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Safety, Maintenance and Conscientious Riding |
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August 2001 Volume 2, Number 4 =============
"And oh yea, NEVER NEVER NEVER replace your antifreeze with just water."
Things you'll need: 1. Shop Manual 2. One gallon antifreeze. 3. A funnel 4. Some old rags 5. Metric Wrenches 10mm to 14mm
"Check your owner’s manual for the correct type of antifreeze, quantity, and mixture of water to antifreeze ratio for your area before you start"
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Beating the Heat by Ray Palubin Heat is the greatest enemy of a gas compression engine. When an engine over heats, or becomes hotter than the optimal operating temperature, the metals used on the internal components begin to wear faster than normal. This translates into excessive wear on the piston rings, valve train, main and rod bearings etc. Water-cooled engines help to maintain a constant temperature, which reduces wear and increases fuel efficiency. More and more motorcycles are being built with water-cooling than any time previous. There are several reasons for building cycles that are water-cooled. The biggest is that with water-cooling it is possible to maintain a constant engine temperature. Newer motorcycles, not unlike automobiles, have many sensors used to detect and regulate temperature. By maintaining a constant temperature, along with a few other variables, it is possible to improve fuel efficiency and performance. A Little Hot Under the Collar The alternative to a constant temperature, could be overheating. Over heating will cause your motor oil to break down, eliminating critical lubrication to the engines internal components. This can cause the piston rings to score the cylinder wall, which will cause excessive oil consumption (the blue cloud behind you when you ride) and lack of compression. What you end up with is poor performance. Another consequence of overheating is the fact many of the engines being used on today’s motorcycles have an aluminum cylinder block with a steel sleeve. The steel sleeve is usually pressed into place producing a very tight fit. If the engine over heats the outer cylinder wall expands more than it should, which can cause the metal sleeve to shift. Keeping Your Cool Those of you with water (antifreeze) cooled engines should always check the coolant every year and inspect for corrosion of any kind. If you should find corrosion you should change the antifreeze immediately. The corrosion will translate into very costly repairs in the future if not taken care of promptly. You will also want to flush your cooling system with a radiator flush. And oh yea, NEVER NEVER NEVER replace your antifreeze with just water. Water does not have the lubricating characteristics that antifreeze has to protect the seals in the water pump, to prevent corrosion that can cause gasket failure, radiator and thermostat clogging, and a list of other problems down the road. In addition, water doesn’t cool as well as antifreeze. They now have 150K-mile antifreeze on the market that will last a lot longer so you won’t have to change it as often. Don’t be cheap! Always use high quality antifreeze that will protect aluminum surfaces and won’t break down quickly. WARNING!! Antifreeze is toxic to humans and animals, so don’t let it spill on the ground where your beloved family pet can lick it up. Changing the antifreeze in your specific bike will depend on the type of bike and the manufacture. You will need to check your owner and shop manuals (you knew I would say that) for specific details. It Seems to be Draining Alright Now, lets get down to business and change out the antifreeze. Before starting you will want to make a list of supplies. One item is a gallon of high quality antifreeze. You will also want a drain container to collect the old antifreeze, a funnel for adding the new, and some rags. Pull out your tool kit because you will need several tools to complete this task. WARNING!! Do not change the antifreeze on a hot engine or severe burns will occur. If you own a cruiser or standard styled motorcycle you will have a much easier job because you won’t have to remove part or all of your fairings. These types of bikes just require that you locate a drain plug, petcock, or drain valve. If you have a drain plug it will normally be located on the bottom tank of the radiator. If you don’t have one don’t worry. If you can’t find a plug then you can loosen the lower hose clamp on the lower radiator hose and remove the lower hose. Twist and pull the hose to break it lose. I like to loosen the hose and pull it back just to the edge of the metal or plastic pipe on the radiator and hold it there so I can control the rate of flow of the escaping antifreeze. As soon as the hose becomes loose you will get a rush of old antifreeze flowing from the hose and radiator so be ready with the drain pan. After all of the antifreeze has been drained you will want to tighten the drain plug or reinstall the hose onto the radiator and tighten the hose clamp. For those of you that own touring motorcycles you will have a little more work to do in order to accomplish the antifreeze change out. You will need to remove a few more fairing pieces that prevent you from getting to the engine, radiator, and radiator hoses. Once you have removed the fairings you will follow the same steps as listed above to remove the old fluid. Out With the Old, In With the New Now it is time to replace the old antifreeze with new. Check your owner’s manual for the correct type of antifreeze, quantity, and mixture of water to antifreeze ratio for your area before you start. If you don’t know and your manual doesn’t say I find that a 50/50 mix works best. You will also need that funnel I mentioned earlier to avoid spilling antifreeze all over your bike and the ground and a couple of rags to clean up with afterwards. Most motorcycles have a radiator fluid reservoir hidden usually behind one of the side covers but yours may be near the radiator. You’ll just have to look to see if you have one. The reservoir is part of a re-circulating system that replenishes your cooling system with antifreeze when it gets low and also gives the radiator a place to transfer antifreeze when it starts to overheat. It accomplishes that by working in conjunction with the radiator cap, which is designed to open when a certain temperature is reached and allows antifreeze to flow back into the reservoir through a small hose. In turn, when the cooling system is low a vacuum is created by the cooling system, which then sucks antifreeze back into the radiator. By using this system it reduces the number of times the owner has to check the cooling system. It also prevents antifreeze from spilling out on the ground where animals could drink it and become ill. So as you can see it is a pretty nice thing to have. Normally I will fill the radiator to the top first and then fill the reservoir to the cold line. The radiator filler cap is normally located on the top tank of the radiator, but I have seen some systems where the filler cap is a separate component connected to the radiator by a hose. They do that when they are attempting to conceal the filler cap for aesthetics. If that is the case just follow the top hose until you locate the filler cap. If you still can’t locate a reservoir or a top radiator cap, check your manual or with your mechanic to find out how to refill your particular system. To remove the cap you will need to push down and twist counterclockwise. Fill the radiator with the proper mixture (I recommend premixing before filling) using a funnel. Keep the drain pan under the cycle until all of the fluid has been replaced. Because you can get air in the system you should reinstall the radiator cap and start the engine. Run the engine a few minutes and then turn it off and recheck the radiator fluid. Ride the bike around the block until it is warm and then check the fluid level again and refill as necessary. That’s it! One last reminder, make sure you dispose of the old radiator fluid properly. Be
safe out there and happy cycling.
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