Hey guys,


Last weekend I went down on my 2015 1000rr with 200 miles on it. When I got released from the hospital I went to the tow yard to check the damage out on the bike and was able to start it up. I started it up and let it idle till about 135 degrees and turned it off. Upon further inspection of the bike I noticed NO coolant in the reservoir. It must have leaked out when the bike had fallen b/c it was full prior to that.

My main worry at that time was letting the bike idle with insufficient coolant. I couldn't check the radiator b/c I didn't have the tools to take the fairings off (the 2015 1000rr is not as easy to work on or as accessible as the 2006 and 2007 600rrs I had before). So I had the bike towed to my dyno tuner/mechanic for a full evaluation on the damage and asked him to check the coolant level as well. He told me he only had to add a few ounces of coolant to top off the radiator, so the radiator was almost full. So I'm presuming that there was adequate coolant in the system to prevent any engine damage when I started it and let it idle to 135 degrees, even though the reservoir was bone dry. Can anyone confirm this? The thermostat starts to open at 176 degrees.

From the research I've done it seems the coolant in the radiator is what matters more so than what's in the reservoir.


Thanks in advance!

 

The reservoir doesn't really matter all that much. It's just there to catch coolant that gets by the cap and to be a little reserve so the negative pressure sucks in coolant instead of air. Most of the time, it does nothing but sit there.

At 135, damage would not occur even if there was no coolant at all.

 

Thanks Demon!



I drew a white line showing the connection of the reservoir hose to the radiator cap and radiator. So basically this path is blocked before the radiator cap opens up? So if I turned my bike upside down (hypothetically speaking) coolant would be blocked from flowing into the radiator from the reservoir and vice versa?


Again, radiator was near full.


The thermostat also begins to open at 176. So that means it was closed in this case.

 

It would only come out the cap if the pressure was enough to overload the spring.

 

Do you not believe anyone? You've had a million answers on 3 different sites now. Just wondering. I understand your concern but.......

 

Demon summed it up pretty succinctly. Theres no way that damaged the engine.

Its not like running with out oil , where even if you didn't blow the engine right away your still doing damage.
Think of how many similar (but smaller) engines dont even have coolant. That simply rely on air to cool them , snowmobiles, smaller bikes etc.. Your bike didn't even reach high temps.

Your golden.