My bike has been leaking coolant intermittently now for about 6months.
There is a trail of coolant from between the cylinders which drops off on the left hand side of the bike. I had the reservoir tank off at the weekend and reattached the tubes to it, but this has not stopped the leak. When looking at it today, I noticed that there was a lot of coolant coming from the overflow pipe on the left hand side of the bike. Are the two problems related?
I don't have a clue where the leak will be coming from. Any suggestions are much appreciated.
The one that often causes these symptoms is the short straight connector hose from the thermostat housing going to the front cylinder; it nestles in the vee between the cylinders and you'll have to take off the tank, airbox and carbs to get to it....
It's not falling off, it's an upgrade opportunity.
could be a head gasket fault if its coming out the overflow all the time.
i think it'll be from when you had the carbs off.
might not be loose heater pipes, they may have gone hard over time and cracked a bit when you pulled the carbs off.
at work i replace coolant & oil pipes every 4 years as a rule.
You do not have to say anything. But it may harm your defence if you do not mention when posting something which you later rely on in quote. Anything you do say may be ripped to sh*t.
I spent a few hours at this yesterday. I checked the carb heater pipes and tightened up all the hose clamps. Ran the bike till the radiator fans came on and not a single drop leaked.
Took the bike on a 5minute ride to the shops this morning and it was leaking again.
Took the bike on a 5minute ride to the shops this morning and it was leaking again.
That most likely happened as the system was pressurised. As Stratman said, they are not normally known for head gaskets to blow.
One thing that has been known to give problems occasionally is the water pump to pack up. Also the water pump can leak a very little on an irregular basis. The earlier Firestorms didn't have a drain off pipe fitted to the water pump housing, but the later ones did. The only trouble is that any coolant from a leaky water pump doesn't usually appear on the lefthand side of the engine like yours.
I'd be inclined to see if you can spot the leak as soon as you get back from a ride out, while the system is still presurised. You may find a small leak in one of the radiator hoses.
I had a very similar problem with mine earlier in the year, shiney left boot after riding. I took the fairings off and ran it until the fan kicked in with no evidence of leakage (and no emulsion in the oil) . Put it back together and used the bike. Shiney boot again. Stripped it and tightened the hose clips, which were all barely nipped up, and re-filled the expansion tank. Haven't had any problems since. Bizarre. Hope you get it sorted mate.
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Could be a pinhole leak from the rad.
If it faces the engine then the coolant will appear to be coming from the engine.
Try swapping it out, borrow one to try if you can.
It's not falling off, it's an upgrade opportunity.
. A bit inevitable though.
