Bleeding air from the radiator

[scooterlord]

well, here we go. my first time to change radiator fluids and am outta money and outta radiator fluid so once more i am gonna need your help guys.

i read the workshop manual but still have a couple of questions. it saya to add engine coolant up to the radiator inlet, swing motorcycle and then add coolant again. radiator inlet is on the top right side of the radiator. doesnt putting coolant in there drain it in the reserve tank? :/ because it says to fill it UP to the radiator inlet. wouldn't that mean that the coolant reserve tank should be full first?

and i assume that when you remove the hose it says it drains both radiator AND reserve tank filler?

and then when it says bleed air while engine is on does this mean i just have the radiator inlet cap open and it bleeds by itself?

..any more tips are helpful guys, i need to go on a trip and the weekend has already started. expecting answers as soon as possible for me to go down and start the procedure!



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[ks-waterbug]

1. Swinging the bike back and forth will remove any trapped air you have in the system..
2. Filling the radiator to the top of the inlet is just below the cap and not the resevoir. Only fill (resevoir) to a tad over the min line... I generally do this first through its cap.
3. By starting the bike and letting it come up to temp will allow the water pump to circulate the radiator fluid. This in turn will drop the level of fluid already in the radiator and require you to add somemore.
4. You can and should flush the radiator by draining the original fluid completely out of the bike. Next, fill will a solution of distilled water and distilled white vinegar! Less than a cup or so of the vinegar should be plenty. Next, bring the bike up to temp so it circulates. Shut bike off and allow it to cool down so its cool to the touch! Repeat this process after draining the fluid out BUT THIS TIME ONLY USE DISTILLED WATER TO FLUSH THE SYSTEM OUT (NO VINEGAR). Allow bike to cool and drain fluid...... NOW your ready to install the new radiator fluid using the methods we discussed above. Best of luck with this and remember to take your time.



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[omslaw]

Here's what the Service Manual sez:

 

[scooterlord]

omslaw, i have the workshop manual so i already knew that. ks-waterbug, thanks for the info, the only question that still occurs is how the radiator connects to the reserve tank. i mean does the radiator TAKE coolant from the reserve tank? or the other way around? does the reserve tank drain differently than the radiator?

off i go to start the process, i hope i am successful, in the process i'll come back to check mail so if someone sees this question please reply. thanks!

 

[omslaw]

As the coolant heats up, it expands...and builds up pressure. When the pressure reaches a certain PSI, it will push up the spring on the radiator cap and coolant will then flow into the overflow bottle. As the coolant cools, it gets drawn back into the radiator.

 

[scooterlord]

well, took the bike apart and started surgery. it wasn't that tough after all. from what i realized the radiator takes as much fluid as it needs from the reservoir tank when it needs it; it was probably obvious for the most of you i just didnt happen to realize it :/

so, i drained both radiator and reserve tank. added distilled water in the reserve tank as ks-waterbug suggested (thanks!). i filled the radiator to its top with distilled water (sorry, no such thing as distilled vinegar? would ordinary vinegar do any good? like the one we put in salads???

). put the bike in radiator-start temperature, held it a bit and shut it down. now expecting for it to cool down and repeat procedure once more before i put in new fluids in both radiator and reserve tank. only mistake so far i forgot to put the safety in the hose and it started throwing hot water all around but i think that's ok :/

 

[scooterlord]

heh, thanks omslaw

it took me a while to figure it out but thanks for pointing it out!

 

[omslaw]

NP.

Good luck - it sounds like you have it figured out!

 

[scooterlord]

guys... mission accomplished!

it was a success... all but:

1) first time i used distilled water... well it wasnt that distilled after all as my mom told me afterwards. i hope this didn't do a lot of harm... second draing was with distilled water though

2) heh, i did the stupidest that could be done. after the 2 drains of water and when i put the coolant in, i left the engine running till the fan turned on and then... i opened the radiator cap to put more fluid in it. lol, it nearly exploded, thank god i didn't hurt myself, and i hope i didn't hurt the bike as well because there was no cosmetic damage or anything. thank god i had filled the reservoir first and it took all the fluid it needed from there.

anyway, after that i filled radiator again, re-filled tank and put plastics back on!

mission successful!

i know i did some stupid things today, but without doing that you can't learn can you? and i am glad i believe in myself these days and dared do this. all my friends kept telling me that i couldn't do it myself etc but i kept believing in myself ... and told them that my friends over at hayabusa.org would help me out!

thanks guys!

oh, final thing. i never really noticed that you didn't actually have to take out the inner plastics of the lower cowlings; i just realized that after i took them apart though...

 

[omslaw]

Glad you got it done. And didn't burn youreself in the process!

Yup, we learn from our mistakes. You'll find that there's a lot of maintenance that you can do yourself with a little confidence.

 

[ks-waterbug]

Glad you got it done and didn't get burned in the process.....

 

[cmeb4decay]

 

[Wag]

I just grab the big hoses and give them a healthy few squeezes and it burps the air right out of the system. Then top off the radiator. Repeat this a few times until all the air is out of the system. That way, I don't have to do the run/cool/run/cool cycle over and over which takes for-frickin' ever!

--Wag--

 

[AJAY]

I just grab the big hoses and give them a healthy few squeezes and it burps the air right out of the system. Then top off the radiator. Repeat this a few times until all the air is out of the system. That way, I don't have to do the run/cool/run/cool cycle over and over which takes for-frickin' ever!

--Wag--

+1 Don't know if I would skip the rest of the procedures, but burping the system by squeezing the soft hoses will get a lot of air out of the cooling system.

Note that it is vital to get all the air out as it will collect in the high places in the system - like your cylinder head!

 

[Wag]

+1 Don't know if I would skip the rest of the procedures, but burping the system by squeezing the soft hoses will get a lot of air out of the cooling system.

Note that it is vital to get all the air out as it will collect in the high places in the system - like your cylinder head!

I always test it when I'm done. Run it until it's hot, let it cool and then check the level. One time. It's never let me down yet but I still do that one last check every time, though.

--Wag--