Radiator Fluid Spewing

It is 100�+ here in Texas. I've got a 45-60 minute commute it the heat. I noticed a line of fluid where my bike had travelled. It is coming from my overflow bottle. I recently changed the coolant, but before that I had noticed that the overflow bottle was low. Now I've had to top it off twice. Why would my overflow bottle dump fluid out the drain? The bike gets quite hot because I'm in traffic and only have the cooling fan to bring the temperature down. I couldn't see what the temperature was yesterday, because I had my eyes dialated so I couldn't make out the fine details. Would burbing the system, help? Keep in mind, I had the problem even before the coolant change. I'm afraid to check the oil and find out that my coolant is being dumped into it.

First my stator problems and now I can't keep coolant in the bike. What is next?

Is it a continuous leak, or just when the bike is running?
And why would you be afraid to check your oil if you're saying that the coolant is leaking out of the reserve?

Did you check all the hoses coming off of the reserve bottle?

[image: View Post]YoshiHNS, on Jul 14 2009, 03:43 PM, said:

Is it a continuous leak, or just when the bike is running?
And why would you be afraid to check your oil if you're saying that the coolant is leaking out of the reserve?

Did you check all the hoses coming off of the reserve bottle?
you might have air in the system try to burp it out

Clean the gasket on your radiator cap and the top edge of the radiator. If that doesn't solve it, bring to an auto parts store and have them pressure test the radiator and the cap.

[image: View Post]HVRLVR, on Jul 14 2009, 02:22 PM, said:

It is 100�+ here in Texas. I've got a 45-60 minute commute it the heat. I noticed a line of fluid where my bike had travelled. It is coming from my overflow bottle. I recently changed the coolant, but before that I had noticed that the overflow bottle was low. Now I've had to top it off twice. Why would my overflow bottle dump fluid out the drain? The bike gets quite hot because I'm in traffic and only have the cooling fan to bring the temperature down. I couldn't see what the temperature was yesterday, because I had my eyes dialated so I couldn't make out the fine details. Would burbing the system, help? Keep in mind, I had the problem even before the coolant change. I'm afraid to check the oil and find out that my coolant is being dumped into it.

First my stator problems and now I can't keep coolant in the bike. What is next?

coolant bottle isnt supposed to be topped off , that probably why the issue.

when coolant expands in your rads, it goes into the overflow bottle then gets sucked back in with the bike cools down. if you have it topped off it will over flow

Wow , thats pretty wild riding around with dialated eyes, never tried that

The level of the resevoir is critical. Once the system is burped of air, never fill the bottle higher than the full mark (1/2 full.

Remove both right & left fairings.

Tighten all accessible coolant hose fittings.

Have radiator cap tested (bike shops, auto parts stores can usually do this). Replace if necessary. (I recently had to replace mine.)

Burp cooling system. Then top up radiator.

Do not overfill overflow tank. Just fill to top mark (line).

Check that waterpump is working by observing coolant flow in radiator with cap removed (while burping).

You can top off with distilled water, which I buy at grocery store, and always have some in the house.

Hope you get the issue resolved. And I know how hot it gets in Texas, as I'm originally from there. We'll be hitting triple digits here in Boise soon too, like maybe Friday.

Sorry everyone, when I said topped off, I meant to the correct level or the full mark. I DID NOT fill the bottle up. I checked all the hoses and everything is tight. I will try and get the radiator cap checked. Engine oil is good, I thought that maybe coolant might be leaking into the engine, but I don't think that is the case. I may have figured out what my problem might be. The coolant level seems to have found its happy place which is at the low level mark. I think that I am running much too hot because the fan is not working to capacity. That is because I am running on battery power only. Still haven't solved my stator issues. I replaced it and it promptly melted the wires and fried the new stator. Suprisingly, I bought a new R/R, but it is still good as well as the old R/R. I used the testing supplied by Electrosports, which is where I got the parts from. BIG MISTAKE.

The troubling thing is this has never happened before. I can see that my coolant temp does go up and down depending upon how much airflow there is, so would that indicate that the thermostat is operating correctly. Had 104� yesterday and no fluid spewage. It's is supposed to be a cool day today, only 102� forcasted. Thanks for the tips all.

