Hi, noticed yesterday that on the left had side there was a strange liquid coming through a gap in the fairing. I am not receiving any warning lights and all seems to run and sound good. It feels slightly oily but does smell like oil. Pretty sure its not brake fluid. I have taken the fairing off and the pictures are below. Is this a common issue if so what is it and what do I need to do to resolve it? Many thanks in advance
Rad leaks have a particular smell, so if you can smell a rubbery watery stink, then rads the culprit.
They all do that sir - either re core, buy a new one for a million pounds or get a Chinese one like many have. Lot's of threads if you do a search. Top row is leaking near the mount... you can see where it is wet on your first picture.
Joy I've had it since May. Hey ho it is 11 years old. If I am doing a replacement what would you recommend in terms of fluid and how much? Thank you all, much appreciated.
Morning, I have received a nice new Chinese radiator drained the system and swapped over the radiator following the manual I downloaded from here. I'm now stuck. How do I refill the cooling system? The manual doesn't tell you how to do it! Via the cap on the radiator or the coolant bottle? How do I get air our and is it sensible to put new fluid in? If so how much do I need? Is this ok? Any help very much appreciated. Cheers Motul Motocool Expert 1Ltr
I think the manual does tell you how to do it - via the expansion bottle; it's WRONG! You'll never fill it that way, has to be done via the filler cap on the rad; at this point you'll appreciate the genius of the design of that bike, so you have to remove the air tube (and all the other bits that that entails) to remove the radiator cap... I think I got change out of three bottles of ready mixed coolant when I changed my rad. I also filled it, ran the engine up to temperature (so that the fans cut in), let it cool, topped up as necessary; did this three times to be sure. Then put it ll back together! HTH Andrew
Just wanted to give an update. So I did loosen the rad and pour as much coolant in as I could and put it all back together. Ran it 3 times taking it to 110c and letting the fans kick in and cooled and topped up the coolant bottle. I then went for a test ride and things went a bit Pete Tong. Temps ran really high 115c and the engine cut out. I was very concerned but managed to get home. The following day I poured as much coolant in the coolant bottle as possible and took the engine up to temp for the fans to kick in and appeared to settle. Went for a short test ride and all temps seem to be ok. Usual commute today (16 miles) and all is good. Thank you so much for all of the advice and help. I have a bike that doesn't leak at last!
So, do you think you should have just filled it via the coolant expansion bottle as per the Service Manual instructions?
Perhaps, but I had the same concerns as AndrewS. I think either way does the job and it was more about my hesitation having never done it before.
