Overflow tank exploded

[robertaccio]

needs to be thrown in/stated . many blown tank issues, no control of machine standards. Some are OEM stock some have big fuel tanks, some have rekluse, liquid in the over flow or not, oem spec oil and qty, what type of coolant, rad guards/louvers type, etc etc etc. So there is a control subject base.
for a valid assesement.
The only valid (gripe) assesment would be on an OEM as purchased machine with OEM spec coolant at the tank OEM line min level ridden normally (IMHO that would be at a somewhat spirited pace with some tech slow sections thrown in), if tanks are blowing under these conditions, there really is a problem. There needs to be control of the experiment issue.

 

[Kevin_TE250]

The venting of the overflow bottle is through the cap (which is point straight at your leg btw )

I know this to be true..... Happened to me a couple of weeks ago on my vally creek ride.....

Good times... smelling coolant all day on your clothes....

 

[Droolsport]

Add my name to the list of failed coolant catch bottles. My bike has overheated and blown steam pretty violently on a couple of rides. I noticed this thread prior and prefilled the bottle as soon as I got the bike. My tank hasnt exploded but it has the beginings of a tear where the plastic has been stretched when hot and its soft. Kind of like just before a balloon pops you can see the weak area. My bike will suck the tank dry on a ride so its impossible to keep it half full of fluid. I have done the popular coolant mods as well.

 

[Droolsport]

Coolant catch bottles are on backorder. My dealer might borrow one off a showroom bike to get me by. Should cover it under warranty too. Another option is an aluminum bottle seen here:

http://www.dirtwerkz.com/Pages/products/cooling/Ignition_Racing_Overflow_Canisters.html

 

[pregrid]

Ummmm......bottle's got a minimum and a maximum mark on it, right. That would tell the ordinary person not to fill it above the "maximum" nor let it get below the "minimum". Why would the manual have to tell you that? Since overflow bottles have been in use that has been the case. There is a max and min for a reason, people. Do your PM and you won't, barring some during-the-ride episode, have this problem.

 

[columbia510]

Ummmm......bottle's got a minimum and a maximum mark on it, right. That would tell the ordinary person not to fill it above the "maximum" nor let it get below the "minimum". Why would the manual have to tell you that? Since overflow bottles have been in use that has been the case. There is a max and min for a reason, people. Do your PM and you won't, barring some during-the-ride episode, have this problem.

Wow, seems to be the answer.


The coolant will boil even with coolant in the catch tank. Mine didnt explode, but it did crack and empty on a really nice tight granite 2mph ride thru sierras. Not Hollister ot Carnagie

 

[Dirty Bikes]

Do your PM and you won't, barring some during-the-ride episode, have this problem.

Like maybe crashing and having fluid leak out? Yeah we never crash our bikes. Always have rubber side down.

My car is never upside down so having a system like a plastic bottle and a min max line could work. But on a dirt bike?

 

[HUSKYnXJnWI]

Like maybe crashing and having fluid leak out? Yeah we never crash our bikes. Always have rubber side down.

My car is never upside down so having a system like a plastic bottle and a min max line could work. But on a dirt bike?

There are many reasons to favor the Left side when falling down- here's another. I don't know how I built the skill into my list of accomplishments but I fall all the time and 95% of the time I have been able to achieve MAXIMUM FULL LEFTy Falls!!!
That little check valve on the end of the overflow cap- is intended to allow right hand upside down falls in most cases- it could fail though.... and you could loose some fluid while upside down. Hopefully your not upside down for too long and the check valve fails.

I have abused my cooling system (while fully maintained) and not had a problem at this point. I have seen the over flow level go UP in very tight stuff where there is no chance to open it up and get a good amount of air through the radiators- Miles and Miles of it. Once Cooled it goes down.


The overflow tank and hose should work as a siphon if filled correctly- in theory(at least) so when the water in the radiators reaches a certain pressure determined by the cap- it will release coolant into the hose and release into the tank. It does not need to boil to do this- It should NOt be steam if the system maintained because the hose would have fluid in it from the Siphon effect. For this to happen the hose must have fluid above it in the tank- so when it takes a gulp when cool- it gulps fluid not air. Its possible to kink that hose too during maintenence- causing a blockage.

