[fulcrum]

A couple of days ago, I drained and flushed my cooling system to replace the coolant with water-wetter (getting the bike ready for a trackday). However, now my bike seems to be running hot (about 20 degrees higher then before).

When I did the swap, I did run the bike for a few minutes with the radiator cap off to get all the air out of the system. But I am affraid that there still is some trapped somewhere, keeping the bike hot.

I don't have the service manual, so I can't verify my procedure step by step, so I would apreciate it if someone could tell me how exactly to make sure there is not air in the cooling system?

Thanx

 

[keith_phan]

if you ran the bike with the cap off and capped the radiator b4 the water cools completely, you are seriously low in coolant. I recommend run the bike with cap on, and squeezing the two big radiator hoses. do this every few seconds until the fan comes on. turn bike off. let be cool down completely (few hours). then top off coolant in radiator, repeat the process once more if you are anal like me. and youre good to go

 

[fulcrum]

Originally posted by keith_phan
if you ran the bike with the cap off and capped the radiator b4 the water cools completely, you are seriously low in coolant. I recommend run the bike with cap on, and squeezing the two big radiator hoses. do this every few seconds until the fan comes on. turn bike off. let be cool down completely (few hours). then top off coolant in radiator, repeat the process once more if you are anal like me. and youre good to go

Well, I ran the bike for a few minutes with the cap off. Then stopped it, topped off the radiator, put the cap on and ran it until the fan turned on. Then I turned the bike off and went to get some new tires installed.

When I came back the bike was cold, at which point, I installed the wheels and checked the radiator level again. It was pretty full.

In any case, I will check the level again...

 

[keith_phan]

what i noticed is with water wetter, the overall temps are not any different. meaning you don't run cooler. however, with water wetter the bike will build heat faster, and cool downt faster. thereby is affected ambient temp more so. Again the overall temps are similar to regular coolant.

 

[fulcrum]

Originally posted by keith_phan
what i noticed is with water wetter, the overall temps are not any different. meaning you don't run cooler. however, with water wetter the bike will build heat faster, and cool downt faster. Again the overall temps are similar to regular coolant.

See, that is exactly what has me worried. The temps do build up quicker but they tend to stay there and not go down as quick. Furthermore, the temp at which the bike settles seems to be 15 to 20 degrees higher then with antifreeze.

 

[stryder420]

something is definately not right. with water wetter your bike just shouldnt be getting as hot as does with coolant. when you ran the bike with the radiator cap off did the the coolant lvl's ever go down? If you used a hose to put in the water then you most likely have alot of air bubbles in there. try running it with the cap off again til it starts bubbling then let it cool down with the cap off or not tightly fitted. hopefully this helps

 

[spitz04]

I assume you let it get up to operating temps and the top rad hose got hot (thermostat opened)?