I had cause today to check the coolant level on my Panigale R. Two queries for the assembled expertise here: A) I couldn’t detect any level on the telltale indicator underneath the nose, either before topping up, or afterwards. I had to rely on adding coolant until it overran the expansion tank, and hope it expelled the excess. Am I simply old and blind? B) which blithering idiot designed the coolant caps in such an awkward situation? Even with the upper AND lower side panels off, they are covered by the nose fairing!. How about a small hole to access the expansion cap? And why all the Allen screws? My 748, 996 and MV750 had nice Dzus fasteners…
I found shining a torch into the filler neck lights up the coolant so you can see it in the stupid level gauge
How to you get the light *down* the filler neck without dismantling most of the nose fairing? I managed to fill up by co-opting Her Ladyship’s indoor plant mini watering can (don’t tell) rather than remove the nose too. Looks like a flexible LED light might come in useful.
To check the coolant on my 2017 base model 1299 I hold the nice and bright led torch on my phone flat against the bottom part of the coolant sight window under the nose and give the bike a little wobble on its paddock stands and you can see the coolant level that way, it usually works better at night or in low light. To top up the coolant I take the right hand side fairing off and unscrew the coolant tank filler cap (a little fiddly) and then with a length of plastic hose I suck up some coolant (being careful that it doesnt reach my mouth) and then I blow the coolant into the tank, this can take a bit of time depending on how much you need to top it up by but im sure you could fix a funnel to the pipe and let gravity do its job.
Adding coolant is a pain, but checking is easy. Forget the viewing window tbh. Even shining a light on it or in it, the light still refracts too much imo. If you take a line from the window, around to the outside of the tank, make a mark. It’s about half way up iirc. There’s a pipe connected to the bottom of the tank, that runs up to the radiator. Disconnect it at the radiator and hold the open end level with the mark you’ve made. Fill the expansion tank until coolant comes out of the pipe. That’s the level inside the tank. Then just reconnect the pipe. It’s took longer to type than it takes to do the job and it’s accurate to.
@ibgarrow here you go, how to with pics https://www.ducatiforum.co.uk/threads/panigale-radiator-header-tank-fill-and-check.88700/
Thanks. Looks like my kind of idea. Still an appalling design “feature”, both cap location and level indicator
I've been through this pain also recently having done a coolant change and I used this trick to check the level. What I have seen recommended is actually swapping this pipe for a clear one and then marking the min and max levels on the outside of the tank. Then you can view the level without torches or disconnecting anything
I got a big syringe ( 100 ml ) for about a quid off ebay ..... ..... or possibly free if you know a vet .... It makes things so much easier , and connecting a plastic tube to it is simple if you dunk it in very hot water . BTW - a small amount of glycol in your mouth won't cause too much harm , but best avoided. Anybody remember the German wine scandal ? Some firms had been adulterating their white wine with glycol , as a kind of sweetener ..... ugh !
Now why didnt I think of that! There I was sucking like Linda Lovelace when I could have used a syringe!
B) The same blithering idiot that designed the 1198S! To get the radiator cap off, you have to remove the right-side air runner, which means taking the top fairing off, which means... and so on. To make matters worse, the "official Ducati" workshop manual says to top up the coolant via the expansion tank, which is well below the level of the radiator filler cap... One method I saw on YouTube was to put the coolant in a garden sprayer and fill via the drain plug near the bottom left of the engine. Didn't try it though.
I know what you mean ...... it seems to defy common sense doesn't it ? ...... but it actually works very well . As the radiator gets hot , it pushes excess coolant into the expansion tank along with any air ( if the radiator level was low to start with ) . But when the engine cools down , fluid from the tank back-syphons into the radiator without any air . Gravity isn't involved so it doesn't matter if the expansion tank is lower than the rad .
Hmm - maybe that works. Still counter-intuitive though. You'd think a radiator cap would be used to fill the radiator. And said "blithering idiot" puts it right under the air runner!
