2nd set of radiators I've replaced due to bike overheating. Thermostat has blown out twice on me during same overheating. First thermostat blew out at the "Y" intersection. Second one blew out via the seal where Ive replaced radiators, thermostat, hoses, temp sensor. Only thing I haven't replaced yet is the water pump. Took the water pump housing cover off and turned the bike over via the wheel and water pump moves with the motor. nut that was on impeller was corroded so I changed that out. Any ideas?
Not Corret radiator cap. That has had way too much pressure inside. So is it overheating,or just exploding rads and connections? Boiling water? Have you Installed (working) thermometer?
yes fan is working. yes cylinder head sealed. Ive had a new radiator caps with both new sets of radiators I installed. Im constantly having to add coolant but I don't see it leaking out anywhere. The last ride I had before the radiator swelling/ thermostat blew I did hear the coolant boiling after I shut the bike off. Wasn't exactly sure what it was so I let it sit and cool off over night and next day I took it for a ride and then the thermostat blew along with the radiator cells swelling. I mean I didn't test the thermostat to see if it would open after a certain temperature. Just assumed a brand new part would do its job correctly.
How do you " blow" a thermostat ? Do you mean the thermostat housing? All of those are over pressure . Is the small hose from the rad cap not blocked?
Its possible that the plastic nipple where the hose connects to the expansion tank has melted through due to overheating rendering it sealed off. My bike's was melted sealed shut when I bought it used, not sure how it happened. All I had to do was use a small drill bit on the nipple to reopen it. Make sure your not putting any water into the cooling system it has a lower boiling point and will potentially pressurize the system. The next time you get it all together run the bike with the radiator cap off and make sure it's not bubbling or shooting water out as this will indicate that a head gasket leak is pressurizing the system. A little bubbling at first is fine as it is just the system bleeding air out, but once the air is bleed out it shouldn't bubble.
alright cool thanks man ill give it a try. waiting on the thermostat to come in. Once it does, ill put the new one in and see how she runs.
Food for thought. Check your crankcase oil for abnormal color, milky white indicates presents of water. Also leaking head gasket can pressurize the coolant system.
"Make sure your not putting any water into the cooling system it has a lower boiling point and will potentially pressurize the system." Sorry,it will get pressurized anyway from the engine heat. And that controlled pressure will raise boiling point. Water and antifreeze is usually best combo for cooling and corrosion resistance, with aluminium components allso. In warm climates you can use water wetter etc too,but this engine will work without them in normal use,at normal temperatures. Might change if your normal day temp is above 40c... Make sure you use right antifreeze,some combos will make jelly.If any doubt,totally empy old antifreeze,flush,and fill with new mix. Mine stays at or below 90c at any time in normal use. I have not sunk it in swamp yet,so it might chance there,but i dont count that normal use... Otherwise i do agree,check to see if there is continuous bubbles coming.
Ceevu the more water that is added the closer the boiling point is to 100C. It's probably not his problem but 50/50 water and ethylene glycol has a boiling point of 106C and 30/70 has a boiling point of 113C. I'm not sure if those degrees really make much of a difference though.
This is unrelevant for this situation. Correctly pressurised system wont explode cooling parts... Straight Glycol is worse heat conductor than water,so you do need water in cooling mixture. Or water substitute,but not too much glycol. I would not never use above 50% glycol in cooling system. It doesnt matter what boiling point is,if it cant transfer heat away from head. Some preferr distilled water,it could be better but normal tap water has served me just fine. It may be different depending tap water features,for example calcium content that we dont really have in here.
You said it was second radiator that blew. To me it looks like its chinese rad in picture,what was original like? (so how did this behavior start,after some repair,or just suddenly?) Or did you just buy this bike? I have same looking chinese radiators in mine allso,so there are working pairs,but it doesnt mean all of them does work like they should.
Yeah they are aftermarket radiators. Everywhere I read said that the OEM ones were built like crap and to change to the TE250 radiators so that's what I did. Happened just riding home from work one day. Looked back to change lanes and noticed a ton of "smoke" coming out of the exhaust. Thought I was just burning oil. Got off the highway and pulled over. When I went to take a look at the bike, noticed my left boot was covered in fluid and found out it was coolant. Tried filling up the bike with distilled water to limp it home and found out the thermostat had a hole in it when I was filling it up. Looked over the bike more and noticed the radiators cells had expanded like in the picture above. Had a buddy pick it up with truck and brought it home. Put new radiator and thermostat on. Rode for awhile no issues then was out one afternoon and noticed my hoses were all swelling up like something was blocked up. I was able to make it about half way home and then the bottom hose going into the water pump split open. Pushed the bike home. Checked the rest of the coolant and noticed a slight bulge in the outside cells of the radiator. you can see them in this picture. Changed all the hoses. Rode it a couple times after I replaced all the hoses and then the thermostat housing blew out on me again and cells expanded more in the radiator. Towed the bike home and replaced the radiators. Tore the water pump out to take a look at it. Nut holding the impeller on was corroded so I changed that out. Didn't notice anything else wrong with it. Just received my thermostat in day or two ago when I posted this thread. When I was trying to look at the water pump I accidentally ended up pulling the shaft out and the gear dropped down. Had to pull the valve cover off to put it back on and noticed my the inside of my motor looks pretty rough. A lot of gunk building up. I don't know why it looks that bad in there. Bought the bike with 5k miles on it. Has about 8.5k now. Changed the oil as soon as I got it. changed it again at 7k. had issues with the bike starting. mechanic said it was due to oil gumming up and blocking bendex on the started from engaging. started changing every 500miles since. sorry if this got off the cooling topic. just things Ive noticed since the cooling issue came up. Ordered the head gasket today. Will be pulling the valve head off to be replacing the head gasket soon hopefully and will clean out the top end while I'm at it.
Wow gunk is from the burnt oil looks like your bike has been running very hot for a while. Sounds like your on it with head gasket hope that cures it
White smoke from exhaust is usually water in chamber(gasket or crack. With stock pipes,it happens also when bike is left in rain,and pipes collect water inside them.That H directs water to go inside the muffler instead of keeping it out. And if it stands long enough,water ends in oil too...) Oil gumming up,you do use good modern oil that meets manuf recommendations ? Original radiator in mine gave up fighting with some stick of wood,that pierced it. So thats how crap they are...It lasted nearly 40thousand km...Might be luck,or... You have had so many mishaps lately that it might be reason why oil is cooked in valvetrain,But otherwise i would be worried that too.
Has this started happening since the radiators were replaced? It looks like the cap, which is a pressure relief valve, is not or cannot bleed off pressure. Is the cap the right one for the new radiators? Check the depth of the radiators neck from the top to the surface inside where the cap seals. If the cap reaches in too far it will have too much seat pressure (preload) and over pressure the system. Also make sure the hose from the radiator to the reservoir tank is clear and open. Check it is not getting crimped or kinked closed intermittently too.
I haven't popped the valve cover off before this so I can't be for certain but Im assuming its because of the bike running hot issues. The cap that's been on the radiators is the one that came with them when ordered. Ill double check to see how far in the cap goes to double check. Thanks for the tips.