[image: View Post]HVRLVR, on Jul 15 2009, 01:14 PM, said:

Sorry everyone, when I said topped off, I meant to the correct level or the full mark. I DID NOT fill the bottle up. I checked all the hoses and everything is tight. I will try and get the radiator cap checked. Engine oil is good, I thought that maybe coolant might be leaking into the engine, but I don't think that is the case. I may have figured out what my problem might be. The coolant level seems to have found its happy place which is at the low level mark. I think that I am running much too hot because the fan is not working to capacity. That is because I am running on battery power only. Still haven't solved my stator issues. I replaced it and it promptly melted the wires and fried the new stator. Suprisingly, I bought a new R/R, but it is still good as well as the old R/R. I used the testing supplied by Electrosports, which is where I got the parts from. BIG MISTAKE.

The troubling thing is this has never happened before. I can see that my coolant temp does go up and down depending upon how much airflow there is, so would that indicate that the thermostat is operating correctly. Had 104� yesterday and no fluid spewage. It's is supposed to be a cool day today, only 102� forcasted. Thanks for the tips all.
Even if your fan is not working to capacity, you should not be boiling off coolant. What was the coolant temp reading when it was boiling off?

If you want to check the status of your thermostat, start the bike and let it idle. The left radiator should stay cold until the coolant temp hits 180, when it should start to warm up quickly.

While you have the bike running, let it keep going and make sure the fan turns on at 220. If it is spewing coolant at under 240, you have a leak somewhere in your cooling system that is preventing it from pressurizing properly, hence the low boiling point.

[image: View Post]jeremy556, on Jul 15 2009, 08:22 PM, said:

[image: View Post]HVRLVR, on Jul 15 2009, 01:14 PM, said:

Sorry everyone, when I said topped off, I meant to the correct level or the full mark. I DID NOT fill the bottle up. I checked all the hoses and everything is tight. I will try and get the radiator cap checked. Engine oil is good, I thought that maybe coolant might be leaking into the engine, but I don't think that is the case. I may have figured out what my problem might be. The coolant level seems to have found its happy place which is at the low level mark. I think that I am running much too hot because the fan is not working to capacity. That is because I am running on battery power only. Still haven't solved my stator issues. I replaced it and it promptly melted the wires and fried the new stator. Suprisingly, I bought a new R/R, but it is still good as well as the old R/R. I used the testing supplied by Electrosports, which is where I got the parts from. BIG MISTAKE.

The troubling thing is this has never happened before. I can see that my coolant temp does go up and down depending upon how much airflow there is, so would that indicate that the thermostat is operating correctly. Had 104� yesterday and no fluid spewage. It's is supposed to be a cool day today, only 102� forcasted. Thanks for the tips all.
Even if your fan is not working to capacity, you should not be boiling off coolant. What was the coolant temp reading when it was boiling off?

If you want to check the status of your thermostat, start the bike and let it idle. The left radiator should stay cold until the coolant temp hits 180, when it should start to warm up quickly.

While you have the bike running, let it keep going and make sure the fan turns on at 220. If it is spewing coolant at under 240, you have a leak somewhere in your cooling system that is preventing it from pressurizing properly, hence the low boiling point.

Another good point. It is coolant in there and not just water, right? Coolant boils at a higher temperature than water, add some pressure, and it further resists boiling over.

Yes, it is coolant. Purple Ice or something along those lines. No water at all. It seems to have stabalized at the low mark. Haven't noticed any fluid since last week. Temp fluctuates with outside temp and whether or not I'm sitting behind someone or in traffic. Over 100 degrees and it is difficult to keep the temp below 220. Once the fan comes on, it stays on. It never cools down far enough to kick off.

[image: View Post]HVRLVR, on Jul 20 2009, 09:14 PM, said:

Yes, it is coolant. Purple Ice or something along those lines. No water at all. It seems to have stabalized at the low mark. Haven't noticed any fluid since last week. Temp fluctuates with outside temp and whether or not I'm sitting behind someone or in traffic. Over 100 degrees and it is difficult to keep the temp below 220. Once the fan comes on, it stays on. It never cools down far enough to kick off.

Why not use real antiffreeze and live problem free in Texas heat like I do . I dumped the Honda crap at 2000 mile, been on Prestone mixes with anything for 62,000 mile, changed again though at 30,000. I've had zero boil issue including thermo

Temps over 100 shouldn't be a problem for the bike.
For me, I think they suck. Too dang hot.
But if all is well with the machine, the bike should handle it fine. :beer:

Purple? EngineIce? In my experience that stuff is crap, and unless you flush your old coolant perfectly, it will turn into a gel and clog up your radiators creating major problems. Flush that crap, and ideally remove your rads and look through them and blow them out with a hose, then use distilled water and water wetter, or regular coolant.