only had this bike a few days and i've been going over it whenever i have some free time. i've discovered a few issues. the bike starts up and, aside from the time chain tensioner noise,runs pretty well. i haven't ridden it except for a few minutes around my yard because i wanna go over wheel bearings, tires, etc before it hits the road. anyways, after i let it run for a few minutes it will spew coolant out of the radiator overflow fitting near the cap. the block, hoses etc seem to get wicked hot, much hotter than my truck. i was tracing the coolant circuit and noticed that the temp gauge seems to plug in the raditor cap neck thing. the main rad hoses seem to connect in the same place. myquestion is this: is my gauge giving me a false reading? it never goes over the halfway mark but my hoses and radiator get super hot and it is spewing coolant. another question: is the temp sender before or after the thermostat in the coolant pathway? my logi c is that if my thermo is stuck then the engine would get real hot and spew coolant even tho the gauge show normal. any ideas?

 

feel the hoses before and after the thermostat if its stuck it will be cooler behind it, is the fan senser working? sit on the bike its on the left side of the rad tucked behind the faring, be carefull, i snapped mine of and i had to dremal the plasticaway till the connecter fitted again , pull the connecter of and earth it with the ignition on and the fan will kick in, if you can't hear the fan working when its just sitting there ticking over hot then u could say its the senser faulty causing it to over heat, my gauge just goes past halfway and the fan starts? if all else fails take the thermostat out and reconnect it without 1 and see how it does ?

 

fan turns on but isn't loud. gauge goes to just above halfway and stays. just trying to figure out the overflowing coolant...

 

When the engine is hot some coolant will flow out of the small hose nipple near the filler neck and flow through the attached hose to the coolant overflow reservoir located behind the right side panel (below seat). Ifyou seeing coolant spewing out on the ground something is amiss with this system.

The advice above all sounds logical to me as well in regard to whether or not you're overheating. These bikes do tend to get a bit warm (big engine, small radiator), but you shouldn't have coolant spewing about!

 

Bike has to be REALLY hot for that to happen - we get temps of 44-48c on the roads in Summer, and I've never had coolant leak in 4 years - my guess is that your themostat is stuck - it's down at the bottom of the engine - 3 bolts and it's off.Probably corroded.
Temp gauge shouldn't be more than 1/4 way up the gauge on the open road, and 2/3 way should see the fan coming on, and only in stop/start traffic.
It sounds like this bike needs a LOT of work..............worth it in the end, though, they're not so terrifying to repair once you get to know them.

 

i saw a thermostat beneath the rad cap which, on my bike, is located just under the area where thefront gas tank mounting bolts are. do these buikes have more than one? some diesel trucks i've had in the past did.

the overflow fitting below the rad cap is missing the overflow hose that would have taken excess fluid to the resevoir. when the coolant spews itshoots off to the side.

my parts list keeps growing.... tcc, cam chain, possible generator chain, tires, tstat, rad cap, fork seal, headlight lense, fairings, alignment.... i'm afraid of what else may come up. the plastics might be the cheapest to fix, lol!! the bike is supposed to save me money by cutting commute expenses but these repairs stand to eat all that.

the mechanicals are my first priority. the plastics, i don't know, i've seen some cool hooligan bikes. one fella, austria or something has a black cbr1000 that's been de-jellbeaned, smoothed and sports a customized headlight/gauge setup. if i could get his partslist i'd follow closely how he built his.

 

Sounds like a thermostat from here. Replace it and replace your coolent with a good 50/50 mixture (preferably distilled water)of quality antifreeze. Make sure you dont get it airlocked afterwards as the honkin rad hose that runs in front of the tappet cover is hard to get the air out of sometimes. If its not the T-stat (which I'm sure it is) it could be a head gasket related problem.

Good luck!

 

If you replace the return tube from your rad cap to the expansion tank you should be sorted.

 

OOOOOOOOPs - sorry - I was thinking of the water pump housing.[>:]