This system works fine in most cases- but it must be maintained- with any system there can be problems - probably not set up right or in extreme conditions. There are other options if you loose faith in this system. Go to a Ktm forum- they are putting bottles on- ranging from aluminum after market to turkey basters. In light of some of those options this system looks pretty good all in all.

 

[RLW]

I know this to be true..... Happened to me a couple of weeks ago on my valley creek ride.....

Good times... smelling coolant all day on your clothes....

Having that steam blow on your legs gets your attention doesn't it?

I have had my TE hot before and had a little excess dribble out the vent before it cooled and sucked it back down, but never had the thing go off like a geyser until this summer after I had my radiator/hose crash damage at the state ride.
We did a makeshift repair and I had a little Engine Ice w/me to add to the overflow tank if needed, but not enough for a complete refill, so to keep riding thru the state ride, I thought it would be ok to use an antifreeze mix someone had. (think was older & weaker than I thought)

Next day we had a ride with a long slow steep switchback crawl at the top. Everyone stopped at the summit and one of the guys pulled up next to me on the left. As I leaned bike over on the kick stand from the right side, off she goes. He about fell over his bike trying to jump out of the way of that sudden blast of steam.......I was pissed my bike wasn't right and boiling over like that, but still we all got a good laugh out of that one.

 

[7point62]

The bike need not be boiling over. The rad cap holds the coolant under pressure so it's boiling point will be raised. If liquid coolant is hot enough when it blows past the valve in the cap it will spontaneously turn to steam when exposed to atmospheric pressure.

 

[RLW]

I agree.......my saying "boil-over" wasn't technically correct.
Actually I think my recent problems of this continuing to happen (post crash damage) was due to a stock radiator cap going bad and releasing at too low of pressure. I bought a new cap but haven't had time to ride for 5wks now, so not able to verify if I'm back to normal yet.

 

[Tetley]

I have a 2010 TE450, and the manual only says to keep the bottle below 1/2 full, but still no mention of the minimum level which is marked on the bottle.

The problem I found today was that the bottle was too full and the rads too low, so I decided to pull off the hose to drain the bottle and top up the rads. Nothing came out! The botton 1 1/2 inches of the hose, and the bottom of the bottle was full of mud, sludge and sand. (bike only 18 months old, 2500 miles)

This must have entered through the valve on the cap, and been forced in and the water level topped up by jet washing.

I absolutely agree that the bottle MUST have cool water in it to re-condense steam escaping from the rad cap. It also needs an air gap above the water to cope with the slight expansion, as the condensed steam (water) enters the bottle. Steam entering an empty bottle will not condense, so the pressure will build very high and very quickly. The weak point is the very hot plastic round the entry point at the bottom. As the steam is not passing through the bottle, (cap valve now closed) the cap will still be cool, so will not blow.

Bruce UK

 

[RLW]

This resurfacing reminded me.......my factory radiator cap had gone bad, and was releasing at too low of presure. The new CV4 20PSI (1.4 bar) cap did fixed the problem.
Only issue I've had since was a little bit of coolant dribbling out of the tank one time because I had over filled the catch tank.

 

[not2old]

I'm new here and looked up this thread because my 07 510TE has what appears to be a hole melted in the overflow bottle in what appears to be the same location. I need to be more careful because I've already replaced a piston due to what appeared to be insufficient coolant. When near new, my crossover hose exploded (twice) before I replaced it with a much better quality hose. Yes the noise scared me, and there was a lot of steam excape, but I didn't get burnt. Reading things here, I've decided to research all the mods and get them done.

 

[sharpie1]

Mine did it while it was not empty. That little cap will block pressure from escaping, I cut a hole in it and now have no problems. Poor design if you ask me. The first time it happened it caused my crossover tube to blow in my face, second time I think I caught it just in time, my radiator hoses where swelled like balloons, I unscewed the overflow cap and the radiators unleashed their furry. ...granted the bike was running hot and very lean from the just installed autotune (since removed) and on a hot day in tight single track. A small V cut in the white plastic plunger will prevent this from happening. My theory is there is fluid in the tank and splashes up onto the plunger closing it while at the same time the radiators aere releasing pressure causing it to seal, it will not unseal until the pressure on it drops.

