Hey guys, sorry for a couple of noob posts here. I just searched through about 9 pages of coolant leak questions and still didnt find what I was looking for so here goes:
My bike was running a bit hot and the fan wasn't kicking on so I started diagnosing it, got the fan to work again, drained, flushed and re-filled the coolant and it started running funky, engine temp was all over the place ect, so I took out the T-stat yesterday to test it out. I put it in and out of boiling water a few times to make sure it kept opening and closing, checked the Orings and I still seem to have a small leak coming from the right hand side of the bike. It almost looks like its coming form the overflow tank but I cant tell from where, are there any other hoses that I should be looking for?

PS: what are the 3 hoses for that are leading down towards my shifter? I know we have coolant overflow, gas tank... whats the little third one?

Thanks in advanced for helping me clear some of this up

Eric

 

PS the first time I noticed the leak was after a few hours of cruzing around on a warm day, the temp was all over the place and the idle kept diping really low, then I would rev it up a bit and it would go back to normal. Then at the last light before my house I went WOT off the line and it felt like a hose burst, I got a **** ton of coolant all over my leg (luckily I was literally in front of my apartment) I shut the bike off but when I checked all of the hoses and everything, they all looked fine. Could it be coming from the resovore cap? That's the only thing I can really think of right now that is only ankle high...
Eric

 

Not sure, but coolant overflow means it needs more flushing??
Saw a post here some time back saying he flushed but still got temp issues then later said flushing it again fixed it.

 

Thanks, last time I looked I dont even think I have any coolant in the reservoir, I'll refill that and let it run for a while and see if I still have problems...
Eric

 

Ok, so I topped off the radiator and the coolant resevoir (I think I may have put a little too much in...) anyways, I started her up and noticed a small leak that let out somewhere over by the resevor. I let her idle until operating temp, fan kicked on just like normal, then I set her at about 3k idle to get the temp up. At about 220 I didn't notice anything different but at 230 coolant started shooting out of the overflow hose pretty hard, a lot came out, I had to get my drain pan, still looks like there is a bit of coolant in the resevor after I shut her off. When I shut the bike down I could hear a lot of bubbling too... any suggestions? Am I just retarded and dont know how to do a coolant change on a bike? I've never had this problem with a car before. Any more input??

 

bump, any thoughts?

 

When you change the antifreeze and flush the radiator try this, should fix all of your problems. Also, I run a product called Water-Wetter. I add about 3-4 ounces to the 50/50 mix and I run about 15 degrees cooler, give or take...

Remove radiator cap (Make sure the bike is cold)

Remove the return hose from the top of the radiator and drain the overflow bottle (The hose will need to be below the overflow bottle in order to drain), reconnect the hose.

Remove the drain bolt from the water pump and drain the antifreeze

Once all of the old antifreeze is drained replace the drain bolt.

Fill the radiator with water or radiator flush, replace the radiator cap, and bring the bike up to temp, let it run for 10-30 minutes.

Repeat the above steps to drain...

When you begin to fill the system with fresh antifreeze, start with the overflow bottle. You only want to fill this to the minimum line on the bottle, it is the line near the bottom.

SLOWLY fill the radiator with antifreeze. I always add the water wetter first, that way I don't have to worry about it later.

Once the radiator is full, start the bike with the cap still off. This will allow some of the air to escape... Blip the throttle 3-5 times to release any remaing air pockets that may still be present. I usually leave the cap off for a while just to make sure the system is purged completely.

Replace the cap and let the bike come up to operating temp. If this doesn't happen or takes an extremely long time, you will need to burp the system more. Allow the bike to completely cool and repeat the above steps to remove the air pockets.

From the sounds of it, you need to purge the lines more. It also sounds like the overflow bottle was too full and the excess poured out.

Let me know if you have any questions or still have problems after you try this.

 

thanks for the help. I am moving and wont be able to work on this for a few days but I"ll let you know how it turns out...
Eric