Well, the story starts where I left the key on and the battery died. So I let the bike run for 20min at high idle to "charge" the battery. The bike overheated and when I caught it, it was bellowing white steam. I shut it off and found the filler neck and radiator cap little melted and not holding pressure. I believe no real damage was done, the bike runs and moves fine.

I bought a new radiator cap and filler neck. I filled the radiator, let it run, revved it a few times, and shut the bike off. The fluid dropped a little bit.

I topped off the bike with fluid, replaced the cap and ran it until it right before it hit the red on the temp. gauge. The fan never kicked on, and fulid was dripping on the pavement underneath the bike. I believe that's from the resevoir overflow?

I'm still confused on why the bike overheats??

As the bike was running, steam was coming from the radiator (8 in. below the filler neck). I took a picture to indicate where steam was coming from. Perhaps this was from spilled fuild burning away? (from when the bike flew its top).

Any help would be extremely appreciated. Thank you!

 

i had the same problem, left my bike sitting and the fan was jammed, and the bike overheated and melted the filler cap so i had to buy a new filler neck and cap and its running really cool, although my fan still never cuts on, i havent figured out what it is because ive checked all the fuses and the fan is getting power, ive even tried a new fan.

 

hey spud man...your fan motor switch is bad....replace it...its the little sensor that taps into the left side of radiator

 

Spud there is a way to test the "switch". That switch that is in the radiator is basically a thermostat, it senses when the radiator is getting hot and kicks in a voltage for the fan to activare. This may be your problem, on my bike the switch came off the track and once I screwed it out and set it in place, the fan began to work. When you look at the fan, trace awire that goes to a metallic thingy screwed into the radiator, next take that piece out and boil some hot water. Use a pair of pliers to place that thermo sensor into the hot water and see if it gives a reaction, then quickly place it in cold water and see if anything happens. If it does not move, its less than 10$ at autozone. If it is working then your problem is elsewhere.

VoX about your overheating...the fluid could be dripping because a hose disconnected due to heat expansion. Make sure all the hoses are attached. I think the resevoir fluid goes into a small tank not spews into the outside. You may have a problem with your fan also if its not kicking in. The steam was most likely the fluid. If you check ALL the hoses, post it here and I'll try to help ya out with whatever I can.