 

[RLW]

Speaking of white plunger in cap........I have another update to my above update, where I mistakenly stating my problem was fixed.
Everything seemed to be working fine with new radiator cap, then during June, went on 3 extra slow single track rides in hot temps, with several stops on hills to clear logs. My bike was frequently blowing off thru the catch tank again onto my left leg. Some of this I expected, but not as much as it was doing.

My last year fears of a damaged head gasket resurfaced, so this time I dropped it off at shop for a good look over, valve check and compression check....everything was fine, except one little thing I hadn't noticed.
The plunger inside the overflow tank cap was melted inside. Apparently during last summers adventure, the water I had to keep dumping in to get off the hill got so hot it melted the plunger inside the cap which opened a hole. My old radiator cap was bad, and replacement cap did help, but now when it let off pressure and hit the tank, it just shot straight on out like a mini Old Faithfull. That little cap is suppose to hold a small amount of pressure to allow proper coolant recovery when the bikes cools.
I can see the opposite happening, where it completely plugs off and doesn't let any pressure out, most likely resulting in a burst tank.

The shop replaced it ($7) and rode bike a little and thought that was the issue. The following weekend I went on another 70 mile ride in low 90 temps, intentionaly over using clutch and working climbs to where I knew the bike was going to get hot (& carried a qt of coolant in case needed)........works just like it did when new again. A tiny bit of dribbling and hissing from tank, sucked coolant right back in as it cooled and NO scalding bursts of steaming my leg.

 

[NousDefions]

Greetings, I am new here and a new TE510 owner as of last week. I picked up a nicely modified 2009 model and couldn't be any more happier with it. One thing I noticed though is that the coolant expansion tank was blown. I asked the gentleman I bought the bike from when was the last time he rode it, and if he ever had any coolant issues. He told me that he last rode it a couple of weeks ago, and three rides ago he had a radiator hose blow. He said he topped the radiator off after replacing the hose, but neglected to check the expansion tank, thus the blown tank. Well after spending a couple of hours researching this matter, and finding really no solutions other than buying a new oem tank, buying an expensive aftermarket tank, or making your own, I decided to come up with my own solution. After searching ebay, I came across these rather really inexpensive "JDM catch cans" for less than $17. After it arrived and I opened the package up, I was really impressed with the quality of it being that it was only $16.50 shipped to my door. I initially wanted to place the catch can in the factory position, using the bracket that held the oem tank on by straightening it out and mounting it on. However, I was not aware from the pictures that the can would be a tad larger than expected and would not fit in the position I initially intended for it to go. Instead I decided to mount it on the subframe and I am really happy with the way it turned out. I took off the fittings off of the can and made some modifications to it prior to installation. I beveled out the holes a tad and put on a rubber ring to create a seal after you torque down the allenhead bolt, primarily because I am mounting the can upside down and it wasn't designed to be mounted that way as the fittings were glued and screwed in place. Since the can was mounted upside down, I took what was the drain plug which was intended to be used to drain the oil in the catch can, I drilled a tiny hole from the top and the bottom of the plug careful enough to not drill all the way through, so that when the two holes met in the middle a smaller hole was present. I did this for a little breather to allow the pressures to release and contract.

 

[glangston]

Interesting that my 2012 TE310 has no catch can

 

[ray_ray]

I know this to be true..... Happened to me a couple of weeks ago on my vally creek ride.....

Good times... smelling coolant all day on your clothes....

Spraying your leg gets your attention and lets you it's getting hot!

I just removed my can and carry coolant with me as I'm gonna overheat usually ...

Greetings, I am new here and a new TE510 owner as of last week. After searching ebay, I came across these rather really inexpensive "JDM catch cans" for less than $17.

That can looks bad a$$ ... Maybe I'll try one some day ....

 

[Paul B]

Just on a side note when my 09 310 was new the vent cap hole had not been punched correctly so the cap did not vent. I ran a 1mm drill through where it should have been punched now vents fine. I only worked it out as the system was not recovering fluid after a ride. when checking the RADS there was a vacume when taking off the RAD cap.