines that you can buy at a Honda or Toyota Auto Dealership, and yet others use something called GO5? I am so confused....??? I live in Grand Rapids, MI and it does get very cold/freeze here, so I can't use products that do not have antifreeze in them like "Wetwetter" or whatever it's called? Please help as to what brand I should be using and any insights on how to efficiently change would be most gratefully appreciated! Thank you! Respectfully, Jeff:fingers-crossed-emo -
(The information in this post would serve well to be included in the tech library with the other coolant change information.) I changed my coolant the other day for the first time. After reading all of the very helpful posts and the Tech Library, the only thing I noticed was that there were no tips on how to do it without creating a mess, especially when draining the cylinders. Sooo, I spent more time visualizing and figuring than I did actually draining the coolant, but I did come up with a method that resulted in no mess on the engine or floor. This will make my, and hopefully your, next coolant change a little easier and less messy. As well, I found that at 2 inch long screw of the proper thread size was easier to use for pulling the cylinder side drain plugs than using the cumbersome spark plug. I didn't repeat the steps on how to get to the radiator cap and how to remove of the side covers, as this information is already well documented in the tech library. PHOTO 1 - Side Cover Drain Bottle Get a 16 oz soda bottle, the type that is smooth sided because it flexes better. Cut an angle across the bottom end and cut out room for your fingers to pull the plug on the top side. You can do a few test fits with the bottle to get the angle right. You will need the cap screwed onto the bottle when you use it. PHOTO 2 - Draining Radiator Put the bike on a jack and raise it high enough to clear a 5 gallon bucket. Remove the radiator cap, then the radiator drain plug and the radiator will speed dump with no mess. - - - - - - - Next, you will want to grab a large bath towel (preferably not the one your wife just bought at Kohl's). While I only dripped about 1 ounce of coolant onto the towel while draining cylinder 3, I used under the drain bottle on each cylinder to catch any dribbles (and this was the first time I tried this method and didn't know how well it would work). Photos 3-5 illustrate how I placed the towel and the drain bottle for cylinders 1, 3, and 4. (I saved cylinder 2 for last, as it involves making a chute out of packing tape to flow the coolant to the bottle.) The drain plugs are in place in all of the pics, as I took the pics after I drained each cylinder. The coolant in the drain bottle is from the respective cylinder pictured. PHOTO 3 - Draining Cylinder 1 PHOTO 4 - Draining Cylinder 3 PHOTO 5 - Draining Cylinder 4 - - - - - - - - The last step is draining cylinder 2. The location of the drain plug for cylinder 2 does not allow for the angling of the drain bottle. I saved this for last because it took a little construction of a chute made of packing tape. Tear three strips of packing tape long enough to go from the side of the cylinder to about 2 or 3 inches past the side of the chrome engine cover. One strip will be the middle strip with the sticky side down. The other two strips get folded in half lengthwise over the left and right third of the middle strip. Then abut one end of this tape contraption to the side of the cylinder and press the center portion down so it sticks to the top of the engine and along the groove of the chrome engine cover. You now have a little rain gutter to carry the coolant to your drain bottle. PHOTO 6 - Cylinder 2 tape chute PHOTO 7 - Cylinder 2 tape chute viewed from side angle PHOTO 8 - Cylinder 2 draining - - - - - - - - - - My coolant drain amounts were as follows: Radiator - 80 oz (2.5 qts) Cylinder 1 - 5 oz Cylinder 2 - 2 oz Cylinder 3 - 2 oz (this accounts for the 1 oz that spilled into towel) Cylinder 4 - 3 oz Reservoir - 10 oz (was at the "Full" line) Total - 102 oz (3.19 qts) I didn't drain the water pump. Every post I've read and folks I have spoken with said they only got 4 oz, at most, out of the water pump and the headache of getting to the plug outweighed the amount of fluid I would get out. Hope this has been of some help to others out there. Phoenix (If anyone would like higher resolution pics, let me know and I can email the high resolution originals to you.)
