Hey Everyone,

I just bought my first cbr a couple days ago privately. I was out riding it this morning and i could see that the engine heat meter was running really high. I checked out the coolant resevoir and noticed it was empty. Am i ok to just fill it up with a proper coolant/water mix for now? I have read some articles online and they say that you need to drain it and flush it but there is nothing in there.

I am not much of a mechanic so keeping it fairly easy is kind of what im aiming for. Thanks for any help you can offer.

 

how high is "really high"? you definalty want to get something in that resovoir, buy the Honda mix, its a little more expensive, but its already premixed. Otherwise you have to mix coolant with a certain type of water, and cant remember the exact term. but regular tap water will eat up your coolant system from corrosion. You amy even want to pull the right fairing to open up the radiator cap and look down in there and see how much coolant your missing.

then after you top it off, you need to keep a close eye out and see if the bike is using coolant, either by leaking it out somewhere, or worse, burning it.

 

distilled water I believe is what you are trying to saykrash?

 

I took the right fairing off and took a look and the resevoir was completely empty, all the bike stores are closed here on sundays so i just put some distilled water in there. That didnt seem to help at all as the bike still runs all the way up at the red line on the heat gauge. Is that because the water doesnt do enough on its own? I am afraid it might be the pump but i dont know enough to know for sure. Any ideas?

 

did you take the cap off the radiator, is there any coolant in it?

the other thing that comes to mind is that the thermostat may be stuck. Off the top of my head, I cant remember if the F4i has a mechanical thermo or if its a wax type.

wait, you have a redline on your temp gauge for an F4i? I only have a digital temp readout. regardless, same thing goes check level in the radiator, then check the thermostat, then on to the waterpump. not really sure how to check the water pump, other than opening the radiator while its running, and see if water is actually moving through it. works on cars anyway.

 

make sure theres no air bubles in there. let it cool down completely, fill it up completely leave the cap off the radiator, then start the bike let it idle for a few minutes then rev the crap out of it a few times. watch the level in the radiator and make sure the level isnt going down any, or you see bubbles coming up, and just watch it, if it the level drops add more water til it doesnt move and put the cap on and see if that works.