Cooling Problems. Please Help!

ShaunT

Registered
I have a wierd coolant issue and ive read lots of other posts about cooling problems and still cant figure it out. I have a 04 busa and this year before we went to bike week in daytona i changed the oil and put engine ice in to help with the temps plus i wanted to put it in there anyway cause ive heard good things. I didnt have any time to ride it before we went because it went straight on the trailor after. When we were stuck in traffic for awhile it started to get hot and then it got really hot so i shut it off and noticed the reservoir was almost empty. Topped it back off and it slowly dropped until it got just below the low line and it seemed to stop the rest of the time we were down there and it never hit the red again. I have been riding around town for probably about a month now and never noticed it drop again nor have i had it have any overheating problems. Its been staying just a hair below the mid line. Then yesterday when we went to blessing of the bikes and i just happened to glance at it and it was completely empty again but it wasnt overheating. So today before i went riding i filled the reservoir back up and attempted to burp the system once again. Let it run for about 15 mins and it barely went above the mid line with the fans kicking on every now and then. My girlfriend was watching the reservoir the whole time i was burping it and she said it didnt move but when i shut the bike off and she looked at it again it was completely gone. So i filled the reservoir back up once again and went riding for about an hour. Didnt have any issues with it overheating and stayed in its normal place except one time i mashed it and let it unwined it jumped to mid but then quickly droped back to normal. Got home and let it idle for about 5 mins and it got about halfway between half and red so i shut it off and looked at the reservoir and it was empty again except for a little bit in the bottom. Cant figure out what is going on cause it performs fine and it doesnt blow any white smoke or smell like burning antifreeze to symbol and head gasket problem. I have a stage 1 RCC turbo system coming in about 2 weeks and i need to figure out what the problem is before i even think about installing the system. Anyone with any advice please post cause i NEED to figure out what is going on. Thanks!
 
is there a leak??Do you fill the radiator first then top of the resevoir afterwards??I would run it with the cap off utill the air is burped out, then when the air is out and radiator is full, then fill the resevoir to the full/hot mark.You can also burn coolant and not notice it if it just just sucks a tiny bit and burn it.I would think that much being low would smoke though.
 
I have tried burping it twice now. When I burped it earlier today I took the cap off and ran it for like 15 mins revving it occasionally and held it at around 3k for 10-15 secs. When it started to warm up and I revved it, it started spewing out of the radiator like a fountain then I tried to top the radiator back off and filled the reservoir again. Did I do it wrong? I could see some air getting back in when it was spewing out but I wouldn't think that much would and I toped it back off and it still sucked the whole reservoir back up. Also no there is no visible leaks that I can see dripping or pooling on the ground.
 
You got me stumped. I don't know where the coolant it going, but under normal idle for the gen 1 (900 - 1100) the temp will rise while sitting in traffic to about 3/4. The gen 2's have 2 cooling fans.
 
99 busa cooling and screaching need help please

hello to everyone, kb2642,i purchased the 99 blk and silver posted here couple months ago she's beautiful but needs some TLC, the previous owner did little if any maint. on her got her home clutch resivor empty, removed clutch housing, spring bolts 4 out of 6 were finger tight, throtle body, black and plugs fouled #2 was brown, changed plugs to #8's, sea -foamed throtle body and cylinders overnight, tightend down and locktite clutchbolts to 7 ft mobile r10/40 and suzuki filter. fired her up only to have her start to screach if throtled a little and then overheat within ten minutes. shut her off then came here for advice. been reading post alot and you people helped me get this far thanks new proud owner even if she is a little sick right now. please advise and thank you. i will post picks of her as soon as i can figure out how to get them from my phone to here. alot of good people in here.
 
The way I see it, you have three possibilities. Burning it, leaking it or it was never full to begin with. A leak should be easy enough to spot with that amount of loss. Bubbling in the reservoir while running, an exhaust smell in the bottle, a white or very clean looking spark plug would give you clues about a failing head gasket. If it were me, I would check these things out, drop the oil to make sure it's not milky, then just ride it while monitoring the bottle. Hopefully you just had lots of air trapped that's working it's way out. You Could compare how much fluid you added compared to the total capacity to ballpark ifnit was full..
 
How I solved my overheating issue on my 06: replaced stock coolant with Engin Ice, replaced stock cooling fan with a Muzzy 5 bladed metal fan, replaced stock thermostat with a thermostat that brings cooling fan on earlier, instead of stock 212 degrees cooling fan comes on at 180. I switched to synthetic oil. The combination of these 4 things has solved my problem and I haven't had a problem since. The real test was during Rolling Thunder and if you have ever sat in that traffic you know what I am talking about...never gets above the half way line on the engine temp guage now.
 
Ah... Hmmm.. You replied to an almost 4 month old post.
Aside from that, I'd be curious to know how each of the four factors individually contributed to easing the overheating, but now we'll never know, LOL
 
Running the bike with the cap off the radiator is not how you burp the cooling system. Also, you should never rev the engine with the radiator cap off . . . I think you need to burp the system correctly, which is done with the engine not running . . . should be in the manual . . . :rulez:
 
Back
Top