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I thought I'd post a few comments for those who have not been through this before. It is not hard as long as you have the proper tools. T-handle allen wrenches are almost mandatory for me - they make turning out the many socket head screws fast and easy. In addition, if you follow the manual (Method #1 below), you really want a set of long ball-end 3/8" drive allen wrenches for use with your ratchet. If you follow the shop manual, the job is pretty straight forward, but you will have one frustrating surprise. I have detailed the full drain procedure first as Method #1, then two slightly modified procedures that some might prefer at the expense of not getting out quite as much of the old coolant. The first steps apply to all three methods: You start by removing the seat, tank, both lower fairings and all three battery covers. Don't forget to remove that top center #3 Philips screw on the middle cover; it is kind of hidden! The cover slips out to the left fairly easily, but you do need to watch down in the middle for hoses and wire bundles that will hang up on the corners. Now you are ready to begin draining the fluid. METHOD #1 - The Complete Drain: The radiator drain bolt is obvious on the bottom left, and getting the overflow tank out is pretty easy too. It is only held on by one bolt and a couple of lugs in rubber grommets. Just use your fingers to push that plastic shield above it up so you can pull the filler neck forward and out to the right side. Some folks prefer to siphon out the overflow tank instead of removing it, but I don't know why; taking it out is MUCH easier than messing with a siphon hose! (But you don't have to remove the center or left side battery covers if you are not going to remove the tank.) Note: If you remove the radiator cap before you take out the radiator drain bolt, the coolant will drain VERY fast with quite a bit of splashing; you may want to let it drain mostly on it's own before you take that cap off! Next you will want to pull the fake cylinder fins off and take out the rubber plugs; use an old spark plug to screw into the plug and pull it out. Each cylinder water jacket holds quite a bit of coolant - seemed like about 1/2 cup each but could have been less - and those fin covers pop off very quickly with a 5mm T-handle. Make sure you leave the right front cover off until you finish with the next step! The frustrating surprise will come when you try to drain the water pump. The drain plug is a 17mm plug angled forward in the bottom of the chrome water pump cover, right next to the bend in the header pipe. The service manual says absolutely nothing about this other than to just take out the plug. Good LUCK! Absolutely no way to get on it with normal tools unless you loosen the header pipe. The good news is that you don't have to actually remove the pipe, just loosen the clamp at the front of the Y joint and remove the two socket head nuts on the header clamp (this is where you will really appreciate the long ball-end allen wrenches for your ratchet!). Once the header pipe is loose enough to pull a bit to the outside near the floor board, it is easy to remove the drain plug with a normal 17mm socket and a wobble extension or u-joint. Now you are ready to put all the drain plugs back in and replace the fin covers (make sure to get that header pipe back in place before you put the right front cover on!). DO NOT over tighten the radiator drain plug - that is all plastic, and the torque spec is ONLY 22 inch pounds. Even with the proper torque wrench, that is so light you can't hardly tell it has clicked, so you could still easily over-tighten and damage it. To me, the right tightness seems to be about what you can do just with your hand on a long 3/8" extension WITHOUT the ratchet. That's it. Only thing left is to mix up 3.5 liters of 50/50 coolant and fill the overflow reservoir to the FULL line, then carefully fill the radiator to the top of the neck. Put the radiator cap back on and run the engine for a minute or so (plenty of fuel in the carbs to do this without the tank) to let the coolant settle, then top off the coolant at the radiator cap. Now put it all back together and take your bike out for a short ride to get the motor fully up to temperature and check for leaks. Then after it completely cools off, check the overflow tank and top up to the Full mark if necessary (if there were any air-pockets left when you filled the coolant, some of the fluid from the overflow tank will be sucked in as the engine cools). METHOD #2 - Skipping the Water Pump