| Author | Message | ||
     Not_purple_s2 |
I had to flush the antifreeze from my 1125CR last night and after reading through some of the post I was ready for a long night of cursing. However I read one post where someone said they had removed the right radiator and let the bike run; draining the coolant from the upper RH radiator hose while feeding water into the system through lower RH radiator hose. I started to do the same then realized that removing the lower hose was both difficult and uneeded. So here's my easy steps to flush the coolant system. 1. Remove right hand pod cover. 2. Remove upper hose from the radiator. (it may help to remove the overflow tanks and radiator mount to allow you to move the radiator a bit) 3. Use a length of hose or pipe to direct the coolant from the upper hose to a bucket. (I used a scrap piece of small pvc pipe and some duct tape) 4. Start the bike and watch the flow. You'll have to pour clean water into the radiator (I used a water hose) and monitor the coolant coming out. 5a. Once you have clean water flowing out of the bike you can shut it off. (You might want let it drain a bit more so that there is room in the system for whatever additive you want like Water Wetter, Purple Ice, Ect.) 5b. If you're using a Pre-Mix you can switch from adding fresh water to the running bike to adding your premix. continue to monitor flow out from the bike and shut it off once you see the premix coolant coming out. 6. Reconnect the radiator hose (along with the overflow tank and mount if you removed them) and top off the system. 7. Bleed the System! very important! I think using this method removes much of the trapped air you would see if you completely drained the system. However, I did get some air bubbles and had to add a little bit of water when following the next steps. BLEEDING COOLANT 1. Start the engine and run at an idle. DO NOT REV THE ENGINE.To bleed air from the system, the thermostat must be open. The thermostat opens at 165° F (73.9° C). 2. As air bubbles up through the filler neck add coolant to maintain the coolant level at the bottom of the filler neck. 3. Continue until no air bubbles are escaping the filler neck. 4. With the cap off, allow the engine to cool. 5. Top off the filler neck with coolant as necessary. 6. Install the filler cap. 7. Top off the overflow bottle. This method was pain free. The only aggrivation I had was trying to get the lower radiator line off before I realized that it was pointless to remove it. All you're removing are a bunch of T27 bolts and one, easy to access, radiator hose. I didn't time myself but I'd expect between 30min to an hour. Things to note. If you have someone to help it's nice to have them watch the out-flow so you can maintain the water level in the radiator. Of course DO NOT LET THE BIKE RUN WITHOUT WATER! Keep that water level up in the radiator while the bike is running. It's just water so don't worry if it overflows. I'll probably have to do this again to switch back to antifreeze or Engine Ice since it does get down to freezing here during the winter. It is usually only a few days out of the year but better safe than sorry. I'll try to remember to take pictures next time. | ||
| Zac4mac |
It gets down to freezing more than that here. Oh wait, it's 23*F right now.  | ||
| Stirz007 |
I'm running EB race exhaust and just getting a wrench on the water pump drain bolt is a PITA, let alone replacing crush washer without removing the header - end result being I have a slooooow leak at the crush washer. The EB guys suggested not messing with water pump drain bolt (WPDB) at all in this situation. They just pull bottom hose at pump to drain. So, with the exception of the WPDB, I pretty much follow the manual procedures, but add the "pull hose at water pump" bit. Takes maybe 15 minutes to do the entire job. | ||
| Drawkward |
Not Purp: Where was this when I flushed my system a few months ago? This almost sounds enjoyable!! I did it the way the manual states and wanted to just kick my bike over, pour gas all over it and light it on fire. | ||
| Thefleshrocket |
Zac, I love that pic.. I smile every time I see it. A big middle finger to winter, indeed! Not_purple, thanks for the writeup. I still have yet to even check the coolant on my 1125 and it's got 4K miles on it, but I'm sure it will come in handy at some point. LOL | ||
| Dannybuell |
froggy please make new owner post w/ this-- | ||
| Froggy |
Great idea, done  | ||
| Redbuelljunkie |
I would not want to use water from a hose in any vehicle cooling system- the minerals/ contaminates can be a real problem in a radiator. This is why distilled water is recommended for any application utilizing a cooling system with a radiator and coolant. | ||
| Zac4mac |
Flushing with tap water should be OK. Deal with a bubble and a more involved burp tho, and mix antifreeze with distilled and pour it into an empty system. Z | ||
| Not_purple_s2 |
The tap water and water wetter were a quick fix for track day this weekend. I'll be redoing it with premix Engine Ice for permanent coolant. | ||
| Stirz007 |
I drained system last night. I didn't mention before that the left bottom hose generally gets left alone - how are others handling this? Rather than fight that thing, I pull hoses as described above and then coax the left side with a little air. I've been getting about two quarts, so there may be a little left in the system. I'd like to hear how others are draining left radiator. I don't have hand strength to get the bottom hose off the bung, so don't. So far, so good, but if there's a better way, I'm all ears. JM | ||
| Makavojel |
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