Need some help here. Never did this before. Whats the process. The bike has under 2000 miles on it. I bought end of the riding season here in Wisconsin last year with 717 miles on it. I'm willing to bet the coolant is orginal. The rest of the fluids have been changed. Can one of you guys help me out??

 

Sorry, No pictures, I'm doing this from memory.

1) Pull the side fairings
2) Follow the radiator hose from the left side of the radiator, it should go to your water pump.
3) Put something to catch the coolant under the water pump.
4) Loosen the bottom bolt on the water pump, coolant should start to come out.
5) loosen slightly more, until you have a good flow of coolant coming out, but be careful, because if you pull it out all the way you'll spray yourself with coolant.
6) remove the radiator cap (right side of bike, top right corner of radiator.
7) unplug the little hose that goes to the top right of the radiator
8) go eat a sandwich, wait for the coolant to stop flowing out.
9) carefully remove the bolt the rest of the way, let the coolant flow out
10) slowly rock the bike back and forth to get all the old coolant out.
11) if you want to flush the coolant, do so by pouring distilled water in the radiator until it comes out clean through the water pump. Not sure if this is necessary with a bike that new, but it couldn't hurt.
12) replace/tighten bolt on water pump, replace small hose to top of radiator
13) fill with 4/5 of the coolant(check dealership or repair manual for amount, don't remember it off the top of my head
14) run the bike with the radiator cap off for 10 min, or until the fans kick on for a few min,
15) blip the throttle a couple times to ensure there are no air bubbles.
16) rock the bike slowly side to side a dozen times to ensure there are no air bubbles left
17) repeat step 15
18) hold bike up straight, top off coolant until it reaches the bottom of the radiator neck.
19) Replace radiator cap.

You should be good to go, remember to dispose of the coolant somewhere safe. Depending on your state most auto parts stores and dealerships are required to take it.

 

Are you supposed to change the coolant every year?

 

step 8 is always my my fav. step!

 

I'm not sure what the factory recommendation is, I do all the fluids in the bike every spring.