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What the hell is this leaking from my bike??

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  #1  
Old 02-17-2011, 12:22 PM
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Default What the hell is this leaking from my bike??




^This is how much it leaks in about 2 days.







I took off the right side fairing and saw all this green stuff on the left fairing..not sure what it is.



I'm guessing its coolant? but the level hasn't really changed much in the 3 months of it leaking.

I did drop the bike on the left side in November, I'm not sure if that's whats causing it to leak.
 
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Old 02-17-2011, 05:46 PM
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That my friend is coolant.
 
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Old 02-17-2011, 06:12 PM
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The green is coolant, but it also looks like there is a brown tint maybe from oil
 
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Old 02-17-2011, 07:02 PM
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Collect the drips for a day or two. Oil and coolant should separate pretty visibly.

If it doesn't separate it's possible that A) you REALLY need a coolant flush or B) It's coolant, with dirt from the inside of your plastics.

If it does separate then you've probably got both a coolant and an oil leak.
 
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Old 02-18-2011, 06:24 AM
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The green stuff is coolant and the brown stain underneath it is oil.

If you have dropped your bike on the left then you could have an airbox full of oil. The crankcase breather feeds up to the airbox, if the engine was running when you dropped it then it pumps oil into the airbox, it would leak from around the throttle bodies and you would probably have a smokey exhaust for a while. It's possible that this could be the source of the oil.

Coolant leak could be a number of things - check your hoses, hose clamps, radiator and drain plug for a leak.

I suspect the oil cooler has failed or is leaking both oil and coolant. This is the round thing with rubber houses coming off of it at the front of the bike that has the oil filter screwed onto it. It seems in the right place and contains both of the fluids you are leaking.

EDIT: Looking at your pics again, you seem to have a pretty bad seal between the oil filter and cooler which could be the source of the oil, I can't see an obvious coolant leak in the photo but look around the other side. Get the fairings off, clean the engine and wait for the drips to reappear, it shouldnt be hard to find the source. Looking from the front of the bike, the right hand radiator header tank is a weak spot on the F4i, usually loads and loads of corrosion at the bottom right hand side. It will look like white powder flaking under the paint, might see green crystals if there has been a leak and the coolant has been evaporating.
 

Last edited by DonnyBrago; 02-18-2011 at 06:30 AM.
  #6  
Old 02-18-2011, 08:41 PM
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Originally Posted by comodidit
Collect the drips for a day or two. Oil and coolant should separate pretty visibly.

If it doesn't separate it's possible that A) you REALLY need a coolant flush or B) It's coolant, with dirt from the inside of your plastics.

If it does separate then you've probably got both a coolant and an oil leak.
I'm going to do what you said and find out in a couple days.

Originally Posted by DonnyBrago
The green stuff is coolant and the brown stain underneath it is oil.

If you have dropped your bike on the left then you could have an airbox full of oil. The crankcase breather feeds up to the airbox, if the engine was running when you dropped it then it pumps oil into the airbox, it would leak from around the throttle bodies and you would probably have a smokey exhaust for a while. It's possible that this could be the source of the oil.

Coolant leak could be a number of things - check your hoses, hose clamps, radiator and drain plug for a leak.

I suspect the oil cooler has failed or is leaking both oil and coolant. This is the round thing with rubber houses coming off of it at the front of the bike that has the oil filter screwed onto it. It seems in the right place and contains both of the fluids you are leaking.

EDIT: Looking at your pics again, you seem to have a pretty bad seal between the oil filter and cooler which could be the source of the oil, I can't see an obvious coolant leak in the photo but look around the other side. Get the fairings off, clean the engine and wait for the drips to reappear, it shouldnt be hard to find the source. Looking from the front of the bike, the right hand radiator header tank is a weak spot on the F4i, usually loads and loads of corrosion at the bottom right hand side. It will look like white powder flaking under the paint, might see green crystals if there has been a leak and the coolant has been evaporating.
I went down going 25-35km/h. The bike slid for a couple meters and then turned off by itself. That accident created a hole in the stator case and a lot of oil poured out so I replaced that.
I'll look for corrosion on in that area the next time I go downstairs.

But what I don't get is why the coolant level indicator shows that it barely lost any coolant even though its been dripping like this for 3 months.




^A closer look at the oil filter...I just changed it right before winter (november)
 
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Old 02-25-2011, 05:57 PM
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Okay this was 3 days of leakage





Does it look like oil is also leaking?
 
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Old 02-25-2011, 07:49 PM
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Its weird how the green coolant is separating. Using my best judgement from the pictures im going to say there is 70 percent chance that other fluids are getting out
 
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Old 02-26-2011, 01:37 AM
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Ya, that's most definitely coolant and oil. The coolant looks like the majority of the leak, and the blobs are oil.

Keep the fairings off, let the bike idle till it warms up, and look for a spray or drip of coolant coming from somewhere.
 
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