Drain (almost as good as #1): Several folks have said they prefer to just drain the radiator and try to flush the rest of the coolant out with distilled water (see posts below), so I include these corner-cutting options as Methods 2 & 3. Drain the radiator and overflow tank as in #1. Now refill the radiator with distilled water (about three liters) and run the engine for at least two minutes. This will not be long enough to heat up the coolant and open the thermostat, but enough coolant will circulate through the vent hols in the thermostat to mostly clear out the water pump and leave only distilled water in it. RE-drain the radiator. Now pull each of the fake fin covers and pop out that little rubber plug. You will notice that coolant that drains from each water jacket still seems bright green, showing the "flush" was incomplete (that's why you are still doing these plugs). With the radiator plug back in and the fin covers back on, it is time to refill with coolant. But this time you have left some distilled water or highly diluted coolant in the engine, so it is best to not use pre-mixed coolant. Add about 1.75 liters of straight coolant, some to the overflow tank (1/2 full) and the rest to the radiator. Now top up both with distilled water and run the engine for a minute to work out any air pockets, then re-top the radiator with distilled water. METHOD #3 - Short and Sweet and Hope For The Best: In this method you skip draining both the water pump AND the cylinder water jackets. You will be leaving some of the old coolant in there to mix with the new, but some folks find this OK. Drain the radiator and overflow tank as in #1. Now refill the radiator with distilled water (about three liters) and run the engine for at least two minutes. This will not be long enough to heat up the coolant and open the thermostat, but enough coolant will circulate through the vent hols in the thermostat to mostly clear out the water pump and leave only distilled water in it. RE-drain the radiator and flush it again just like above. After two flushes you probably noticed a much lighter green color to the water on the last drain, so it is time to add new coolant and button it all back up. But remember, not only are you leaving some water/coolant in the water pump, you are also leaving it in the water jackets too, so you need to use a lower amount of new coolant in the fill. My guess of the right mix would be to add only 1.25 liters of coolant and then top it all off with distilled water. That's it folks, all done for another couple of years! My personal choice is Method #1. Even with the need to loosen the header pipe, it really isn't that difficult, and it doesn't take any more time than adding the engine flushes on the other methods. But whichever method you use, it is certainly better than not changing it at all. So now that the maintenance is done, let's rack up some miles! Enjoy the ride! Goose
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When I turn my ride off I can hear coolant boiling in the coolant reservoir. What gives?
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It looks like I have a coolant leak around the #2 cylinder head gasket. So should I take it to the dealer or should I try to torque the head bolts myself?
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Can a defective radiator cap cause coolant to bubble (for my lack of a better description) back into the overflow bottle? I believe coolant returning to the overflow is normal, I've just never heard it doing so. This only occurs when the motor is really hot. I've had several lst Editions and I've never had one do this even when touring in and through Death Valley (Furnace Creek) in 110+ weather. My temp guage was only a little past half way when I stopped today (108 here in Dallas) and killed the engine and within a few seconds this gurglling/bubbling sounds starts and today I even had some coolant run out the overflow line and puddle underneath the rear of the motor. Weird. I picked up a new radiator cap and hope this solves this issue. The radiator is clean, no clogged cooling fins, good thermostat, water pump in good condition and Engine Ice as coolant. Any advise would be highly appreciated. -
a coolant called "Engine Ice". This stuff is proclaimed to be a high tech coolant that can reduce operating temps by as much as 50 degrees F. Before I have a couple gallons of this stuff shipped to me, since I can find it anywhere locally, I thought I'd check around with other members and see if anyone has installed this stuff and if they've noticed any improvement.
