Radiator / Cooling Problems

[HiFi]

Hi Everyone, wonder if you can help or offer some advice on cooling please..... Bike is a Year 2000 V-Raptor completely standard.

I had a leaky radiator so I took it off and had it repaired, put it back on the bike and at the same time re-filled it with some fancy "Power Cool 180" instead of water. The idea with this stuff is that it is not water based so doesn't corrode or deteriorate and has a much higher boiling point than water so it doesn't expand and cause leaks etc. It's supposed to cool better by maintaining contact with the engine parts as it doesn't cavitate, the point was to fill and forget....

However, I have now noticed that the expansion tank under the seat completely empties itself after a very short time, say about thirty minutes of riding. When I check the level of coolant in the radiator it doesn't look low, it's about three quarters of an inch down from the top. The bike warms up and rides normally, gets up to about 82 degrees when riding and only creeps up to about 86 in traffic.

Still worried about the loss of coolant though, especially as I have now run out of the special stuff and would need to buy another bottle at 25 quid. I was careful when filling to get air out etc so I'm not convinced there's an air lock and there's no evidence of leaks under the bike after a ride. The coolant just drips off by the way, doesn't flash off to steam like water so you would see a leak.

I wanted to check the pipes going to and from the expansion tank - as from memory the radiator cap has an expansion pipe that runs into the top of the tank and the bottom runs to drain under the engine - this can't be right can it?

I was thinking of flushing out the stuff and refilling with water / glycol mix instead if I can't pin down the reason as it's a lot cheaper to top it up. Sort of wondered if the system was designed with water in mind and it needs to boil / condensate to circulate to the expansion tank and back?

Anyway any advice gratefully received! Cheers, Hywel.

[snapdragon]

I wouldn't worry about the expansion bottle, mine rarely has any coolant in it either - no (current) leaks and temperatures stay similar to yours Hifi, rad was full last I looked in there.

[Spyke]

I'd be a bit worried about having an empty expansion tank, but if the systems staying cool enough then maybe that's how the fancy stuff is meant to work, not sure. The hose from the expansion tank to the rad is near the bottom, and I think the tank has the hose to the world near the top, my understanding is that it lets excessive "coolant steam" blow off if the pressure gets too high, this coolant steam seems to dry to white splattery marks in around the rear cylinder/wheel area. I would be a bit concerned about the radiator not being full though - IIRC the coolant is meant to be topped up through the top of the radiator and bled through the water (coolant) pump - if you've got 3/4 of an inch gap in the top of the rad when it's cool again then doesn't that mean that you've got 3/4 inch of "dry" radiator at the top that is cooking away quite merrily? You probably wouldn't want to leave a dry pan cooking away on your cooktop for too long, and I don't think the rad will like it much either, especially if it's already been "fixed", pretty sure the rad should always be as full as possible to work properly.

I changed my coolant for the first time ever fairly recently, and as it gets hot here I went for a 50/50 mix of pretty cheap local Aussie stuff (Nulon green) which is amazingly effective at cooling, the 3k glitch only lasted about 5 mins previously but now it's lasting at least twice as long, kinda wishing I had the opportunity to top up the water portion but it's not disappearing! (So I'm happy enough with the tried and tested technology and skeptical about the 25 quid stuff.)

I'd be riding around with the temp gauge showing and keeping an eye on it, and feeling along the hoses when she's warm-hot but not burny-hot, see if you can find any leakage that way.

[snapdragon]

--//--
I'd be riding around with the temp gauge showing and keeping an eye on it, -//-.

This is what I do normally though I don't feel I have to 'keep an eye on it' just an occasional glance if I get into slow heavy traffic

[Dante]

I'd say,replace the magic stuff with the original water mixture.
Many have tried those magic stuff and they dont differ from water.
Plus it may be bad for the cylinder head because it doesnt absorb the heat as effective as the water.
Water is the best heat capacitor and that's why it's ideal for that use.

[Miz]

The radiator is supposed to be full of coolant, no air, the hose from the radiator cap should go to the bottom of the expansion tank, when the system heats up and the coolant expands, it it pushed into the expansion tank, when the system cools down and the coolant contracts the system sucks coolant from the expansion tank.

If you have a little air in the system, it will be blown into the expansion tank, and is replaced by coolant once the system cools down, so always make sure your expansion tank has coolant in it when the system is hot.

[V4mp]

Have you bleed your cooling system ?

Here is how you should've done you coolant change.
1. Drain system (Drain screw in water pump, right side of the engine)
2. Wash system with water -> shit comes off
3. Put new coolant, so radiator is "full"
4. Start engine and leave radiator cap open -> trapped air gets out
5. Stop engine and fill radiator if not full
6. Do 5&6 couple of times you can also open bleeding screw for sec when engine is running (watch out, if coolant is hot, bleeding screw is also in water pump, upper one)
7. Then insert radiator cap and fill expansion tank

Correct my language and methods if something is wrong... Wrote just from my memory after couple of beers, so there can be mistakes

[HiFi]

Thanks for all the advice think I'll flush out the magic stuff and replace with water/antifreeze.

[Spyke]

Sounds wise, if you do want to "treat her nice" then take the rad off (not a big job) and flush it out with a garden hose, from both ends, and invest 2-3 quid in a bottle of distilled water from Halfords etc to mix with your antifreeze concentrate, follow the bleeding instructions above and she'll be just fine. Like I said earlier, I was completely amazed at the cooling properties of a 50/50 mix of concentrate and water, almost too much cooling in fact!