New to the forum and my Raptor 1000

[bvdl]

Hi,

I'm new, so let me introduce myself by means of making a smooth entrance on this board. I'm bvdl, I live in Belgium and I'm 37 years old.
I'm the new owner of my '02 Raptor 1000. I used to ride a BMW K100rs from '88 that got a little too high maintenance in respect to it's value. It has been a very reliable bike for about 17 years now, through all kinds of weather without failing on me once... except that one time last week. Anyway, the good old geezerbike is retired now and I found this cool exciting bike which I like a lot. The previous owner did a little slide with it, so there is some minor damage that can be touched up... which is a work in progress at this moment.

What became obvious quickly was that it seems impossible to find a new radiator. That is a real pity as so many raptors got theirs damaged on the first tube from above straight under the left mounting- support.
I got mine fixed with a resin by a radiator specialist... lets hope the fix will hold. I omitted the standard mounting support that schould be mounted on the front cilinderhead, and used a tiewrap through a 1cm long tube to give the lower side of the radiator its support while allowing enough leeway to move back and forth a little. Does somebody actually know what is the exact reason of this weakness? I've seen the call back action Cagiva did from the circulating PDF document on the www. I just think it is strange the radiator suffers that easily considering it's a sturdy trellisframe, and there aren't silentblocks present like you would find in a car.
What do you think?

Greetings, Benny

[snapdragon]

Welcome in
The re-call was early in the first production, seems like a previous owner missed it with yours
as I remember it was all caused by one wrong washer... probably a supplier messed up the order and the factory guys didn't notice the tiny difference
With luck someone here will be able to give you a better answer

[HiFi]

Had to have my "old one" fixed shortly after I bought it, could see a little bit of steam in the headlight when I pulled up into the garage after a ride. Wasn't too difficult to take it off or have it repaired, for the info just in case it's useful these people did the work and only about £80 if I remember correctly: http://www.arrowbristol.co.uk/

[bvdl]

Hi Snappy (and others too),

I installed the fixed radiator yesterday and had a trip with it, It had no leaks.
This morning I went to work via the highway and rode a lot faster than yesterday. By the time I was there (24km) the repaired spot was cracked on the same fixed spot for the second time. I find it really strange this happens even after a radiator specialist fixed and tested it at 1.5 bar (22 pounds per square inch)! Also I mounted it underneath with a tiezip, leaving the radiator about a cm of leeway on the underside. This makes me think the pressure in the coolingsystem exceeds normal values leaving the system to break on the weakest spot. I checked the radiator cup and it isn't clogged, I can blow air straight to it. I saw there is an overflow on the expansion tank with a tube to the exterior of the coolingsystem , is this tank actually provided with a pressure regulating valve (I suppose it does...)?

Does anyone had the bad luck of having a small crack in a cilinder head, causing way to many pressure in the cooling system at high rpm's? A large Suzuki dealer near me thinks it shouldn't cause the radiator to leak, given the pressure gets released by the opening cup on the expansiontank. So if you know, which cup is the one that regulates the pressure?

Thank you for your tips and time,

bvdl

[bvdl]

Hi Hifi,

That seems to be a reliable company. Since I live in Belgium next to the Dutch border, I'm going to try my luck here:
http://www.oranjeboom-radiateuren.nl/

A former Cagiva dealer from Kortrijk, Belgium hinted me about this company. They always work with them, and got good results from them. They don't use a resin, but instead the TIG weld. Even if the aluminium is thin and contaminated with paints or grid from sanding/sandblasting... which is rather exceptional since it severely compromises the ease of the welding proces. It's only a 15min drive from home ... expectations are high...

[shebee]

Welcome in, I hope you get it sorted

[Aussiejoe]

If you think you've got a cracked head, take off the radiator cap and start the bike up. If the coolant in the radiator starts getting air bubbles in the water, it has a cracked head. A proper Radiator repairer should tig weld it to repair it, that's the proper way to do it. Maybe even ask them to recondition it for you, if I remember correctly, they take it apart, clean the inside, repair and repaint.

Look like this place has a new one for sale https://www.maniac-parts.de/artikel.php?id=2967

If you are looking for parts, go to https://www.oemmotorparts.com or the parts list here http://img.webike.net/sys_images/genuin ... 5-2003.pdf and get the part number for the part you need, and then do a google search for just that number. Sometimes parts will come up as Husqvarna parts, but that's just usually for some of the rubber parts. That's how I found that radiator for sale above.

[norrie]

Hi there,

Radiators do sometimes come up for sale but are few and far between.

[bvdl]

Thank you for the tips and the very nice document!
Meanwhile I'm having the radiator fixed by a radiator repair shop that's replacing hte tubular network as a whole. The radiator will be nearly new when it gets to me. Cost will be 345 Euro, which isn't bad considering the "new" condition it will be in. The cause of the pressure buildup is a clogged tube between radiatorcap and expansiontank due to radiator leak stop used by a previous owner.