[Chaz]

Recently had the bike serviced and MOT and all was working well

However this morning had a stunning slide on a roundabout, thought it was ice/diesel and carried on abeit slightly slower. However on return journey home noticed a black hose to the right of the petrol tank that I had never seen before. So got home and had a look, pipe was tucked under petrol tank and led to the coolant resevoir and was not attached to anything, im guessing its the overflow???.... looked at resevoir its' bone dry

no fluid there are all, unless you call the dregs at the bottom enough...

So what the hell is wrong with the bike... Have I cooked it? Split the radiator? (was stuck behind a gritter lorry yesterday for some time which was spitting grit at me) and any other options???... and best of all how the hell do I check!!!

Any advice except throw it in a hedge would be gratefully received....

 

[SpacemanST]

sorry can`t help but Misses please be careful out on that bike in this weather wi the grit down.

ill ask my two mates who are very good with bikes what they think what bike is it?

iv only got a Beta 250 Techno Trials bike no licence yet!!!

 

[Chaz]

QUOTE(SpacemanST @ 1 Dec 2009, 11:54 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>sorry can`t help but Misses please be careful out on that bike in this weather wi the grit down.

ill ask my two mates who are very good with bikes what they think what bike is it?

iv only got a Beta 250 Techno Trials bike no licence yet!!!

I am careful

Think it's possibly a hole in the radiator so Operation flood the garage will commence at 18.00 hours tonight

 

[Tigger390]

Any pics? The 'coolant resovoir' could actually be the expansion tank that fills and empties as the coolant heats up and cools down. Does the pipe come from the top or bottom of the resovoir? If it is the top it would probably be an overflow and should be directed out the bottom of the bike out of harms way, if it goes to the bottom then it should probably be connected to something else, possibly on the radiator.
HTH

 

[troy45]

QUOTE(Tigger390 @ 2 Dec 2009, 10:23 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Any pics? The 'coolant resovoir' could actually be the expansion tank that fills and empties as the coolant heats up and cools down. Does the pipe come from the top or bottom of the resovoir? If it is the top it would probably be an overflow and should be directed out the bottom of the bike out of harms way, if it goes to the bottom then it should probably be connected to something else, possibly on the radiator.
HTH
That sounds about right - if the pipe is from the bottom of the bottle it will most likely go up to the radiator neck, right where the cap fits. If it comes from the top it's an overflow and usually gets routed out under the bike somewhere.

Seeing how the reservoir's empty you should check the coolant level in the radiator, it should be full to the brim. If it is then just check the pipe goes where it should and top up the radiator with coolant or distilled water (I use the deionised stuff for irons and stuff). If the radiator level is low and takes a lot to fill it up you've maybe got a leak

Once you top up the radiator run the bike briefly with the cap off to let any air bubbles bleed out, stop the bike, top up then run briefly again. Repeat till the level stays full.

DONT run it for long with the cap off and make sure the engine has sat for half an hour or longer before taking the cap off to check the level.

If you've got a coolant leak you might be able to see it around the radiator etc, it's horrible slippy stuff and doesn't dry out like plain old water would.

Hope that helps? Let me know if you're still stuck

 

[Chaz]

Thanks for the replies and Troy you are officially a star

Hmmm well just filled up reservoir and turned bike on expecting to see a small dribble or cascade of coolant from somewhere... and nada, nothing. So what do I check now? I didn't attempt to look in radiator the sign on the cap said NEVER OPEN!!!

I will take the bike gingerly into work tomorrow with spare coolant in a rucksack just in case it mysteriously empties but is there a possibility that the garage I took it to thought that it was an expansion tank rather than the reservoir? (Was a Honda garage rather than a Kawasaki) What damage would have been done to the engine riding around with such little coolant if that was the case?

 

[troy45]

The garage should have checked the level in the tank as part of your service - doesn't matter if they think it's an expansion or overflow tank, they both do the same thing and should always have fluid in there to stop the system just drawing air into the radiator if it got low of any reason. Does your bike have a temperature gauge? that'd show the bike overheating if it had run low on coolant. Can take a lot of abuse and overheating before you'd actually notice any damage to the engine itself. The cold weather won't hurt right now if it has lost some coolant.

The warning on the radiator cap is overkill, pretty difficult to check the coolant level properly without taking that off!

 

[Chaz]

QUOTE(troy45 @ 2 Dec 2009, 08:56 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>The garage should have checked the level in the tank as part of your service - doesn't matter if they think it's an expansion or overflow tank, they both do the same thing and should always have fluid in there to stop the system just drawing air into the radiator if it got low of any reason. Does your bike have a temperature gauge? that'd show the bike overheating if it had run low on coolant. Can take a lot of abuse and overheating before you'd actually notice any damage to the engine itself. The cold weather won't hurt right now if it has lost some coolant.

The warning on the radiator cap is overkill, pretty difficult to check the coolant level properly without taking that off!

Bike doesn't have a temp gauge so I have no idea what it's running at. Did attempt to remove the radiator cap before reading the warning on the top, however it seems child proof and therefore I couldn't

get it off.. The bike it booked back in to the garage that serviced it early sat morning after phoning them about the lack of coolant so I will get them to give a going over to make sure radiator is ok etc

 

[troy45]

Hope it's nothing serious Chaz, if you were nearer I'd have had a look at it for you.

 

[Chaz]

It's back together and being taken to work today as no coolant puddle on the garage floor so I can tell you if it dies, explodes or spit me off

I'm sure it's nothig and that they forgot to fill it up... Cross fingers

 

[SpacemanST]

hope so let us know when you get there safe and how the bike is.

greig

 

[Chaz]

QUOTE(SpacemanST @ 3 Dec 2009, 10:48 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>hope so let us know when you get there safe and how the bike is.

greig

Bike is fine and coolant level has stayed constant so I'm assuming that the reservoir wasn't refilled when the bike was being serviced. At least it isn't anything worse

 

[troy45]

That's good then Chaz, just keep an eye on it now cos it shouldn't have got low in the first place. Unless they drained it for a coolant change and didn't refill it?

 

[SpacemanST]

top job all is well