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Like to do it myself.Read the instructions in the manuel and fainted.Said to remove everything but the sink.Is there a way I can just flush it and replace the coolant with less hassel.Collant is clean and leaving some in system will not bother me.Bike is 07 RSV Thanks in advance. Curtis
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OK its time to change to coolant 20,000 miles. You can buy it most anywere, but how do you get rid of the old coolant. Wal Mart, Auot zone, O'Rileys will not take the stuff. Does anyone know what to do with it. Thanks in advance
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I check my coolant at the radiator about once a month....Everytime I check it's about 1-2 pints low...I can't figure where the water goes, its not leaking anywhere.... Any ideas?? Thanks in advance
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OK, I've owned this 1st generation VR for about 15 years. This never happened before. Bike was in the garage for the winter, Dropped it off the center stand Saturday to take it out of the garage. Anti Freeze puddle in the front Valace. Radiator is Full but the resevoir is low. I take some plastic off to look at the coolant plumbing. Everything is dry with no signs of leakage except That Petcock thing just under the radiator where the lower radiator hose meets some steel tubes. There is wetness there. The only thing I can figure is the very cold winter we had contracted that 'O' ring enough to create some seepage. I dried it up and filled the reservoir, and ran teh bike with no leaks. -
I did a search regarding this, but did not find one. I bought my bike last October ('08) with only 1 mile on the odometer. It is an '07. The Service Manual stated to replace coolant and brake fluid every certain # of miles OR 24 Months. I may be closing in on 24 Months, but I only have 3200 miles on the bike. Do I still need to replace Brake Fluid and Coolant this year or Wait until I reach my 2nd anniversary of ownership?
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i have a 2007 but don't have any mechanic skills,but want to try to do what i can. where can i find out how to change brake and coolant? someday i'll also learn how to down load pictures and computer stuff.
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I have been seeing a little coolant on the engine. This is on a 1st gen 1992 model. I see some under the bike, usually the next day after it has been riden. There is a small hole(I suppose it is a drain or something on the side of the head). The hole is under the plate on the side on the cylinder block. It looks like some has drained under the plate. It nevers does it while it's hot, or when I look at it for that matter. Beside the spark plug there is a large allen head bolt. From looking at the parts break down, there are o'rings in there somewhere. Anyone ever seen this before or had to replace these o'rings. Anything special I need to know before taking out this plug?
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Yesterday my 06 Venture developed a small coolant leak from the upper radiator hose due to a small crack in the hose. Short story: The bike is at the Dealer now. Examination revealed small cracks in all of the coolant hoses. This is probably due to the amount of heat given off by the engine and the hoses close proximity to the engine. All coolant hoses are now being replaced; cooling system flushed; and fresh anti-freeze will be added. I will now add this work up to my Preventive Maintenance List and schedule new hoses for every 2 years. The cooling system will be flushed and re-charged yearly. IMHO now is the time to give your coolant hoses a good inspection.....I can only imagine what a massive coolant leak at high speeds would have looked like or the mess it would have made of the bike and me. Boomer........the lucky one.
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I have been one of those VR owners that from time to time had a small puddle of coolant under the front of my 87'VR. Today, after draining the coolant, I pulled that @#$% Phillips head screw, removed the Drain plug and chased the ball and spring all across the shop floor. Who knew this was going to be this much fun! I cleaned up the Drain Plug and removed the old O'ring. I then cleaned the bore the Drain Plug goes into with Steel Wool. I installed the new O'ring, returned the spring and ball to it's rightful place, put the plug back into the bore and at this point I decided I didn't want to deal with that @#$% Phillips head screw so I replaced it with a Stainless Steel Allen Head cap screw and lock washer. Boy was it easier to tighten up that cap screw then that Phillips head screw! After filling the coolant and a test drive, guess what, No more leak! I attached some pics below. Earl -
Odd thing i had happen. Tuesday night I rode to dinner it was pretty cold as i needed my leather and gloves. the bike was not hot at all and i parked it in my garage when i got home. the bike sat wensday and thurday. Friday I noticed some coolant under it along with my normal oil drip after parking. I wiped it up and checked my bottle level was fine and the radiator cap was tight also. first time ive had the happen. I went out to brekfast this morning with my brother to take my mind off things and did smell some anti freeze but figure it was residue on the hot bike. no leak tonight.
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