hey guys, i'm giving my 954 repsol a heart transplant this weekend, putting a new motor in (i fried the rings in the old motor). anyways, so i'm bleeding the water out of the system, and it is RUST colored. the cap is rusted as well. i can't see very far down into the radiator, but from what i can see its a chalky color.

i've done a little searching on the net, and it sounds like rust colored coolant is not desirable, but its not going to hurt your engine.

however, the bike had some heating issues, the temp guage would constantly read that the bike was running (and this is after a long time) around 150-170 degrees. only in traffic would i be able to get it up to and above 180, and in bad traffic would it get above 200.

i was running with water in it since i live in florida.

would the fact that its rusty colored be the reason that my temp guage was reading that way? could i have messed up the water pump or thermostat (maybe it was stuck open?)?

any feedback would be greatly appreciated. what did i do, and what should i do to fix it (i don't want rusty colored coolant)?

 

You'll need to flush your cooling system. Unless you have access to one of those handy machines that removes coolant and dumps in fresh coolant, you're going to have to put in distilled water and then dump it.

Dump all the old coolant in your system and buy some distilled water. Fill it up and bleed the system of air. Go for a short ride, like a couple miles. Make sure the bike gets to operating temp. Drain the coolant and repeat the process. Eventually, the water you dump will come out clean. Try to drain out as much of the water as possible by removing hoses from the radiator, drain plug from pump, and the lowest hanging hose. Connect everything back up and you're ready to dump in fresh coolant at this point. While you have things apart, check your thermostat to make sure it's operating within spec.

 

right on, well the only thing that i'll be running from the old set up with on the new set up is the radiator. i just want to make sure everything is copasetic before i try to sell any of it (if i do).

so flushing a few times should clean everything up? good deal, i've got access to distilled water (father in law works at a water company). thanks .

 

Don't run just water for coolant. For one, the boiling point is too low and won't
work as efficiently. Anti-freeze also has rust-inhibitors in it to prevent corrosion.
Even though it's called anti-freeze, it still has postive benefits in no-freeze climates.

If you go to auto-store, for about $20 you can get a flush kit that hooks in-line to
your hoses, so you can hook a garden hose up and power-flush the system. Ask
them at the counter, if you can't find one.

+1 on the thermostat check/replacement. If you have a lot of corrosion in the
system, chances are it's marginal.

Ern

 

All answers good! Just thought I'd add that you could back-flush the radiator as well by putting a hose into the bottom of the radiator and letting it come out of the top under pressure. This with force any crud out of the top. From the on follow advice from the othe guys!

 

You can run distilled water just fine if you use Redline Water Wetter.

 

If you're not gonna replace the rad, treating it like a coffee maker wouldn't hurt.

Basically pour a couple bottles of white vinegar in the rad, fill the rest with distilled water and run her at temp for a few minutes. The vinegar will break down the mineral deposits in the radiator left from using (prolly) tap water.

 

Kuroshio's vinegar suggestion (acetic acid) is a good one. Or, the Prestone radiator flush liquid at the auto parts store (citric acid) works perhaps better. Personally, I would use distilled water for the flush rather than garden hose water, so that there are no residual minerals in there when I re-fill.
Water alone is a far better coolant than 50/50 water/glycol, except it needs to have some corrosion inhibitors added (to avoid the rust you already have in there).
If you're wanting to clean/flush the engine before selling it, run the Prestone flush (or vinegar, if you prefer) through the whole system before dismantling it. If you don't care much about any of the parts besides the radiator, you might just soak it in a large tub/basin of distilled water and radiator flush (or vinegar).
You could also take it to the radiator shop and have them rod it out, if you want to or think there's significant build-up inside?