Coolant level rising

[Guest]

Hi, i bought a new bike as a small project but when its being run the coolant level slowly rises in the overflow tank and eventually comes out of the overflow tube in the overflow tank.

What could this be? I took the radiator cap off and ran the engine and when you rev the engine coolant spills out of the radiator filler. There seems to be extreeeeeemely small bubbles in the radiator coolant when the bike is running.

I have already drained the old coolant and refilled it, and found there was no thermostat in the tube aswell. The bike runs perfectly with loads of power and idles smoothly, the oil is clean and theres no smoke. You can also apply pressure the tubes when the bikes is running and the tubes are still soft, not firm.

I have just been round the block on it and the coolant was on MIN when i left and its now on MAX and isnt showing any signs of dropping. I think i just got back in time before it would have started leaking from the overfloww due it rising too much.

What are the possibilties. thanks

[Guest]

the system needs bleeding you have air in there, check your manual...

[Guest]

Theres no bleed screw or anything and ive followed the manuals instructions for bleeding the system but no joy. Is there any definitive way of identifying air in the system mate??

I really hope its just something like air in the system but it was doing the same kinda thing before i chainged the coolant.

thanks for your help

[Guest]

if you're getting bubbles and hoses feel squishy, you have an airlock... find the highest points on the coolant system, it could be the header tank and the radiator, undoing only one will create a vacuum, whereas undoing both will let the level settle and the air to rise, your manual should explain in detail.. whats the bike?

[JoshTimmins]

yup i got a gpz500 with no bleed screw.. WalneyFrankie is right on mine there is a radiator cap(ithink thats waht it is lol) under the front left hand side of the fairing thats how i do mine, but as he said, manual should tell you

Josh

x

[Chrissb6]

Hi, there should be a small bleed bolt down at he water pump, find this and bleed the air out of the pump. If the pump is air locked you will have no chance to pump out any air locks in the rest of the system. start the motor and run it for a short while stop and check the coolant levels now and again. If this over flowing continues, it might be that the pump is duff or you could be looking at a leaking head gasget

[JoshTimmins]

Hi, there should be a small bleed bolt down at he water pump, find this and bleed the air out of the pump. If the pump is air locked you will have no chance to pump out any air locks in the rest of the system. start the motor and run it for a short while stop and check the coolant levels now and again. If this over flowing continues, it might be that the pump is duff or you could be looking at a leaking head gasget

 

on mine that screw will drain teh collant, rather than bleeding the air :/

Josh

x

[Chrissb6]

Hi, your right if you are going to drain the system, but on filling the system you will have this screw closed. You then fill up the system to the required level and then open this screw to vent the pipe work and the pump, you need to see coolant come out of here, then you close the screw. Check again your coolant levels.

You will then know that, there's no air in the hoses to the water pump and that the pump is full and ready to run. Any air in the rest of the system will then be pump't out to the expansion bottle once you start the motor. Run it for a little while, then stop and check your levels again. This should be all you need to do.

Hope this helps

[Gin]

My old kawasaki does this but was told its nothing to worry about.. That The water level does rise when they get hot.. So the coolant rises..

[Guest]

Its really riding high though lol, and it doesnt return, it just stays there till it either overflows or i extract it myself.

I think its game though as i found a load of white froth in there yesterday so bye bye head gasket. Unless it could be the radiator cap, am i on the right lines here. Confusing the hell outta me

Thanks for the help guys and girls, Andy

[Gin]

ahh fairy snuff

Mine only rises a Cm or 2 then goes back down when the engine is cool..

[Guest]

Mine rises about 3 inches on a 10 minute drive

[Guest]

Its really riding high though lol, and it doesnt return, it just stays there till it either overflows or i extract it myself.

I think its game though as i found a load of white froth in there yesterday so bye bye head gasket. Unless it could be the radiator cap, am i on the right lines here. Confusing the hell outta me

Thanks for the help guys and girls, Andy

check your oil, if its a head gasket, then you'll have water in the oil and oil in the water....

[Guest]

As in the dipstick. Or drain it? The oil on the dipstick seems clear and like new oil. Maybe it has been changed to disguise water contamination. But should the evidence of water be immediately visible, even if i were to drain it all now and refill with new oil, start it up and there would be coolant on my dipstick?

Andy

[Guest]

the oil would look milky if it had water contamination... like when you make salad dressing... you would have soapy bubbles in the coolant bottle aswell.. also are you getting white smoke from the exhaust, another sign of water in the engine (also found when washing the bike and water getting in the exhaust...)

[Guest]

WHATS THE BIKE???

[Guest]

Only really white smoke upon startup but soon dies off, its not a strong smoke and doesnt follow me down the road so i assume its just the usual steam(?)

Ill check the oil again but so far definately no milky substance. Good news i suppose, but frothing coolant - is there really any other explanation than head gasket. Rising coolant - could the rad cap be causing both these? Or is it a no-hoper.

cheers

[Guest]

WHATS THE BIKE???

 

Sorry mate An old kwak gpz 900

[Guest]

http://www.kawasakimotorcycle.org/forum ... oblem.html

[Guest]

from another source...

Very well your coolant leak could be the source of your overheating. Often times a car/bike will get an airlock in the cooling system too. Start it up, let it idle, with the lid off the coolant, and let it belch itself a bit. If you still have an issue, maybe the sensor that kicks on the fan isnt working. At a certain point, the fan should kick on, to help keep the bike cool. Run 100% water this time of year if you want, as water is the best coolant there is....or you could add a little water wetter (Redline) if you have no more leaks and figure out the problem.

http://pnwriders.com/klamath-falls/1111 ... start.html

[Chrissb6]

Ok! well the only way you can make volume is to add fluid so, as some have already said, you really need to check the state of your oil. If the oil is milky then its odds on that the head gasget gone. but before you strip the top half of the engine down, check the water pump. There are seals in there that might be leaking and letting oil in the coolant system.

[Guest]

Cool! Some good reading there, thanks mate, will try some of those things and get back

[Colin the Bear]

You shouldn't run plain water as a coolant. 50/50 water and antifreeze. Coolant. Even in summer. Allsorts of problems with plain water, including overheating.

If bleeding is not your problem you may well have a damaged head gasket. You don't allways get an oil coolant mix. It depends where the damage is. Compression may be getting past the gasket and blowing the coolant out.

[Guest]

You shouldn't run plain water as a coolant. 50/50 water and antifreeze. Coolant. Even in summer. Allsorts of problems with plain water, including overheating.

Like freezing in winter and wrecking components, as ice expands....

[Chrissb6]

Up date, we talked this one over on a pint of beer last night, my mate who is a top spanner man suggest, you double check the radcap and seal before going any further. There's a strong chance of this leaking and not holding pressure, end result boiling over into the bottle. Another test is to fill up to within an a couple of inches of the top of the rad cap run up the motor without the radcap on. the water should rises up slowly as the motor heats up but not pump water out all over the place. Should this happen then your possibly looking at the head gasget or worse a leak in the casing - liners. this can be caused by the lack of useing the wrong amount of anti freez - inhibitor.

fingers crossed for ya