anti freeze

[scottyhatchi]

heya everyone as some know i was rebuilding my bike was indoors a long time its finished and back on road but i moved house and now bike has to be outside as have no shed now for the bad part ... idiot here filled up the water but didnt put anti freeze in the snow has come down and bike has been sat outside in the freezing cold with no anti freeze will this have caused any damage ? also to get anti freeze in do i have to drain the water system and refil it mixed or can i just put anti freeze in the bottle and run engine to mix it round ??

any advice greatly appreciated

[bluestoesonnose]

Drop the water and see what you have, just open up all the pipes, and let it drop out. Then refill and see if it holds water. It would also be worth taking the plugs out and spinning the motor up to see if you have any water in the bores, and check the oil for water. If it all checks out you should be ok...

Famous last words

[thumperslaw]

Might of popped the core plugs tho in only water left in it

[VTRDark]

Might of popped the core plugs tho in only water left in it

Where are they then on the VTR.

Lets hope there was enough space in the expansion bottle and the rest of it, for the water to expand as it turned to ice I would do as bluey said and completely drain the system, check it all over for anything obvious. You can then get a pre-mixed coolant and put it in. Otherwise mix before filing up if the whole system is drained to make life easier.

(:-})

[bazza696]

Might of popped the core plugs tho in only water left in it

Where are they then on the VTR.

Lets hope there was enough space in the expansion bottle and the rest of it, for the water to expand as it turned to ice I would do as bluey said and completely drain the system, check it all over for anything obvious. You can then get a pre-mixed coolant and put it in. Otherwise mix before filing up if the whole system is drained to make life easier.

(:-})

the expansion tank is not connected to the cooling system, is is only an overflow for the pressure cap.

[Trainraider]

Worst case: your engine block is beyond repair because the ice has expanded it into two pieces. Or broken some other parts.

Best case: nothing has happened.

With good luck, the rubber pipes have expanded if the water has frozen. Or depending how cold is your cold? Usually couple of days -2C doesn't yet do any harm. I assume we are not talking about constant -10 for weeks.

If there has been even a small bit of antifreeze in the water, it is possible that you haven't got solid freeze, but only slush ice(tm). This wouldn't yet break the engine.

Take the bike to warm and let it unfreeze slowly (don't use any blowers), check visual leakage. When unfrozen, you can try to turn the engine couple of rounds without spark plugs. Then check the liquid and oil (the first would be leakage of water to oil). If you don't find anything, it could be safe to make it running for a minute or so. Again check oil and water...

The doctor says that there is hope for the patient, but the situation is not good and be prepared for the worst.

[scottyhatchi]

its been outside in the snow for a few weeks like ... whats the easiest way to drain all the water out ?? as there is 2 radiators lots of pipes is there 1 main one i can easily pop off to drain ?

[Trainraider]

Try to download the workshop manual from the "knowledgebase". There are good instructions on replacing the coolant.

Simplest way is to drain the coolant from the draining bolt from the first cylinder. Everything else will be messy. (you find the location from the workshop manual)

I am not now exactly sure (the engine block is in tooling, so cannot confirm this), but usually if you drain the coolant, something will be left in the system. And that might be enough to keep the freezing away. If the engine was not completely stripped there should be couple of spoonfuls of coolant in the pump and in the pipes lower than the coolant drain bolt.

Snow is good. Snow means that temperature is close to zero, not close to -10 or even lower temperatures. And in UK I believe the weather gets over 0 degrees during the daytime. The coolant system luckily don't freeze suddenly.

[scottyhatchi]

well i have now drained all the water out from radiator bottle and drain plug in engine so theres no water in there untill i get anti freeze tomorrow i assumed that the danger being freezing and expanding that causes any damage so draining the water out wud prevent damage ?? am i correct ? lol

[rollingthunderx2]

"Might of popped the core plugs tho in only water left in it"
Obviously knows his VTR motors..

[rollingthunderx2]

well i have now drained all the water out from radiator bottle and drain plug in engine so theres no water in there untill i get anti freeze tomorrow i assumed that the danger being freezing and expanding that causes any damage so draining the water out wud prevent damage ?? am i correct ? lol

Yes.Dont worry, the engine will probably be ok. The first thing to get damaged would be the radiators,if split,they may not leak until the coolant is hot and under pressure.So don't assume its ok just because they don't leak at first.
Also, run the engine a few minutes on a bit of revs to circulate the cooland and pump out any airlocks, then top up again.
Your motor is probably ok.

[thumperslaw]

"Might of popped the core plugs tho in only water left in it"
Obviously knows his VTR motors..

I know more then just leaving water in it....

It was only a idea (unknown if they did have core plugs) My srad has them and they popped once when i left it out with just water

[scottyhatchi]

cheers

[thumperslaw]

Might of popped the core plugs tho in only water left in it

Where are they then on the VTR.

Lets hope there was enough space in the expansion bottle and the rest of it, for the water to expand as it turned to ice I would do as bluey said and completely drain the system, check it all over for anything obvious. You can then get a pre-mixed coolant and put it in. Otherwise mix before filing up if the whole system is drained to make life easier.

(:-})

Core plugs are right in the head. They can not be changed for new ones.


Every water cooled bike has them...

I don't clam I "know my vtr's "
I go by what I've done and seen. Busting five motors I get to crack them open and look

[VTRDark]

Any updates on this Scotty?

(:-})