Coolant loss

[CaptainTrips]

Originally Posted by FL_Explorer

I take it the rad cap must be difficult to access.  Not sure I've even seen mine, so it must be tucked away pretty well.

It's not that bad, but you do have to remove the plastic from the left-hand side of the tank. The stupid thing that T did was not putting it on the right-had side of the tank like everybody else. Consequently they had to add an air purge valve to the right hand side of the bike (because you want the bike on the sidestand to do this) which is not accessible unless you remove the fuel tank and rig it to run with the tank off. 

[Will Morgan]

Originally Posted by CaptainTrips

It's not that bad, but you do have to remove the plastic from the left-hand side of the tank. The stupid thing that T did was not putting it on the right-had side of the tank like everybody else. Consequently they had to add an air purge valve to the right hand side of the bike (because you want the bike on the sidestand to do this) which is not accessible unless you remove the fuel tank and rig it to run with the tank off. 

Why not use the centre stand ?  If you want/need the bike to lean off vertical just put a bit of plywood under one foot of the centre stand ?

[CaptainTrips]

Originally Posted by Will Morgan

Why not use the centre stand ?  If you want/need the bike to lean off vertical just put a bit of plywood under one foot of the centre stand ?

The way we usually do this on other bikes, is after you refill the coolant, you run it with the rad cap off and the angle of the bike on the side stand insures that as the coolant heats up, air that is trapped in the radiator works it way to the high point and burps out of the filler. Yes, I guess that I could rig something to hold the bike at an angle to the right to simulate the sidestand effect.

Update: I pulled the radiator cap and took a closer look at it. I noticed that T have put a heavy sticker on the top of the cap, with universal markings on it. Then I took a blow dryer and heated it enough to peel this sticker back. There was coolant under the sticker, in the depression in the center of the cap! Also, the whole thing is loose, with the center column of the pressure release valve passing through the cap with a flange on top. It rattles when you shake it. It's like the heavy sticker was actually meant to form a seal across the top of the cap. !?

[CaptainTrips]

I picked up a Prestone branded 1.1 bar (16 lb) radiator cap (part #14-1008-6 T-16R) at the local autoparts store. Will give this a try and see what happens.

[CaptainTrips]

Well, took it for another ride this afternoon and it leaked. This time, I had the plastic off, and I could see that coolant was getting past the hose clamp (although this continued to be an intermittent thing -- sometimes it would leak for a while and then stop, and sometimes it would not leak at all.

I went to the hardware store and bought a proper hose clamp in the plumbing isle (stainless steel, 50% wider than the OEM one, better screw mechanism) and the leak has stopped (so far). I have put the plastic back on (which is guaranteed to make it leak again) and will see what happens tomorrow on the commute. Have a trip planned for the end of this week, so hopefully we got it this time. 

[supernac]

I'm not sure why triumph decided to use screw clamps, its almost a guaranteed leak at some point. The constant pressure spring type clamps are much better, albeit harder to get on/off.

[Scubadvr]

A week ago, I arrived home from my daily commute (it was 18F (-8C)) and noticed my left pants leg and boot had coolant on them.  Not a whole lot, looked more like splashes.  When I got off the bike, it was all down the left side of the bike and on the crash bar, maybe about 1/8 cup all told, not a tremendous leak, and not actively dripping.

Today, I had the time to pull the fairing and have a look.

The source was obvious.







So, having read up on this thread and a couple of others, I was figuring on replacing the clamp, but since I didn't have one, I thought I'd just tighten the one that was on there.  It took another 1 1/2 turns to get really tight.

I cleaned everything up, then started the engine.  Figured I'd go ahead and run the "12-minute tune-up" while I was at it, to give it a decent time to see if it would leak or not.  It took a good 20 minutes to warm up enough to turn on the fan, then another 12 minutes, then I shut it down.  No more leaks!  Time will tell if I need to replace the clamp, but for now it looks like it's OK.

To celebrate, I want for a short Winter Solstice ride down by the local frozen lake and waterfall.  It's always lovely this time of year.

[CaptainTrips]

Originally Posted by Scubadvr

So, having read up on this thread and a couple of others, I was figuring on replacing the clamp, but since I didn't have one, I thought I'd just tighten the one that was on there.  It took another 1 1/2 turns to get really tight.

I thought that tightening it up cured my problem too, and then it started leaking randomly again. I think that the OEM clamp creates a gap that actually pinches the hose causing a leak.

Anyway, the ultimate cure for me was to put a better quality hose clamp on it.

[Bluto2013]

Originally Posted by CaptainTrips

It's not that bad, but you do have to remove the plastic from the left-hand side of the tank. The stupid thing that T did was not putting it on the right-had side of the tank like everybody else. Consequently they had to add an air purge valve to the right hand side of the bike (because you want the bike on the sidestand to do this) which is not accessible unless you remove the fuel tank and rig it to run with the tank off. 

Without starting a new topic, (is that not cool?) I was searching on our forum for some discussion of why the radiator cap is tucked under the tank?  On the Left??  There are 10 design solutions from goose necking the filler, to just cutting out 4oz of fuel from that front lobe that occludes the filler cap.  Why make it so hard to access?  Just changed my coolant on a moto that is new to me.  The service manual says to rock the bike left and right to burp out the trapped air?  WTF?  Also, to run it and burp it with the fuel tank/power extension cord? Tank off?  Triumph just turned a simple job into a 2 man job with an expensive dealer part. Also, the lowest drain is at the bottom of radiator?  I know that I left about 1/3 of the coolant in the machine.

My last moto was a 97 BMW, and it aggravated me that the battery was tucked under the tank.  Tank removal is not a small thing!  Messy and smelly!!!

All cycles have design compromises, but it astounds me how little they think of owner's who want to care for their own cycles.  Who does this?  Who is responsible?  What was said at the meeting?  If I learned more, it would just make me more cynical and bitter      

[CaptainTrips]

I am pretty sure that I could R&R the rad cap with the fuel tank trim removed (but the fuel tank still installed). There is also a drain plug in the block.

I refilled the rad and vented it with the bike clamped in a wheel stand (no rocking the bike) and the fuel tank installed and had no issues.

There is a vent on the right-hand side rad hose that you can open. I just filled the rad, let the bike idle for a while with the rad cap off until the thermostat opened, and then shut it off and topped it up and put the cap on. Any extra air worked its way out to the overflow bottle.

Don't fill the overflow bottle more than the lower level mark on the bottle.